Sarah Lynne Bowman | Uppsala University Campus Gotland (original) (raw)

Papers by Sarah Lynne Bowman

Monstrosity in Games and Play: A Multidisciplinary Examination of the Monstrous in Contemporary Cultures, 2015

Drawing from previous work by Beltrán (2013) and Bowman (2010, 2012, 2017a) and several semi-stru... more Drawing from previous work by Beltrán (2013) and Bowman (2010, 2012, 2017a) and several semi-structured interviews with therapists and psychologists, this paper details the concept of shadow work within the context of role-playing games. Originating in Jungian depth psychology, the term shadow has morphed to include not only the unconscious, but also more conscious aspects of the self that a person may want to criticize, disown, hide, or shame. Drawing upon the methods and experiences of experts in the field, this chapter shapes theory around the ways in which players can interact productively with repressed parts of their own consciousness that emerge in play spaces. Themes of shadow work found in the interviews were: experiencing loss, violation, and/or trauma; exerting power over others; portraying undesirable personality traits; expressing mental health challenges; and exploring dysfunctional or maladaptive social dynamics.

International Journal of Role-Playing

IJRP 13: Full Issue Table of Contents Sarah Lynne Bowman, William J. White, and Evan Torner, &quo... more IJRP 13: Full Issue Table of Contents Sarah Lynne Bowman, William J. White, and Evan Torner, "Editorial: Transformative Play Seminar 2022: Education,Personal Development, and Meaning Making” This special issue is the first of a two-part series collecting the short articles presented during the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar, held at Uppsala University Campus Gotland in Visby, Sweden on October 20-21, 2022. Maryanne Cullinanand Jennifer Genova, “Gaming the Systems: A Component Analysis Frameworkfor the Classroom Use of RPGs” This article presents guidelines for constructing educational experiences with learning role-playing games (LRPGs) based on specific learning objectives, including academic skills, social emotional skills, and executive functioning skills. Josefin Westborg, “The Educational Role-Playing Game Design Matrix:Mapping Design Components onto Types of Education” This article offers categories for understanding different facets of learning and role-playing g...

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM, 2023

Many psychologists, therapists, and educators have emphasized the practice of play, especially wi... more Many psychologists, therapists, and educators have emphasized the practice of play, especially with enacted roles, as a site for learning and therapeutic growth. This article weaves together a plethora of theories from psychology, Counseling, and role-playing game studies in an effort to understand the nature of enacted roles, their relationship to identity, and their transformative potential. Challenging the notion that identity is a fixed, stable monolith, the article synthesizes four overall approaches to theorizing the nature of identity drawn from various theories: identity as a social construct, narrative identity, identity as psychodynamic, and identities as parts of a whole. The authors posit that these ways of framing identity can help role-players, designers, and facilitators better understand the multifaceted nature of selfhood. This work holds implications for understanding the enactment of characters in role-playing games, especially with regard to the transformative potential of the role-playing experience.

Throughout the article, we also explore the psychology of play from the perspective of therapeutic practices and modalities that exist outside of the discourses of role-playing games as a hobby or field of academic study. We will emphasize how role-play, identity shifting, narrative, and embodied enactment are present in many existing therapeutic processes to various degrees. Examples include psychosynthesis, Gestalt therapy, drama therapy, narrative therapy, Internal Family Systems, and person-centred therapy. We will highlight clinical therapists who use role-playing games to augment more traditional practices.

Furthermore, while role-taking activities are central to many human experiences throughout time, the article will emphasize benefits the imagination space of role-playing games, particularly with regard to prolonged perspective taking, co-creative improvisation, the alibi of fiction, and increased agency and empowerment. The article will also address limitations to the form that might interrupt its transformative potential, such as cognitive dissonance, identity defense, and difficulties with integrating these experiences within one’s life narrative after they conclude.

#eduRPG. Rollenspiel als Methode der Bildung, 2024

To further our discussion of the didactic potential of RPGs, this chapter will discuss the basics... more To further our discussion of the didactic potential of RPGs, this chapter will discuss the basics of live action role-playing games (larp), as well as adjacent phenomena. We will consider three main larp formats: boffer, chamber, and freeform. We will discuss similarities and differences between these formats and tabletop role-playing games, particularly with regard to their educational potential, their connection to social-emotional learning, and their potency as a result of their somatic, embodied nature. We will emphasize how many larp formats offer players the opportunity to experience a significant amount of agency to make meaningful choices create play emergently.

