Defense Date
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Art Education
Department
Art Education
First Advisor
Ryan Patton
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of the performance and embodiment of Dungeons & Dragons characters on their player’s self-development and self-confidence. Focusing on the game’s 5th edition, this narrative inquiry study is concerned with the applications of D&D as an artistic tool to build both community in formal and informal spaces of art education and individual players’ self-development through the avatars being portrayed during game time.
Ten adult participants ranging from age 23-28 were selected using a mix of direct recruitment and voluntary response. They filled out a digital survey introducing themselves and their main D&D characters, then a 45-minute Zoom semi-structured interview was scheduled and held with each participant. Throughout the interviews, participants answered prepared and emergent questions and shared stories of their character’s experiences in their campaign. These stories and responses were transcribed, compiled and coded, and the participants and their characters were classified according to three frameworks: Bowman’s 9 types of role-playing game characters, Banks’ Avatar as Object, Me, Symbiote, or Other framework, and Brown’s 8 play personalities. This study demonstrated through the narratives of each participant the impact of the characters studied on their respective player’s self, covering areas beyond those of self-development or self-confidence such as self-worth, self-care, self-image, and social connection. This impact was placed in the context of Christine Ling-Yin Liao’s theory on avatar pedagogy, as well as D&D’s alignment with the tenets of community-based art education proposed by Harris Lawton et al, to demonstrate that D&D can be more than just a game or a hobby, it can be an artform that promotes growth and learning.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
12-10-2024
