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Research Studies

TARPG

The following is an ever-growing selection of research sources of varying types (most academic, some popular media) relative in some way to Role Playing Games as a tool for social-emotional learning, adolescent identity, and group therapy. I will continue to update this page as I find and review more sources. 

I have linked everything as much as possible. I will endeavor to keep them updated as I can. If you find broken links, wrong links, or even better links, please let me know at bharber@uakron.edu. I am always up for more sources as well. Send them my way and I’ll get them posted here.

Current Count: 120 Sources

Publically Available (Non-Paywalled) Online Sources

Some of these sources may require an account but are generally free.

  1. Adams, A. S. (2013). Needs met through role-playing games: A fantasy theme analysis of Dungeons & Dragons. Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, 12, 1-19.
  2. An, Y., & Cao, L. (2017).The effects of game design experience on teachers’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of digital games in the classroom. TechTrends, 61(2),162-170. doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0122-8
  3. Bäcke, M., (2012). Make-believe and make-belief in Second Life role-playing communities. Convergence, 18, 85-92. doi:10.1177/1354856511419917
  4. Baker, I. S., Turner, I. J., & Kotera, Y. (2022). Role-play games (RPGs) for mental health (Why not?): Roll for initiative. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00832-y
  5. Barnett, R. C. (1995). Fantasy role players: imagination, dissociation and suggestibility [Master’s thesis]. https://curve.carleton.ca/35febb94-c3c0-4537-8ed8-eb00fcae9ee4 doi.org/10.22215/etd/1995-03087
  6. Bettochi, E. et al. (2011). Incorporeal Project: the use of gamebooks and tabletop RPG for educational purposes – 2 Brazilian experiences. Proceedings of DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play.
  7. Blackmon, W. D. (1994). Dungeons and dragons: The use of a fantasy game in the psychotherapeutic treatment of a young adult. Journal of Psychotherapy, 48, 624-632. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1994.48.4.624
  8. Bowman, S. L. (2017). Connecting stage acting, role-playing, and improvisation. In E. Torner, E. L. Waldron, & A. Trammell (Eds.), Analog game studies: Volume II (pp. 143-154). Carnegie Mellon University, ETC Press.
  9. Bowman, S. L., & Standiford, A. (2015). Educational Larp in the Middle School Classroom: A mixed method case study. International Journal of Role-playing, 5(1). doi.org/10.33063/ijrp.vi5.233
  10. Boysen et al. (2022). Playful learning designs in teacher education and early childhood teacher education: A scoping review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 120(4). doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103884
  11. Boysen et al. (2023) The role of expertise in playful learning activities: A design-based self-study within teacher education aimed at the development of tabletop role-playing games. Teaching and Teacher Education, 128. doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104128
  12. Brodeur, N. (2018, May 4). Behind the scenes of the making of Dungeons & Dragons. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/behind-the-scenes-of-the-making-of-dungeons-dragons/
  13. Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18, 1-21. doi:10.1086/448619
  14. Campbell, H., Madsen, A. (2021) Nothing like a good fiasco! Exploring the potential of tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) as literacy experiences. Canadian Journal of New Scholar in Education, 12(2)
  15. Carter, R., & Lester, D. (1998). Personalities of players of Dungeons and Dragons. Psychological Reports, 82, 182. doi:10.2466/PR0.82.1.182-182
  16. Chaplan-Hoang, A. V. (2021). Dungeons, dragons, and drama therapy: A digital approach for teenagers on the autism spectrum [Master’s thesis]. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/401628996.pdf
  17. Chen, C. H., & Hwang, G. J. (2017). Effects of the team competition-based ubiquitous gaming approach on students’ interactive patterns, collective efficacy and awareness of collaboration and communication. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(1), p. 87.
