Spinning the Magic Circle: The Ritual of Creating Art in Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Presenter

Guy Zwiebel

Campus

Northern Essex Community College

Sponsor

Meredith Gunning, Department of Global Studies Department, Northern Essex Community College

Schedule

Session 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board C3, Poster Showcase Room (163), Row 1 (C1-C10) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

The subject of Roleplaying and the study of Roleplaying Games is an emerging field, and with its appearance comes questions of Philosophical definition. Particularly, as an art form where all participants are simultaneously artists and audience, where do Roleplaying Games fall in relation to established definitions of art? I will be investigating how Tabletop Roleplaying Games are unique as an art form that is composed of other art forms, how well Roleplaying Games match the criteria of five major philosophies of art, as well as how Tabletop Roleplaying Games are beyond the scope of what each philosophy is able to define. Whether it be Mimetic and imitating realism, Expressionist evoking emotions, Formalist where the composition is more valued than the whole, Institutionalist where the worth is determined by galleries, or the Postmodernist wherein the individual's experience is most valued; each of the philosophies of art are only able to qualify pieces of what makes up a Tabletop Roleplaying Game-- and for each game that does qualify under one of the criteria there are an ever-expanding number that do not. This illustrates the existential core of Tabletop Roleplaying Games as art. Namely: does participation in art qualify as art in and of itself? 

Keywords

Role-Playing Games, Ritual, Art Philosophy, Creativity, Philosophy

Research Area

Art and Aesthetics

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