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Often, only half the time during a session is actually spent roleplaying, as the other half is usually spent chatting. Roleplaying games are a tool for enabling conversation, allowing people to connect with friends. The four main reasons we use tabletop RPGs in our social skills groups: learning the perspectives of others, improving frustration tolerance, developing problem-solving skills, and cultivating communication and collaboration skills. Having something positive to look back upon, particularly actions that ultimately benefited the group they are playing with, demonstrates how a player and their character can make a positive contribution to the overall success of a group, both in and out of the game. Virtual tabletop Fantasy Grounds saw its user count jump by around 15 times during lockdown. This is echoed by Day, who describes how she felt after roleplaying: “I felt really pumped and went to bed going over the game, thinking about developing my character.” We know these memories are pure fantasy, but because there are in-game consequences for our actions, they act as memories. “Events in roleplaying games are stored in our memory as things we have directly experienced, thereby creating positive memories for players to look back on,” explains Davis. “Initially we were really awkward, but then I forgot the people weren't in the room with me.”īeing able to draw upon shared positive experiences - regardless of whether they actually happened or not - becomes a tool for positive reinforcement. “As a 44-year-old woman who works shifts, it's hard for me to find people who want to roleplay with me,” says Day. One person who roleplayed for the first time during lockdown was emergency line operator Chase Day. “We saw a spike in new users of roughly 15 times our normal rate,” says Doug Davison, developer of virtual tabletop platform Fantasy Grounds. This increased demand was shared by virtual tabletop providers. “One of the things that we saw immediately was an increased interest in D&D,” says Dan Barrett, the EU brand manager for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. Interest in tabletop roleplaying had been building over the previous few years, but it started peaking from the end of March 2020, at the height of the first lockdown. One of the things that we saw immediately was an increased interest in D&D. It was not only existing players who were playing online, but new ones too, intrigued by the social interaction that the hobby offered. People were seeking ways to tackle the isolation, and it seemed tabletop RPGs might be an answer. These are online platforms that allow people to play roleplaying games over the internet, usually in conjunction with video conferencing tools. With players being unable to meet in person, they turned to virtual tabletops. “Not just isolation, but the epidemic of loneliness that we already experienced long before COVID-19.” “The lockdown did not create a problem, but emphasised an existing one, namely the isolation,” says Davis. We were locked inside, for the first time in our lives, in the midst of a pandemic trying to cope with the associated stress without the usual support network around us. People were separated from their friends and family, holidays were cancelled and celebrations were missed. It would be fair to say that the isolation was hard for almost everybody. When the lockdowns and social distancing came into effect last spring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, people were no longer able to meet in person and play games. The lockdown did not create a problem, but emphasised an existing one, namely isolation. Learning and growing through stories is in our DNA.” “While playing RPGs seems like a new phenomenon, it's actually ancestral. “Roleplaying games are similar to the ancient tradition of telling stories around the campfire,” explains Adam Davis of the roleplaying-based therapy group Game to Grow. Their heritage permeates the very roots of our culture. They are a form of collaborative storytelling, whose roots extend far deeper than the creation of Dungeons & Dragons nearly 50 years ago. Roleplaying games are far more than just a social hobby.
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