  18. Chiu, F., & Hsieh, M. (2017). Role-playing game based assessment to fractional concept in second grade mathematics. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(4). doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00659a
  19. Consalvo, M. (2009). There is no magic circle. Games and Culture, 4, 408-417. doi:10.1177/1555412009343575
  20. Crocco, F. (2016). The RPG classroom: How role-playing games have influenced the gamification of education. In The role-playing society: Essays on the cultural influence of RPGs. McFarland & Company.
  21. Crookall, D. (2010). Serious Games, Debriefing, and Simulation/Gaming as a Discipline. Simulation & Gaming, 41(6), 898–920. doi.org/10.1177/1046878110390784
  22. Cullinan, M., & Genova, J. (2023). Gaming the systems: A component analysis framework for the classroom use of RPGs. International Journal of Role-Playing, (13), 7-17. doi.org/10.33063/ijrp.vi13.305
  23. Curtis, K. (2017). Using iterative cycles of discovery within a Glaserian grounded theory of socialization in compassion. The SAGE Research Methods Cases. doi:10.4135/9781526411471
  24. Deterding, S. (2018). Alibis for Adult Play: A Goffmanian Account of Escaping Embarrassment in Adult Play. Games and Culture, 13(3), 260–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017721086
  25. dos Santos Petry, A. (2013) The concept of magic circle: A critical reading. Digital Work, 5, 36-57. doi:10.25029/od.2013.30.5
  26. Douse, N. A. & McManus, C. (1993). The personality of fantasy game players. British Journal of Psychology, 84, 505-509. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1993.tb02498
  27. Drachen, A., (2008). Welcome to the first issue of the ISRP. The International Journal of Role-Playing, 1, 2.
  28. Dubbels, B. (2016). Chapter four: Pedagogy & play: Creating a playful curriculum for academic and engaged learning. In book: Learning, education, and games. Vol 2: Curricular design considerations.
  29. Glazer, K. (2015). Imagining a constructionist game-based pedagogical model: Using tabletop role-playing game creation to enhance literature education in high school English classes. (Doctoral dissertation). ProQuest.
  30. Gordon, E., Haas, J., & Michelson, B. (2017). Civic creativity: Role-playing games in deliberative process. International Journal of Communication, 11,3789-3807. doi:1932–8036/20170005
  31. Grouling Cover, J. A. (2005). Tabletop role-playing games: Perspectives from narrative, game, and rhetorical theory [Master’s thesis]. https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/424/etd.pdf
  32. Haarman, S. (2022). Dungeons & Dragons & Dewey: The potential for dramatic rehearsal and civic outcomes in tabletop role-playing games. Philosophical Studies in Education, 53. p.56-70
  1. Hammer, J., To, A., Schrier, K., Bowman, S. L., & Kaufman, G. (2018). Learning and Role-Playing Games. In Zagal, José P. and Deterding, S. (eds.), Role-Playing Game studies: Transmedia foundations. New York: Routledge, 283-299.
  2. Han, T. (2011). Tabletop role-playing games in Singapore case studies for education and empowerment. [Masters Thesis]
  3. Henrich, S., & Worthington, R. (2021). Let your clients fight dragons: A rapid evidence assessment regarding the therapeutic utility of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 1-19. doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2021.1987367
  4. Hughes, J. (1988). Therapy is fantasy: Roleplaying, healing and the construction of symbolic order [Master’s thesis]. http://www.rpgstudies.net/hughes/therapy_is_fantasy.html
  5. Jerslev, A. (2014). Celebrification, authenticity, gossip: The celebrity humanitarian. Nordicom Review, 35, 171-186. doi:10.2478/nor-2014-0111
  6. Kallam, M. (1984). The effects of simulation game play upon oral language development and internalization of locus of control among mildly handicapped adolescents [Doctoral dissertation]. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/215287853.pdf
  7. Kapitany, R., Hampejs, T., & Goldstein, T. R. (2022). Pretensive shared reality: From childhood pretense to adult imaginative play. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.774085
  8. Kaylor, S. L. B. (2017). Dungeons and Dragons and literacy: The role tabletop roleplaing games can play in developing teenagers’ literacy skills and reading interests. [Masters Thesis]