Tabletop role-playing games can range in scope, intensity, and level of performative enactment. A dungeon crawl featuring only dice rolling, out-of-character strategizing, and combat actions is technically considered a role-playing game, as are games with no dice, no game masters, no combat, and intense immersion into character. In general, the more that players experience embodiment of their character and their performance of the fiction, the closer a game becomes to a larp, although some larps can feature off-game strategizing as well. Embodiment refers to the player physically behaving as they imagine their character would, considering their character in the first-person, i.e. instead of “My character goes to talk to the bartender,” saying “I go talk to the bartender” and/or physically walking up to someone portraying the bartender and speaking to them. Note that for our purposes, embodiment in this case can take place when sitting around a table playing a TTRPG, as some people choose to wear costumes and enact their characters deeply, but the more physical these actions become, the more the game becomes a larp. For example, a group may be playing a game of Fiasco around the table, then choose to physically improvise their characters actions instead of describing them, which is more akin to a larp. Such players may even say, “We got up and larped our game of Fiasco.”

As a format, larp is also wide and ranges in scope, intensity, and level of performative enactment. Thus, it becomes difficult to generalize about larp, as different play groups use the term to describe vastly distinct behaviors -- or may not use the term at all when describing behaviors identical to what other groups call “larp.” In general, we define larp as co-creative experiences where participants immerse into fictional characters and realities in an embodied manner for a bounded period of time through emergent playfulness. However, this definition could also be applied to other types of role-playing, such as psychodrama, Drama in Education, improvisation, simulation, and reenactment, as we will discuss in this chapter. Thus, we will refine our definition to focus specifically upon games that have emerged from the RPG subcultures of some kind, whether through the influence of Dungeons & Dragons (1974) or other subcultural roots. For example, in Russia, larp emerged in the 1990s as groups of players inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien began to run larps based on the books entitled Hobbit Games (Semenov 2010).

This refinement of the definition allows us to identify larps that have been designed explicitly for educational goals and note how and why their contributions to pedagogy are unique, i.e. edu-larps (Bowman 2014). For example, if an educational role-playing game was designed inspired by leisure games and includes mechanics of some sort, some sort of fantastic setting, win conditions, and persistent co-creation in a consistent fictional world, we can consider it an edu-larp (Bowman and Standiford 2015). However, a larp inspired by the Nordic larp tradition featuring no mechanics, full embodiment of character, no win conditions, i.e. “playing to lose,” in a socially realistic setting such as a prison can also be an edu-larp (Aarebrot & Nielsen, 2012) Similarly, a nursing simulation in which health professionals role-play that includes techniques from Nordic or American freeform -- a tabletop/larp hybrid form -- can also be considered an edu-larp (Standiford 2014). However, the pedagogical goals may be the same as in other types of role-playing in educational and therapeutic settings. Thus, in this chapter, we will further explain and define these cousin forms of larp in order to be precise with our terminology.

Regardless of definition, embodied role-playing and storytelling are human activities that likely predate the written language. Humans often learn, educate, practice behaviors and bond through embodied play, as evidenced in childhood pretend play (Bowman & Lieberoth 2018; Kapitany 2022). These different manifestations of embodied role-playing are specific to the socio-cultural contexts within which they emerged, but have many of the same benefits regardless of form. Similarly, many of the benefits of larp can also be achieved through TTRPGs. Thus, this chapter will conclude by discussing the ways in which socio-emotional learning can be enhanced further through physical embodiment as a result of bridging the mental and somatic gap.

#eduRPG. Rollenspiel als Methode der Bildung, Apr 30, 2024

As with any educational modality, no guarantees can be made about efficacy and consistency across... more As with any educational modality, no guarantees can be made about efficacy and consistency across student populations. Therefore, when we discuss didactics and RPGs, we refer to their potential. Because RPGs are a form of experiential learning, within which players interact with each other in shared co-creativity, our experience and research indicates that their didactic potential is heightened, particularly along specific cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions (Bowman 2014). Additionally, because RPGs are multimodal, meaning they have multiple methods of engagement operating at the same time, students have the possibility to train several skills and practice working with multiple bases of knowledge at once.

