Identity Building among Role-Playing Gamers: Slaying Goblins in the Real World [Hardcover]

Drawing on 19 months of participant-observation and 20 in-depth interviews with players, Heather Shay demonstrates that gamers derive significant social and psychological benefits from table-top role-playing games - not least in that players often feel the hobby makes them better people.
Playing these games allow players to depict themselves as good, moral actors through their in-game actions as well as by making the game enjoyable for their fellow players in real life. Table-top role-playing games also serve a psychological function by allowing participants to take imaginary risks with their characters, which in turn make them feel more alive than their everyday experiences allow them to. As they pretend to be fictional characters in fictional worlds, players use these games to create identities that make their lives more meaningful.

For more information and to hear an interview with the author on the New Books Network, visithttps://newbooksnetwork.com/identity-building-among-role-playing-gamers.

While there are several books about how to create and manage TTRPGs, this book goes beyond that into the minds of the players themselves. It's quite timely for anyone who wants to understand the appeal of these games, how they differ from video games, and how they intersect with player identities. Katryna Starks, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

This study provides insight into how fantasy role-playing gamers construct and then negotiate what it means to be a good gamer. Shay's focus on players' construction of moral identities highlights that roleplaying and gaming do not occur only within a fantasy realm or a magic circle that is separated from everyday life but rather isló