Appendix A
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The dictionary definition focuses on fantasy roleplay driven by game rules and chance. But the texts imply imagination need not be escapist - it can heighten our engagement with society. And rules/dice introduce unpredictability, but player creativity and ethics remain central.
Thus, tabletop RPGs facilitate collaborative trials of identity within bounded spaces. This process reveals multiplicity and interconnectedness, while avoiding total unselfing. Players project aspects of self onto roles, yet NPC interactions also externally reflect latent desires and conflicts. Though projection may raise imputation of qualities like agency, ultimately the game is an imaginative workspace for self-discovery, not literal embodiment. Or do they? (continue this thread…)
While fantasy scenarios can provide escapist entertainment, the shared storytelling also functions as metaphorical exploration of relationships and society. Rules introduce chance yet guide inquiry, while keeping player creativity primary. Or does it? (continue this thread…)
Tabletop roleplaying games constitute constrained workshops for identity play. This collaborative imagining can foster self-knowledge and empathy without branding or embodying a single self. RPGs thus craft spaces of guided imagination that illuminate the human experience. Or do they? (continue this thread…)
Tabletop RPGs reveal identity as multifaceted and fluid, not a singular fixed brand. By temporarily inhabiting fictional personas, players rediscover the diversity within themselves. PC interactions with imaginatively fleshed-out NPCs further reflect the self’s heterogeneous possibilities. Or do they? (continue this thread…)
Rules, chance elements, and gamemaster scenarios constrain yet focus collaborative imagining in RPGs. Unlike branding, this structure guides creative identity exploration rather than limiting it. The game’s constraints introduce unpredictability yet keep player agency primary. Or do they? (continue this thread…)
RPGs use fantasy and imagination not as escapism, but as a metaphorical language to better grasp relationships and society. Players gain emotional investment in fictional scenarios that then provide insight into the human condition. Imagination becomes a path to greater empathy and wisdom. Or does it? (continue this thread…)
By externalizing inner conflicts through NPC interactions in a low-stakes fictional space, RPGs allow players to safely encounter and integrate otherwise hidden aspects of self. The game becomes a crucible for catalyzing self-discovery through roleplay. It involves shared worldbuilding, not singular authorship. Meaning emerges through the interplay of multiple player perspectives. This models identity as co-constructed, woven from collaborative imagination. Unless it's not. (continue this thread…)
A shelf of games is a shelf holding technologies of the self-structured spaces for collaborative transformation. These imagination experiments subvert fixed identities, revealing us as co-authored perpetually in revision. The only limitation: permissions granted. Can it be? (continue this thread…)