Notably, this strength of RPGs can also be considered a weakness depending on the context. RPGs are often far more chaotic than typical classroom activities, as each student is granted more agency to make meaningful choices than is usually permitted in educational settings. Sometimes, teachers may feel out of control or ill-equipped to handle this comparatively chaotic energy (Larsson 2004, p. 247; Harder 2007, p. 234; Hyltoft 2010, p. 51). Additionally, RPGs’ multimodal nature often means that students are engaging in multiple activities at the same time, with their associated thought processes and emotional reactions. Thus, a challenge for educational RPG designers and facilitators is in finding ways to make sure the activity centers upon the specific learning objective and/or curricular goals. Additionally, educators should be aware of some of the central concepts in both role-playing theory and in didactics in order to make informed choices in the classroom. This chapter will explain some of the key concepts in these areas, applying them to learning situations involving RPGs.

Immersive Gameplay: Essays on Participatory Media and Role-Playing, 2012

This paper will examine these recent applications of previous theories to the activity of role-pl... more This paper will examine these recent applications of previous theories to the activity of role-playing, while adding a new dimension to understanding the process of immersion from the perspective of Jungian psychoanalysis. I will explain how Jung’s concepts of active imagination, the collective unconscious, archetypes, envisioning, dialoguing, individuation, and integration can help role-players conceptualize the process beneath the enactment of their role-playing characters. Then, I will explain Jungian theory’s place within the spectrum of the history of ideas in the last century. Lastly, I will offer tracks for further research in the area of applied analytical psychology and role-playing, including: the Campbellian monomyth, Erich Neumann’s three universal mythic structures, and more detailed analyses of common archetypes. While I do not intend for this contribution to explain all of the psychological factors present while role-playing, I hope to further complexify our understanding of the psychological nature of the fantasy content enacted through characters during immersive play.

Playing Harry Potter: Essays and Interviews on Fandom and Performance, 2015

As explored throughout this volume, Harry Potter fandom often inspires various performative activ... more As explored throughout this volume, Harry Potter fandom often inspires various performative activities, including cosplay, musical performances, and fanfic. While each of these activities deserve study in their own right, this chapter will focus upon the practice of enacting characters in the Harry Potter world through perhaps one of the deepest forms of immersion into the Potterverse: role-playing. This chapter will compare and contrast role-playing experiences with other theatrical modes of enactment, such as improvisation, performance art, and method acting, integrating concepts from the work of Lee Strasberg, Brian Bates, and Uta Hagan. While role-playing remains similar to these forms, current theorists Jaakko Stenros and Jamie MacDonald have explored some key components inherent to the role-play experience with reference to other performative arts.

Role-playing games offer performative spaces that allow for co-creative, collaborative storytelling experiences. Unlike cosplay, in which individuals solely focus upon dressing up as a character from the fiction, role-players reenact a character's mentality and project that consciousness into an ongoing fictional world created with other participants. Role-play transpires in three overall performance spaces: online, in-person through tabletop role-playing games, and in-person through live action role-playing (larp). This chapter will explore these three forms of role-playing by offering an extensive list of Harry Potter-themed games that have transpired since the release of the books. While scholars should not consider this list comprehensive, I hope the scope will convey the plurality of the types of experiences sought out by Potter fans who have taken their engagement with the story to a more immersive level.

Revista de Estudos Universitários - REU, 2022

Analog role-playing games provide an avenue for players to explore a diversity of experiences and... more Analog role-playing games provide an avenue for players to explore a diversity of experiences and self-concepts by playing out new roles in a co-created fictional reality. This article provides a theoretical framework for this process, discussing the nature of consensus reality as a force that can suppress forms of identity expression that individuals find authentic. We discuss how live action role-playing (larp) and tabletop games can provide transformational containers, where individuals can explore new ways of being, relating, and enacting beliefs through the experience of increased agency. As an example, we discuss our larp, Euphoria, which was designed as a role-playing game environment reflecting queer performance spaces within which participants can express gender and sexual identities that feel more authentic.