  9. Lancaster, K. (1994). Do role-playing games promote crime, Satanism and suicide among players as critics claim? Journal of Popular Culture, 28, 67-80. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1994.2802_67.x
  10. Moreno-Guerrero, A.J. et al. (2020) Educational innovation in higher education: Use of role playing and educational video in future teachers’ training. Sustainability, 12(6)
  11. Ntokos K. (2019). Swords and sorcery: a structural gamification framework for higher education using role-playing game elements. Research in Learning Technology, 27.
  12. Osborne, H. (2012). Performing self, performing character: Exploring gender performativity in online role-playing games. Transformative Works and Cultures, 11, 1-25. doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0411.
  13. Prager, H. P. Richard (2019). Exploring the use of role-playing games in education. The MT Review, 2.
  14. Raghuraman, R. (2000). Dungeons and Dragons: Dealing with emotional and behavioral issues of an adolescent with diabetes. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 27, 27-39. doi:10.1016/S0197-4556(99)00025-8
  15. Randi M. A. F., de Carvalho H. F. (2013). Learning through role-playing games: An approach for active learning and teaching. Revista Braileira de Educacao Medica, 37(1), p. 80-88.
  16. Sancho, P., Moreno-Ger, P., Fuentes-Fernández, R., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2009). Adaptive role-playing games: An immersive approach for problem based learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(4). p. 110.
  17. Schmit W. L., Martins J. B., Ferreira T. (2009). Role-playing games and education in Brazil: How we do it. In Holter M., Fatland E., Tomte E. (Eds.), Larp, the universe and everything. p. 75-96.
  18. Shank, N. (2015). Productive violence and postructural play in the Dungeons and Dragons narrative. Journal of Popular Culture, 48, 184-197. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12242
  19. Sidhu, P., & Carter, M. (2023). Benevolent Transgressive Play in Dungeons & Dragons [D&D]. Simulation & Gaming, 0(0). doi.org/10.1177/10468781231199824
  20. Simón, A. (1987). Emotional stability pertaining to the game of Dungeons & Dragons. Psychology in Schools, 24, 329-332. doi:10.1002/1520-6807
  21. Soleski, Adam Thomas, “An Evaluation of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games for Psychological and Social Functioning Amongst Youth/Young Adults” (2023). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 1718.
  22. Stenros, J., & Sihvonen, T. (2017). Out of the dungeons: Representations of queer sexuality in RPG source books. In E. Torner, E. L. Waldron, & A. Trammell (Eds.), Analog game studies: Volume II (pp. 71-92). Carnegie Mellon University, ETC Press.
  23. Thumlert, K. et al. (2018). Learning through game design: A production pedagogy.  In book: Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Game-Based Learning ECGBL. p 704-714.
  24. Topirceanu, A. (2017). Gamified learning: A role-playing approach to increase student in-class motivation. Procedia Computer Science, 112. p. 41-50.
  25. Tracy, S. J., & Trethewey, A. (2005). Fracturing the real-self↔fake-self dichotomy: Moving toward crystallized organizational discourses and identities. Communication Theory, 15, 168-195. doi:10.1093/ct/15.2.168
  26. Van Oostveen, J. (2020). Tabletop role-playing games and their possible use in education for sustainable development, an exploration of ethical learning and role-play. [Student Essay]
  27. Vu, R. (2017). Fantasy after representation: D&D, Game of Thrones, and postmodern world-building. Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, 58, 273-301. doi:10.3828/extr.2017.1
  28. Winardy, G. C. B., Septiana, E. (2023). Role, play, and games: comparison between role-playing games and role-playing in education.  Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 8(1).
  29. Wright, J. C., et al. (2020). Imaginative role-playing as a medium for moral development: Dungeons & Dragons provides moral training.  Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60(1). p. 1-31
  30. Zalka C. V. (2012). Adventures in the classroom creating role-playing games based on traditional stories for the high school curriculum. [Masters Thesis]

