SCHOLARS, DESIGNERS, GAMERS, AND OTHER GEEKS: DEFINING ISSUES AND A REVIEW OF THE FORERUNNERS OF ROLE-PLAYING GAME STUDIES FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Keywords:
video games, role-playing games/RPGs, RPG studies, forerunners of RPG studies, interdisciplinarity, 20th centuryAbstract
The topic of this paper is defining issues of role-playing games (RPGs), as well as a diachronic review of significant interests (academic and otherwise) related to that genre of (video) games during the second half of the 20th century, considered as forerunners to the beginning of the field of study in the first decade of the new millennium. Contemporary role-playing games (as well as video games in general) have a complex history, structure, and form, therefore representatives of RPG studies stand for interdisciplinarity as a professional preference. The main goal of the article is to provide an insight into the dynamics that preceded the establishment of these studies, opening up fundamental questions about the roles of the disciplinary pluralism.
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