Role-Playing Game Studies, 2018

Resumo: Este trabalho analisa algumas características da poética do humor no seriado "Chaves... more Resumo: Este trabalho analisa algumas características da poética do humor no seriado "Chaves", tal como ocorre na interação verbal entre as personagens a partir, especialmente, do conceito de "comunicação poética" formulado por Décio Pignatari. A partir de pesquisa exploratória feita com episódios com a "trupe clássica" (1973-1980), foram destacados três elementos: (a) a criação de palavras e trocadilhos derivada da incompreensão constante entre as personagens; (b) a materialização de elementos grotescos na fala das personagens; (c) um substrato negativo, baseado em uma sutil crítica social. Palavras-chave: Teoria da Comunicação. Humor. Televisão. Chaves. Abstract: This papers analyses some characteristics of the television show "El Chavo Del Ocho" poetics of humor as it is displayed in the character's interpersonal communication. Pignatari's concept of 'poetical communication' is particularly adressed as a main analytical tool...

Play can be fun, liberating, exciting, orderly, trivial, and regenerative, but it can also be dis... more Play can be fun, liberating, exciting, orderly, trivial, and regenerative, but it can also be disruptive, disrespectful, unruly, serious, chaotic, and transgressive. Role-playing games (RPGs) are ordered play. They not only have rules set down by game designers, but also social rules, and cultural norms about how participation is conducted. For the most part, play and playfulness stay within the limits of the rules, but at times they overstep those boundaries. Indeed, play is prone to invite disport with norms and boundaries. These transgressions can happen accidentally, but it is also possible for players to knowingly question and ignore the numerous boundaries. RPGs, specifically, establish temporary alternative norms and rules which might be transgressive in many other situations, while providing plausible deniability for societal boundary-breaking as players are just following the rules of the game. In many ways, play is a contested space: a tension between the possible and impo...

UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collectio... more UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. Learn more... ProQuest, Role-playing: An ethnographic exploration. by Bowman, Sarah Lynne, Ph.D., THE UNIVERSITY ...

This mixed method case study examines the effectiveness of an educational role-playing (edu-larp)... more This mixed method case study examines the effectiveness of an educational role-playing (edu-larp) intervention into the science curriculum of a charter school in Los Angeles that serves an economically disadvantaged population. Utilizing psychometric surveys and semi-structured interviews, the investigators gathered data from middle school students evaluating their development along five dimensions of learning before and after the semester-long program: intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, school engagement, team work, and leadership. The study also gathered qualitative data from the 23 students in this convenient sample group regarding their overall experiences with the edu-larp method. When paired with traditional pedagogy, out of these five dimensions of student development, the investigators found that the edu-larp intervention helped increase overall intrinsic motivation and interest/enjoyment of science in the quantitative data. The qualitative and quantitative findings...

This thematic, qualitative ethnography describes the types of social conflict occurring within ro... more This thematic, qualitative ethnography describes the types of social conflict occurring within role-playing groups and examines possible sources for their exacerbation. The study includes several types of role-playing from a phenomenological perspective, including tabletop, larp, and virtual gaming. Semi-structured interviews were collected from a selective sample of 30 international participants gathered from vastly different play cultures. While the types of games and methods of play contributed to conflict in some instances, striking similarities between the experiences of players across modes, cultures, and genres were observed.

Role-Playing Game Studies

Velvet Light Trap, Mar 22, 2002

... The New York critics&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27; letter called attention to the ways su... more ... The New York critics&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27; letter called attention to the ways such a prac-tical business policy ... While my primary interest is in content censorship, I argue throughout that Hollywood&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s dealings with sex on screen are part of a larger history concerning the evolution of American ...

Kyle Barnett is a Ph. D. student in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of ... more Kyle Barnett is a Ph. D. student in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include the study of popular music across media technologies, film and media studies, and contemporary cultural criticism. His dissertation is on the emergence of musical genres within the US recording industry.

... and Gary, Mark J., Jason B. and Trudi, Jason K., Ty, Crystal, Brooke, Tasha, Harry, Court-ney... more ... and Gary, Mark J., Jason B. and Trudi, Jason K., Ty, Crystal, Brooke, Tasha, Harry, Court-ney, Sara, Kadija, Patricia, Morrie, Brad ... The creators of the original Dungeons &amp;amp;amp; Dragons, E. GaryGygax and Dave Arneson, drew heavily from Tolkien when developing the standard-ized ...