Overview: Conflict and RPG Communities
Welcome to our unit on Conflict and Role-playing Game Communities! As usual, our approach when discussing conflict will be to examine how games can address and sometimes even improve conflict situations, as well as conflicts that arise within RPG communities. While we have discussed conflict in all of these courses, this time we will consider the ways in which conflict impacts community dynamics positively and negatively. We will also discuss Conflict Styles, exploring the different choices of response we have in conflict situations.
You will also discuss positionality and reflexivity in your Major Assignment 2. Positionality refers to your social identities and cultural backgrounds that inform your position as a researcher and, in this case, a game designer, for example demographic information or involvement in specific subcultures. Reflexivity refers to your paradigms, beliefs, and potential biases as a researcher that inform the way you analyze your data. Remember that bias here is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it is openly acknowledged, addressed, and discussed in terms of ways in which it might limit your analysis.
In this Unit, we will cover:
- Conflict styles
- Toxic and dysfunctional behaviors in role-playing communities
- Recommendations for addressing toxicity and dysfunction
- Positionality
- Reflexivity
Required Materials:
- Bowman, Sarah Lynne, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, and Nikola Sekulic. “Chapter 5: Cultivating Safer Transformational Communities.” In Implementing Transformative Role-playing Games, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Simon Brind, and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, 249-307. Transformative Play Research 2. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala University Press.
Videos:
- Anderson, Ane Marie, and Martin Nielsen. 2018. “Pillars and Parasites.” Living Games Conference. YouTube, August 17.
- Bowman, Sarah Lynne. 2020. “Conflict Styles.” Center for Peace & Conflict Studies. Austin Community College.
Readings:
- Abadía, Teos. 2023. “The Community Rises at the D&D Creator Summit” The Alphastream Game Design Blog, April 7.
- Boccamazzo, Rafael. 2023. “Lessons Learned from Both Sides of Games” TheeDoctorB. Tumblr, January 19.
Content Advisory: Discussion of harassment, threats, and mental health challenges.
Review:
- Bowman, Sarah Lynne. 2013. “Social Conflict in Role-playing Communities: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.” International Journal of Role-Playing 4: 17-18.