Role-playing gamers come from a diverse mix of backgrounds, but they have enough in common with each other to be grouped into a few distinct categories. As defined by Gary Alan Fine in his book, Shared Fantasy, gamers can be grouped into the following categories: military history/wargaming, knowledge of fantasy literature, knowledge of real-world mythology, knowledge of general history/social sciences, knowledge of real world physical science, and live action role-playing groups like the Society for Creative Anachronism. According to Fine, these possessing any one of these seven traits increases the likelihood a player will be interested in role-playing.
Military history/wargaming now has a distinct fantasy bent thanks to Games Workshops’ Warhammer series. As a result, this category can be further divided into military history buffs and wargamers. Given that Fine’s book was published in 1983, it’s likely that military history buffs no longer see the appeal of role-playing as much as they once did.
Dungeons & Dragons has strayed far from its original wargaming roots. In the late 70s, Dungeons & Dragons was still struggling to separate itself from wargaming culture, where it originated, and thus many players came to role-playing from wargaming. Given that wargaming up to that point was usually a military simulation of a real-life historical event, wargamers attracted military history buffs.
Knowledge of fantasy literature is perhaps best exemplified by the resurgence of Lord of the Rings series’ popularity. The Lord of the Rings movies brought fantasy mainstream and it had a powerful influence on both role-playing games and science fiction and fantasy conventions. Decipher published licensed role-playing and collectible card games that took place in Middle Earth. The female population attending genre conventions surged during the release of the three Rings movies. Fantasy literature can also encompass horror and science fiction. Call of Cthulhu draws heavily on the literature that helped shape the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, a division blurred further by the game’s publisher, Chaosium, which also publishes a line of fiction.
Knowledge of real-world mythology constitutes a smaller group of gamers, given the esoteric nature of the topic. Fine leaves out reference to alternative religions and lifestyles, which are sometimes strongly connected to mythology, Asatru and Wicca being two examples. In Dungeons & Dragons especially, a wide variety of mythologies have been presented throughout each edition of the game. Interest in mythology and alternative religions can certainly be pique one’s interest in gaming.
Knowledge of general history and social sciences is probably most appealing for game masters, who have better insight and more control over how detailed fantasy worlds work. They can use history as a template or actually reconstruct historical events with their own twist, such as Cthulhu Dark Ages or Victorian Vampire.
Knowledge of real-world physical science is more relevant to science fiction role-playing games. In a manner similar to history buffs, scientists are likely more interested in constructing a detailed world that operates on scientific principles, or warps one specific natural law with interesting results. Surprisingly, there is no one science fiction game that clearly dominates in the same way that Dungeons & Dragons has dominated tabletop role-playing with the fantasy genre.
Live action role-playing, wherein the players physically inhabit a role, is a natural fit for tabletop role-playing games. Players are able to visualize their fantasy because they performed many of those same actions. Whereas Fine limits this comparison to the SCA, the definition can be stretched to include anyone with real-life physical experience who uses that knowledge in a role-playing game. This can include real-life martial artists, military veterans, and improv actors.
Because Fine’s book was written in the 80s, one particular gaming influence is missing: video games. Massive multi-player online role-playing games, first-person shooters, and real-time strategy games all have adopted fantasy and science fiction elements that were prevalent in pen-and-paper role-playing games.
Your turn. Do you find these traits apply to you? Or is there are a category missing?
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