On his Roleplaying Theory page, Vincent Baker wrote a definition of what he thought was “Roleplaying’s Fundamental Act” (6-9-03). According to Vincent “Roleplaying is negotiated imagination. In order for any thing to be true in game, all the participants in the game have to understand and assent to it”.

This implies that, in essence, roleplaying is a form of discourse, and thus, one can use the tools of Discourse Analysis to further examine roleplaying games.

Since Discourse Analysis is a cross-discipline, as it borrows form the fields of many social sciences, such as linguistics, anthropology, sociology, cognitive psychology and communication studies, using this discipline to study roleplaying games will also solve the problem of ignoring the social aspect of roleplaying spoused by many current theory trends, such as the Big Model (GNS and other matters…, Ron Edwards). Since Discourse Analysis is a pragmatic discipline, it means that it could be applied not only to analyze a gameplay, but also to provide insight into game design and gameplay advice.

It is my by using the groundwork already laid down by other disciplines, and applying it to Roleplaying Theory, we can arrive at a better comprehension, and fulfillment, of our hobby.

Tags: design, rolepalying, theory

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