(Below is an excerpt from a larger work. I thought it might be of interest to LotGD followers. I've made a few edits of interest here and there. I'd be happy to read your questions and comments. Thanks to Benoist for getting the ball rolling.)
Despite the 40 year history of the game, and the very recent development of Game Studies as an interdisciplinary field of study, no critical mass of cultural research exists on Fantasy Role-Playing Games (FRPGs) or Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) specifically.
However, there are individual studies and pieces of research notable for their contribution to this subject. Fine’s often-cited landmark study of FRPGs as social worlds, published in 1983, is the only sustained, full-length ethnographic study on D&D subculture. Given the time period of the early 1980s, his monograph was forward-thinking in relation to the application of ethnographic methodology to an object of study from popular culture. Alas, no scholar extended Fine’s work.
With few exceptions (Toles-Patkin, 1986; Lancaster, 1994), published studies of D&D between the mid 1980s and the late 1990s came not from the developing fields of cultural studies or popular culture, but rather from psychology. These studies, somewhat stereotypically, examined the personality traits of gamers as they relate to issues of deviance and emotional instability (Simon, 1987; Derenard and Kline, 1990; Blackmon, 1994; Carter and Lester, 1998; Raghuraman, 2000). These studies found no correspondence between gamers and these personality traits.
In the last ten years, a group of young interdisciplinary scholars from around the world have sparked the study of D&D and FRPGs (Marshall, 2007; Mona, 2007; Williams, Hendricks, and Winkler, 2006; Patri, 2006; Borah and Schaechterle, 2006; Hernandez, 2006; Chrulew, 2006 and 2005; Waskul and Lust, 2004; Mackay, 2001; Ronnick, 1997). These studies likely stem from the demographic of original or second wave D&D gamers (such as myself) now in their 30s with their PhDs. In contrast, Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) level graduate students in their 20s study MMOs almost exclusively, with little beyond a brief acknowledgement to D&D. Academic conferences and research on MMOs far outstrips the work on D&D and FRPGs today.
The above research provides a foundation, and does indeed point towards recent and increased attention from interdisciplinary scholars. However, the research on D&D/FRPGs does not constitute a critical mass of secondary academic literature.
Why does no body of research exist on this topic? I can explain this situation with each of the following three factors contributing equally to the current academic context. First, the lack of research has stemmed, at least in part, due to what Brian Sutton-Smith calls the “Triviality Barrier.” By Triviality Barrier he references that - despite politically correct claims to the contrary - not all subjects are considered appropriate for study in universities (not all subjects will get you hired either). Without question, a broadening of the definition of “appropriate” has taken place in universities in the last decade. However, the ontology of scholars stills suggests the unworthiness of D&D as a topic for study. When calls for research do come forward they emphasize ethnographic approaches - a point reiterated in the inaugural issue of
Games and Culture. Second, as a subject hidden in full view, D&D subculture takes place quietly at dinner tables during weeknights or weekends and remains at the fringe, outside of the contemporary social spotlight. Finally, the D&D gaming phenomena reached its peak in the early 1980s prior to the development of academic units devoted specifically to the interdisciplinary study of popular culture subjects. By the mid-to-late 1980s, when the disciplines of Cultural Studies and Popular Culture began to coalesce, D&D had already moved to the margins and was effectively missed as an object of study.
Posts
