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Roll to Save vs. Prejudice: The Phenomenology of Race in Dungeons & Dragons

Clements, Philip Jameson
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5784-2116
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1448050814

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Popular Culture.
This thesis is a critical examination of how players of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons use the concept of race, both in and out of the game. The study of race in role-playing games has been neglected, and this is a tragedy, because these games offer a unique space where the concept of race, often a difficult and uncomfortable topic of conversation, is questioned, criticized, and reshaped by the players. Role-playing games are spaces of encounter between the players and a cast of imaginary others, and this requires a degree of empathy on the part of the players that makes role-playing games a space of ideological change, as players are forced to consider the world from viewpoints both familiar and alien. The theoretical framework within combines a phenomenological analysis of roleplaying games that allows non-gamers to understand the practice and importance of these games with critical race theorists such as bell hooks, Paul Gilroy, and Patricia Hill Collins that defines what race is and how it affects all of us on a day-to-day basis. This thesis is also based on interviews with geographically diverse set of gamers who demonstrate the highly personal nature of gaming, and how race takes on a multitude of meanings both within the fictional game settings and around the gaming table.
Jeremy Wallach (Advisor)
Esther Clinton (Committee Member)
Marilyn Motz (Committee Member)
92 p.
American Studies; Ethnic Studies; Recreation
race; critical race theory; critical race studies; phenomenology; roleplaying games; role playing games; RPG; RPGs;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Clements, P. J. (2015). Roll to Save vs. Prejudice: The Phenomenology of Race in Dungeons & Dragons [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1448050814

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Clements, Philip. Roll to Save vs. Prejudice: The Phenomenology of Race in Dungeons & Dragons . 2015. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1448050814.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Clements, Philip. "Roll to Save vs. Prejudice: The Phenomenology of Race in Dungeons & Dragons ." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1448050814

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1448050814
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.