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meaningful play 2008 travel

Paper Information

TitleThe Anti-Immersive Theatre of Role-Playing Games
Presenter(s)Michael Ryan Skolnik
SessionFrom the Keyboard to the Game Board - Part 2
TimeSaturday, October 11, 11:30a-12:30p
LocationGreen Room
FormatPaper Presentation
DescriptionThis paper examines anti-immersive theatrical aesthetics (Brechtian epic theatre, Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed) in relation to the game play experience of tabletop role-playing games. In contrast to claims that immersion is the basis for a meaningful experience of interactive narrative in an interactive entertainment medium, this paper argues that a role-playing game aesthetic based on anti-immersive defamiliarization offers role-players a meaningful game play experience with additional critical possibilities and more favorable ideological implications.
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