Are there any quantitative studies of the benefits of Role Playing Games (e.g. D&D)? I have found a number of anecdotal studies but nothing with a firm measurement. If you have any qualitative studies I would be interested in them, but I really want to see some figures.
I am not sure this is what you are looking for, and it is very likely that you already know about these, but here are a few resources:
THis is the study about possible negative effect of D&D (found on ResearchGate):
Hawkes-Robinson, W. A. Analysis of the report ALIENATION AND THE GAME DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.
Chicago
Tychsen, A. (2006, December). Role playing games: comparative analysis across two media platforms. In Proceedings of the 3rd Australasian conference on Interactive entertainment (pp. 75-82). Murdoch University.
Bowman, S. L. (2010). The functions of role-playing games: How participants create community, solve problems and explore identity. McFarland.
Walton, W. J. (1995). Role-playing games: The Stigmas and Benefits.
Thanks Yulia.
The first is most likely closest to what I was looking for i terms of a DoE - however the study had a huge number of flaws - not the least of which being the number and diversity of those who participated and was not an experiment but a post application survey. There is therefore nothing to show that players with high levels of alienation are not say more attracted to Playing, and are more prevalent in the pre-treatment set. In fact other studies such as "Give me a reason to Dig" on Minecraft showed that the player set of that game was highly correlated with traits of curiosity - not surprising that players before picking up the game would be more likely to have that type of personality trait as it would make them play the game. Perhaps D&D players are alienated to being with and then use D&D in the formation of social groups. From personal experience I would deem that the case than "the game is making them run away".
Thanks for the articles. They are helping me get a better idea on how to define the study I am working on.
I read somewhere about RPGs being used as a way to help shy adolescents to express thenselves.
Also, I saw a interview with Vin Diesel where he mention RPGs as one of the main forces behind his creative expression. Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/5lG4_5231t8?t=3m45s
https://youtu.be/5lG4_5231t8?t=3m45s
You can download from Academia a few papers of the research I carried our when I was teaching, and there are two videos on YouTube of my classes at work. Email if you do not find the papers or the videos.
@Paulo Thanks - I knew Vin Diesel was a big D&D player and supporter of the medium bit I haven't seen this interview.
@Pierre: Links are always better than just saying "I have some stuff on this" Also, others might be following this question and want to view them. If you have something relevant then feel free to advertise it effectively :D. Like I could email you, but then what if someone else wants to have access.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games
http://www.theescapist.com/rpgpaper.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2513832/Study-finds-video-games-good-mental-health.html
Let me be more clear "Table top RPGs" and "quantitative studies."
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