Making sense of the magic : legibility, space, and play in tabletop roleplaying games

As tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) have become increasingly popular among the queer community, and guided by the tenets of pleasure activism (Brown, 2019) that argues that equity entails access to pleasure, my study sought to investigate the connection between play and pleasure and the sense individuals make of themselves and their environments. My research questions included: 1) how do players negotiate legibility (make sense) of their queer identities within the context of their experiences participating in tabletop roleplaying games; and 2) what do the experiences of queer TTRPG players reveal about the relationships between legibility, space, and play? Drawing from social organization theory (Butler, 2004) and ecological definitions (Ramadier & Moser, 1998), I positioned legibility as the extent to which individuals are able to make sense of themselves in relation to their social environments and I use spatial metaphors, such as Third Space and safe houses, to help define the relationship between identity, literacy, and legibility, and to consider the role of play in facilitating these interconnected and constructive processes. My findings demonstrated that legibility was interwoven into the potent and powerful moments of pleasure experienced by participants, which I referred to as the magic. Additionally, I established the intimate connection between the concept of space and player perceptions of the magic, demonstrating that pleasure is in the experience of “crossing-over.” Then, drawing on player accounts of these experiences, I identified five forces that constitute the magic, components that not only regulate the pleasure possible within the play space, but also maintain the threshold and bounds of the space. I also discussed what players did within the space, or in constructing the space, that can be understood as cultivating these vital ingredients of play and pleasure. In the discussion, I outlined a path and framework for how players experienced personal transformation through play experiences and demonstrated the importance of intentional reflection and integration of play experiences toward the lasting effects of the magic.Educational Psycholog

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

Animal crossing: New leaf and the diversity of horror in video games

This paper explores the diverse ways horror can be conveyed in games by investigating how games that are not associated with the horror genre can produce unsettling or scary experiences. To conduct this exploration, this study uses interaction mapping, as outlined by Consalvo and Dutton (2006), to examine a game that has thoroughly pleasant and cutesy trappings: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo 2013). The interactions were analysed according to three themes prevalent within literature on horror and horror games: the loss of agency, the Freudian uncanny, and the Heideggerian uncanny. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that a game which is not explicitly scary is occasionally made so through its rudimentary simulation of human behaviour and societal constructs as well as its autonomous functions and inclusion of real-world time, showing that games have very diverse means of conveying unsettling or horrifying experiences. The paper also shows how frameworks used to analyse games in the horror genre can be applicable to critical readings of non-horror games in order to understand the unexpected player reactions they can evoke

Out of the Margins: Evolving Narrative Representation of Women in Video Games

This thesis examines narrative representation of female characters in video games and how game narratives and representations contribute to socio-cultural discourse. First, this thesis explores and defines the cultural background for female representation in video games. It then defines video games as a type of text and describes the features that are unique to games, such as the use of avatars, and what impacts these features have on game narratives. The thesis attempts to establish evidence of an evolutionary arc of comprehensive female representation in video games by first exploring historical female narrative tropes, and then comparing them to narrative case studies of female characters within five recent game titles (Tomb Raider, Bayonetta, Dragon Age, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Horizon: Zero Dawn). In these case studies, the implications for their representations of female characters are analyzed in the context of socio-cultural discourse. Furthermore, this thesis argues for the importance of diverse representation within video games as a form of media, and as cultural objects that contribute to social discourse

A Quest for Meaning: Facing Uncertainty, Anonymity, the Hidden and the Unknown Space in Azeroth

In this thesis I aim to explore how meaning is interpreted and adapted in relation to social performances and the emergence of blind spots. In World of Warcraft, blind spots take the forms of anonymity of players, uncertainty of meaning, venturing through the unknown space, and the hidden. Blind spots form types of knowledge that cannot be ascertained easily or at all while playing. However by identifying them, one can study how meaning is created

Choice-based Games and Resilience Building of Gender Non-conforming Individuals: An Exploratory Study

Research on gaming and user experience of the general population has been abundant, but gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals’ experiences had been largely overlooked until recent years. Using a phenomenological approach, the goal of this study is to find deeper understanding of this phenomenon by exploring what gaming experiences shape the identity of the participants. The exploration of gaming and gender non-conforming experiences through interviews can fill a gap in the current literature on gaming culture regarding this specific population. By taking a closer look at this topic, patterns and themes within games may provide insight to potential resilience building activities for GNC people

Procedural representation of marginalized groups: playing disabled, playing queer

Master's thesis in Literacy studiesIn AAA games, minority representation is still scarce and often misrepresentative, but the indie games scene has many examples of inclusion of marginalized groups and minority experiences. How can videogame mechanics be used to better represent the experiences of marginalized groups in AAA videogames? This thesis uses the concepts of procedural representation and character identification to examine rule based play of people with disabilities and people who are transgender in player characters in two free independent videogames. The analysis focuses specifically on player interaction with minority characters to determine how players can identify with them and how processes model experience. Implications for future game development are briefly discussed

Girl Gamers and Toxicity

People who play online video often experience toxicity, a term used by those who play video games, and scholars, to describe various forms of hostility people encounter from other participants in this environment. Researchers have recognized that girls and women are more likely targets of toxicity, with toxicity having potential negative mental and physical health outcomes, while acknowledging that the way targets of toxicity perceive organizational responses can affect whether they stay or leave the environment. For these reasons, it is important to understand how online video game participants, whose presentation of self is perceived by others as feminine, perceive toxicity and organizational efforts to reduce it. Using qualitative interviews with participants who play Overwatch and are perceived by others as feminine I investigate how participants perceive toxicity and organizational efforts to reduce it. I use “girl gamers” as an umbrella term to refer to my participants, a term widely used and understood in the video game environment. My specific research questions are: (1) What are girl gamers’ experiences of toxicity in competitive online video games? (2) What themes in the game do girl gamers find attractive? (3) How do girl gamers construct their identity and carve out space in the online video game environment? (4) How do girl gamers identify with characters in-game? (5) What are girl gamers’ feelings towards the in-game mechanics for reducing toxicity and do they perceive that more could be done? Results show that participants have varied feelings about their own identities and the ways others perceive them, with both affecting how they perceive toxicity and their environment.Sociology, Department o

Life In Azeroth: Examining Place-Making In Virtual Environments

The goal of this research is to develop a model of virtual place-making through which to better comprehend how place functions outside of the physical world. Most of the placemaking research within geography has centered around our physical world, ignoring the incredible variety found in virtual environments. Using ethnographic methods and surveys, players of the massively popular online video game, “World of Warcraft”, are studied and worked with to develop this model. Ultimately, the most important components of virtual place are determined. Virtual place-making occurs similarly to that of the physical world, building upon networks of communication between living creatures, their environments, social traditions, and numerous other personal experiences