Paywalled or Academic Journal Subscription Sources

These sources may be available through academic libraries.

  1. Abbott, M. S., Stauss, K. A., & Burnett, A. F. (2021). Table-top role-playing games as a therapeutic intervention with adults to increase social connectedness. Social Work with Groups, 45(1), 16-31. doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1932014
  2. Abyeta, S., & Forest, J. (1991). Relationship of role-playing games to self-reported criminal behaviour. Psychological Reports, 69(3_suppl), 1187–1192. doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1991.69.3f.1187
  3. Arenas, D. L., Viduani, A., & Araujo, R. B. (2022). Therapeutic use of role-playing game (RPG) in mental health: A scoping review. Simulation & Gaming, 53(3), 285-311. doi.org/10.1177/10468781211073720
  4. Ascherman, L. I. (1993). The impact of unstructured games of fantasy and role playing on an inpatient unit for adolescents. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 43:3, 335-344. doi: 10.1080/00207284.1993.11732597
  5. Bages, C. et al. (2021). Play to reduce bullying! Role-playing games are a useful tool for therapists and teachers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 35(4). p. 631-641.
  6. Bawa, A. (2022). The quest of motivation: Tabletop role playing games in the educational arena. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 12(1).
  7. Brignall III, T. (2008). Guild life in the World of Warcraft: Online gaming tribalism. In T. Adams & S. Smith (Ed.), Electronic Tribes: The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers. p. 110-123. doi.org/10.7560/717732-010
  8. Carroll, J. L., & Carolin, P. M. (1989). Relationship between game playing and personality. Psychological Reports, 64. p. 705-706. doi:10.2466/pr0.1989.64.3.705
  9. Chung, T. (2013). Table-top role playing game and creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8, 56-71. doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2012.06.002
  10. Cragoe, N. G. (2016). RPG mythos: Narrative gaming as modern mythmaking. Games and Culture, 11(6). p. 583-607. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015574195
  11. Cross, K. A. (2012). The new laboratory of dreams: Role-playing games as resistance. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 40. p. 72-90. doi:10.2307/23333474
  12. Daniels, J. (2009). Rethinking cyberfeminism(s): Race, gender, and embodiment. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly37(1). p. 101-124. doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0158
  13. Daniau, S. (2016). The transformative potential of role-playing games—: From play skills to human skills. Simulation & Gaming, 47(4). p. 423–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878116650765
  14. Derenard, L., & Kline, L. (1990). Alienation and the game Dungeons and Dragons. Psychological Reports, 66, 1219-1222. doi:10.2466/pr0.1990.66.3c.1219
  15. Fleischer, S. K. (2007). Playing with identity: Literacy, discourse, and identity in role -playing gaming (3286694) [Doctoral dissertation]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
  16. Fujiki, M., Brinton, B., McCleave, C. P., Anderson, V. W., & Chamberlain, J. P. (2013). A social communication intervention to increase validating comments by children with language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44, 3-19. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-103)
  17. Garcia, A. (2017). Privilege, power, and Dungeons & Dragons: How systems shape racial and gender identities in tabletop role-playing games. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 24, 232-246. doi:10.1080/10749039.2017.1293691
  18. Goulding, C., & Shankar, A., (2011). Club culture, neotribalism and ritualised behaviour. Annals of Tourism Research, 38, 1435-1453. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2011.03.01
  1. Harter, L. M. (2009). Narratives as dialogic, contested, and aesthetic performances. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 37, 150-150. doi:10.1080/0090988090279225
  2. Ibarra, H., & Petriglieri, J. L.(2010). Identity work and play. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 23, 10–25. doi:10.1108/0953481101101718
  3. Kay, L. W. (1946). Role-playing as a teaching aid. Sociometry, 9(2/3). p. 263.
  4. Kirby, E. L., & Krone, K. J. (2002). “The policy exists but you can’t really use it”: Communication and the structuration of work-family policies. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 30, 50-77. doi:10.1080/00909880216577
  5. Milford, M., & Rowland, R. C. (2012). Situated ideological allegory and Battlestar Galactica. Western Journal of Communication, 76, 536-551. doi:10.1080/10570314.2011.651254
  6. Myers, D. (1992). Simulating the Self. Play & Culture, 5, 420-440.
  7. Pearce, C. (2009). Communities of play: Emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. MIT Press.
  8. Pound, C. (2002). Topologies of invention: An anthropological approach to the rhetoric of games [Doctoral dissertation].
  9. Punday, D. (2005) Creative accounting: Role-playing games, possible-world theory, and the agency of imagination. Poetics Today, 26, 113-139. doi:10.1215/03335372-26-1-113
  10. Rao, D., & Stupans, I. (2012). Exploring the potential of role play in higher education: Development of a typology and teacher guidelines. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 49(4). p. 427-436.
  11. Rosselet, J. G., & Stauffer, S. D. (2013). Using group role-playing games with gifted children and adolescents: A psychosocial intervention model. International Journal of Play Therapy, 22(4), 173–192. doi.org/10.1037/a0034557
  12. Schrier, K. (Ed.), (2016). Learning, education and games, volume two: Bringing games into educational contexts. ETC Press. p. 87-115.
  13. Simkins, D. W., & Steinkuehler, C. (2008). Critical ethical reasoning and role-play. Games and Culture, 3(3-4), 333-355. doi.org/10.1177/1555412008317313
  14. Stevens, R. (2015). Role-play and student engagement: Reflections from the classroom. Teaching in Higher Education, 20 (5). p. 481-492.
  15. Tarng, W., & Tsai, W. (2010). The design and analysis of learning effects for a game-based learning system. Engineering and Technology, 61. p. 336-345.
  16. Thorhauge, A. M. (2013). The rules of the game—The rules of the player. Games and Culture, 8, 371-391. doi:10.1177/1555412013493497
  17. Waskul, D., & Lust, M. (2004). Role-playing and playing roles: The person, player, and persona in fantasy role-playing. Symbolic Interaction, 27, 333-356. doi:10.1525/si.2004.27.3.333
  18. Woods, T. (2017). Anything can be attempted: Tabletop role-playing games as learning and pedagogy. (1072793) [Doctoral dissertation].
  19. Wright, J., Weissglass, D., & Casey, V. (2017). Imaginative role-playing as a medium for moral development: Dungeons & Dragons provides moral training. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1,1-31. doi:10.1177/0022167816686263
  20. Zalka, C. V. (2016). Adventures in the classroom: Creating traditional story-based role-playing games for the high school curriculum. Storytelling, Self, Society, 2, 173-206. doi:10.13110/storselfsoci.12.2.0173

