"Resistance is Possible": The Ethnography of Roleplaying. Issue 1 (27th January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: LEBLANC, NATHAN
• Is Part Of: Conference proceedings. Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 585
• Page End: 585
• Publication Date: 2020-01-27
• Subjects: Ethnology -- Congresses; 306.3
• DOI: 10.1111/1559-8918.2019.01311
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1559-890X

Abstract

Abstract : Roleplaying games, such as the popular Dungeons & Dragons, ask players to take on roles of particular people and contexts. As a researcher, my experience conducting playtesting and ethnographic work for a roleplaying game on the Holocaust called "Rosenstrasse" profoundly affected me. In this PechaKucha, I ponder how roleplaying games might inspire the communication of ethnographic insight. As a medium in which storytelling isn't linear or prescribed, how can roleplaying games effectively transfer cultural understanding? Just as a Games Master and game design facilitate this knowledge transfer, perhaps ethnographers can use techniques similar to roleplaying to increase change‐making by enabling greater agency in stakeholders and teammates.