THE GREATEST UNREALITY: TABLETOP ROLE-PLAYING GAMES AND THE EXPERIENCE OF IMAGINED WORLDS A Dissertation by NICHOLAS J. MIZER Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Tom Green Committee Members, Harris Berger Vaughn Bryant Travis Dubry Head of Department, Cynthia Werner December 2015 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2015 Nicholas J. Mizer ABSTRACT Drawing on four years of participant observation, interviews, and game recordings, this dissertation explores the collaborative experience of imagined worlds in tabletop role- playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Research on tabletop games has at times been myopic in terms of time depth and geographic scope, and has often obscured the ethnographic realities of gaming communities. This research expands the ethnographic record on tabletop role-playing games and uses a phenomenological approach to carefully examine how gamers at five sites across the United States structure their experience of imagined worlds in the context of a productive tension between enchantment and rationalization. After discussing the history of Dungeons & Dragons in terms of enchantment and rationalization, the dissertation presents three case studies, each exploring a different facet of experience in imagined worlds. At a convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, gamers commemorate the life of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, but also their own childhoods and a sense of a lost, imagined pre-modern world. The experience of time in the game connects that perduring world with the imagined world of the game. Having explored the relationships between commemoration, nostalgia, and the experience of imagined worlds, the dissertation moves on to consider how the imagined worlds of gaming enter the experience of players. The techniques and theories of performance utilized by a gamer in Denton, Texas portray performances in gaming, psychedelic rock, and abstract analog video art as "kidnapping reality” through the use ii of color, song, and choice diction to convey both affect and imaginary things into the physical spaces of her performances. The final case study considers gamers in New York City and Portland, Connecticut, where two groups have developed the imaginary worlds of their games over many years. The dissertation argues that gamers in these groups come to experience the imagined world as increasingly concrete and complex over time, and that their sustained interactions with it develop into a strong sense of what Heidegger called dwelling. iii DEDICATION To Haus and Hive iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Green, and my committee members, Dr. Berger, Dr. Bryant, and Dr. Dubry, for their support, advice, and conversation throughout the course of this research. Thanks also go out to Kevin Pittle for his friendship and encouragement in the way starting from our first conversation about HPL. Without his help I would not have realized everything could be as vast as it is. I am grateful to my colleagues in the anthropology department at Texas A&M for their immeasurable and necessary support as a community of scholars, particularly to my cultural cohort, Anne Arundel, Brett, Hyunae, Kevin, and to Dr. Miracle. Thank you also to the staff, especially Marco Valadez that have helped me out of more than a few self- created kerfuffles. I would also like to thank The Glasscock Foundation and the Office of Graduate Studies for their funding and support. What seems like a lifetime ago, I began my first field work with a wonderful group of gamers who welcomed me into their lives, and I would be remiss if I did not thank Reid, Tiffany, Jesse, Rebecca, Thea, Jeremy, Joshua, and Jamie for teaching me that adventurers should not lick mysterious stones. In that vein I am indebted to everyone that has let me be a part of their gaming life, particularly the organizers of Gary Con and NTRPGCON, the FoJ, Lars, and Tavis. v None of this would be possible without the support and love of my parents, wife, and children; each of them have believed in me at times when I did not. Lastly, I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the Kickstarter backers who made this work possible: Erik Aasland, Peter Adkison, Tavis Allison, Zainah Alrujaib, Thomas Anderson, Jason Azze, Sarah Baburi, Derik Badman, John Birch, Sarah Bowman, Anthony Boyd, Zack Brattin, David Brawley, Kennen Breese, Ryan Browning, Matthew Buell, Sue Burke, Jim Burr, Benjamin AH Cameron, Mark Campos, Judith R. Card, Andrew Carroll, Ezra Claverie, Megan Corvus, Josh Crowe, Edward D., Jacob Deshaies, Robert Diber, Ana Douglas, Tad Duncan, Andrew Eakett c/o Weir Package and Freight, David Elhammer, Skylar English, Erik Evensen, MFA, Nina Fabiano, Brandon Ferguson, Matt Finch, Ken Finlayson, Cassie Fish, Endre Fodstad, Jesse Fowler, Dr Keith M Frampton, Nathan Gallagher, Antero Garcia, Spencer Gisser, Patrick E Grafton-Cardwell, Stephanie Granite, Karen J. Grant, Mark Greenberg, Brian Gregory, Troy Gustavel, Luke Gygax, Nathan Hagberg, Jessica Hammer, scott hardy , Tim Hartgrave, Greg Hartman, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Kalani Hausman, Heath Hicks, Tawnda Hielside, Garron Hillaire, Rachael Hixon, Caitlin Howle, Chris Hoyt, Pete Hurley, James Husum, Timothy Hutchings, Amy Irvin, Jari. Erik Jensen, Edgar D. Johnson III, Brett Kelly, Nicolas LaLone, James Lewis, Nichlas Loef, James Lowder, Lyndsey, Mark Malone, Nate Marshall, Bryan & Leann Martin, Taelor McClurg, Ian McDougall, Jeremy Milsom, Matthew Mockett, Michael Mornard, Jeremy Nelson, Mike Norman, Robert ONeal, Jake Parker, Ryan Percival, Mike Perna, Jon Peterson, Nakia S. Pope, David Post, Jimmy Prehn, Victor Raymond, Chad Reiss, Joshua Ressel, Philip vi Riley, Rafael Rocha, Trystan Rhosyn Rundquist, Jessica Rutland, Charlie Sanders, Kevin D. Saunders, Anthony Savini, Stephanie Schnorbus, Matt Scoggins, Peter Seckler, Natasha Sevigny, Adam B. Shaeffer, matt shoemaker, Ramanan Sivaranjan, Matt Smith, Micah Smith, Chris Stanley, Dr. Erika Svanoe, Nicholas Swanzy, Dr. Ryan Takeo Tanimura, Adam, Aaron Teixeira, Michael Tresca, Urban Think! Foundation, LX Van Drie, Terrence, Dr. Justin S. Vaughn, Rachel Ventura, Wallace, John Welkener, Donald Wheeler, Derek W. White, Matt Whiteacre, Porter Williams, Jeffrey Winking, Zuzanna "Chuxia" Wnuk, Barbara wright, Matthew Wysocki, and Angela Younie. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Prologue ......................................................................................................................... 1 Generals and Particulars ................................................................................................. 3 What is a Role-Playing Game? ...................................................................................... 4 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................. 7 Experience and Phenomenology ................................................................................ 8 Phenomenology in TRPG Scholarship ..................................................................... 12 The Hermeneutical Approach .................................................................................. 14 Methods ........................................................................................................................ 17 Site Selection ............................................................................................................ 17 Participant Observation ............................................................................................ 20 Interviews and Recordings ....................................................................................... 23 Crowdfunding and Ethical Obligations .................................................................... 26 Structure of the Work ................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER II THE PALADIN ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF DUNGEONEERING ... 32 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 32 Disenchantment, Re-Enchantment and Disenchanted Enchantment ........................... 33 Rationalization in the Pre-History of D&D.................................................................. 36 The Adventurer’s Paradox ........................................................................................... 39 1974: The Birth of a Game ........................................................................................... 44 The Early Evolution of the Game ................................................................................ 47 Advanced D&D ...........................................................................................................