Toward a Queer Role-Playing Game Praxis: The Role of Play in Building Identities, Communities, and Worlds Open Access

Abstract

Queer and feminist scholarship frequently grapples with tensions between theory and practice, striving to bridge the gap spanning our thinking about where we want to be and our actually getting there. This thesis presents roleplaying games (RPGs) as models for developing a queer praxis, arguing that this genre of game is uniquely suited to honing key skills in identity-building, community-building, and world-building. By drawing upon interdisciplinary research and making scholarly interventions in the fields of ludic studies and queer studies, this thesis examines the personal and political stakes of playing RPGs and the transformative potential of play as a powerful analytic and applied tool for social change. Chapter 1 opens with an exploration of psychosocial theories of identity formation, development, and transformation to establish the primacy of identity as a means of engaging with RPGs simultaneously as a player and as a character. The first chapter also illuminates how RPGs historically and contemporarily represented aspects of identity like gender, sexuality, and race, highlighting how queer artists use fantasy to envision alternative affects and embodiments to reach a sense of self-acceptance. Chapter 2 grounds itself in the collective experiences of RPG players of the past and present to discuss how RPGs function as exercises in compassion and collaboration that encourage participants to better understand themselves and others, fostering accommodation, attentiveness, and inclusivity through roleplay. Chapter 3 argues that RPGs distort our normative senses of spatio-temporality and are thus conducive to imagining new worlds and visions for the queer future, offering magic and play as frameworks for queer critique and worldbuilding. Altogether, this thesis presents the myriad ways that RPGs have been and can be used to imagine different, better, and queerer worlds. 

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: Rediscovering the Power and Potential of Play……….....……1

Key Concepts………………………………………………………………………….....…..3

Queer Concepts………………………………………………………………………....…..8

Play as Praxis………………………………………………………………………….....…11

CHAPTER 1: Building Identities………………………………………….……....…...15

Playing with Identity…………………………………………………………..…....…...17

Multiplicity…………………………………………………………………….............…19

Immersion…………………………………………………………………..........…....….22

Development…………………………………………………………………............…..26

Bleed…………………………………………………………………………...............…..31

Playing with Gender and Sexuality………………………………….…………....……34

Misogyny………………………………………………………………….….............…...37

Affordances…………………………………………………………………..............…...42

Transgression……………………………………………………………..............………49

Playing with Race and Representation………………………………………....……..55

Legacy…………………………………………………………………………...............…57

Challenges…………………………………………………………………..............…….67

Emb(race)…………………………………………………………………..............……..73

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..……....………80

CHAPTER 2: Building Communities………………………………….……....……....82

Playing with the Devil…………………………………………………………......……..84

Playing with the System……………………………………………………….....……...94

Playing with the Culture………………………………………………………......…...103

Playing with Escapist Intentions…………………………………………….....……..107

Playing with Therapeutic Intentions…………………………………………....……114

Playing with Outcasts………………………………………………………………....…120

Playing with Care…………………………………………………………………....…...127

Playing (Well) with Others……………………………………………………..…....…137

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….…......142

CHAPTER 3: Building Worlds……………………………………………………....….144

Playing with Space…………………………………………………………………....….146

Playing with Time…………………………………………………………………....…..152

Playing with Reality…………………………………………………….……..…....…..158

Playing with Magic……………………………………………………………….....……161

Playing……………………………………………………………………………...…....…165

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….……......168

CODA: The Magic Circle as Sacred Site for the Witchcraft of Worldmaking…169

BIBLIOGRAPHY By Chapter…………………………………………………………….171

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….....……171

Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………….......……171

Chapter 2…………………………………………………………………….......…………177

Chapter 3………………………………………………………………….......……………184

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	GLBT Studies Recreation
Keyword	Identity Play Community Roleplay World-building RPG Queer
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Solomon, Eric, Emory University
Committee Members	Mulla, Sameena, Emory University Ozawa-de Silva, Brendan, Emory University Olson, Alix, Emory University

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