Exciting News: Our Latest Publication in Analog Game Studies Journal!
I am excited to announce the publication of our latest paper, Tabletop and Digital Rituals in Dungeons & Dragons, in the esteemed Analog Game Studies journal. This research, conducted in collaboration with my colleagues Mauricio Rangel Jimenez and James Lipuma, examines how the ritualistic aspects of Dungeons & Dragons evolve as the game shifts from traditional tabletop play to digital platforms like Roll20. We analyze how these elements are transformed in digital settings by applying frameworks such as Randall Collins’ Interaction Ritual Chains and Arnold van Gennep’s ritual categories. Our study, based on 80 game sessions and in-depth interviews, offers an anthropological perspective on the impact of digital platforms on gameplay rituals.
Working on this project has been a privilege, and I am eager to share our findings. The full paper can be accessed here (Rangel-Jimenez et al., 2024).
Paper Abstract:
With the development of digital spaces to emulate board games also came the development of specialized platforms for online role-playing games like Roll 20, which has seen some ritual aspects in games like Dungeons and Dragons modified. The present work consists of carrying out an analysis of the changes in the ritual elements in the form of the Dungeons and Dragons game in digital spaces, starting from defining the formal elements of Randall Collins’ Interaction Ritual Chains as central categories and ritual categories of Arnold van Gennep as secondary categories. For observation, two Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition game groups were defined as the object of study; as an element of contrast, one of them is observed from a form of table game called «traditional» and the other form remotely on the Roll20 platform, the methodology was based on observations of participants and in-depth interviews with the players of the two-game groups, establishing a total of 80 game sessions between both tables. For the analysis, the categories and subcategories were related using Atlas.ti software, in such a way that a relationship was established between interviews and observation of participants during game sessions. As a result, a series of observations and analyses were generated that go beyond the descriptive to find aspects that are reflected in significant moments when playing, starting with the changes in the characteristics of the ritual and later with the elements resulting from the rituals, to finally find that the form of the game has been modified by the various factors and elements that interact in the remote digital mode, in addition to conforming to relevant elements both for its narrative and for its implementation at the playing time. The present work then intends to contribute from an anthropological perspective for further investigations regarding the differentiation of the game form between analog tabletop role-playing games and digital platforms such as roll20.
Keywords: .
Presented at Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo, Bogotá, Colombia:
7mo Coloquio Internacional de Estudios sobre Juegos de Rol.
Read Our Paper
You can access our paper in the Analog Game Studies journal], Vol. XI, No. 3, pp. 1-23], 2024. Read here
Acknowledgments
Cover image photo provided from A character sheet and dice for D&D. Photo by Scott Ackerman @Flicker CC BY..
ORCID
Mauricio Rangel Jimenez
Cristo Leon
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0930-0179
James Lipuma
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9778-3843
Copyright
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 © The Authors. AGS, 2024
Sources
Rangel-Jimenez, M., León, C., & Lipuma, J. (2024). Tabletop and Digital Rituals in Dungeons & Dragons [Peer-reviewed journal]. Analog Game Studies, 11(3), 19. /Research/Cultural and Social Studies.
Citation
When citing this paper, use this format:
Jiménez, Mauricio Rangel, Cristo León, and James Lipuma. “Tabletop and Digital Rituals in Dungeons & Dragons.” Analog Game Studies 11, no. 3 (2024), https://analoggamestudies.org/2024/10/tabletop-and-digital-rituals-in-dungeons-dragons/.