Published Texts

  1. Bowman, S. L. (2010). Functions of role-playing games: How participants create community, solve problems, and explore identity. McFarland & Company.
  2. Bowman, S. L., & Lieberoth, A. (2018). Psychology and role-playing games. In J. P. Zagal & S. Deterding (Eds.) Role-playing game studies: Transmedia foundations (pp. 245-264). Routledge.
  3. Fine, G. A. (1983). Shared fantasy: Role-playing games as social worlds. University of Chicago Press.
  4. Frank, A. W. (2013). The wounded storyteller: Body, illness, and ethics (2nd ed.). The University of Chicago Press.
  5. Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday.
  6. Hook, N. (2012). Identities at play: An ethnographic study of the psychological experience of recreational role-players creating and being recreated by fictional identities. Open University.
  7. Huizinga, J. (2014). Homo ludens: A study of the play-element in culture. Martino Publishing. 
  8. Kilmer, E. D., Davis, A. D., Kilmer, J. N., & Johns A. R. (2023). Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games. Routledge.
  9. Kramarae, C. (2012). Muted group theory. In E. A. Griffin (Ed.), A first look at communication theory (8th Ed.) (pp. 460-471). McGraw-Hill.
  1. Lindemann, K. (2020). Performative ways of knowing. In B. H. Spitzberg, D. J. Canary, & H. E. Canary, The communication capstone: The Communication inquiry and theory experience (pp. 105-119). San Diego, CA: Cognella.
  2. Nephew, M. (2006). Playing with identity: Unconscious desire and role-playing games. In J. P. Williams, S. Q. Hendricks, & W. K. Winkler (Eds.), Gaming as culture, (pp. 120-139). McFarland & Company.
  3. Tynes, J. (2010). Prismatic play: Games as windows to the real world. In P. Harrington & N. W. Fruin (Eds.), Second person: Role playing and story in games and playable media (pp. 221-228). MIT Press.
  4. White, W. J.(2018). Communication research and role-playing games. In J. P. Zagal & S. Deterding (Eds.), Role-playing game studies: Transmedia foundations (pp. 337-345). Routledge.
  5. Williams, J. P., Kirschner, D., Mizer, N., & Deterding, S. (2018). Sociology and role-playing games. In J. P. Zagal & S. Deterding (Eds.) Role-playing game studies: Transmedia foundations (pp. 227-244). Routledge
  6. Zagal, J.P., & Deterding, S. (Eds.). (2018). Role-playing game studies: Transmedia foundations, Routledge.

Website Links

  1. Brodeur, N. (2018, May 4). Behind the scenes of the making of Dungeons & Dragons. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/behind-the-scenes-of-the-making-of-dungeons-dragons/
  2. Ciriaco, M. (2017, January 19). All-female Dungeons & Dragons campaign “Girls Guts Glory” creates a safe space for gamer girls. LA Weekly. https://www.laweekly.com/all-female-dd-campaign-girls-guts-glory-creates-a-safe-space-for-gamer-girls/
  3. D’Anastasio, C. (2014, August 27). Dungeons & Dragons has caught up with third-wave feminism. Vice.com. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/exmqg7/dungeons-and-dragons-has-caught-up-with-third-wave-feminism-827
  1. Haeck, J. (2019, August 14). Reimagining racial ability scores. dndbeyond.com. https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/563-reimagining-racial-ability-scores
  2. Hassania, T. (2016, October 24). Why playing Dungeons & Dragons has left me feeling empowered in a way Beyoncé never has. Nationalpost.com. https://nationalpost.com/life/why-playing-dungeons-dragons-has-left-me-feeling-empowered-in-a-way-beyonce-never-has

Updated: 03/2024