RPG Research's Role-Playing Game Research Knowledgebase.


We provides the world's largest free and open knowledgebase on the effects of all role-playing game formats:

  1. tabletop (TRPG aka TTRPG)
  2. live-action (LRPG and larps)
  3. electronic (ERPG, xR, AR, VR, audio, brain-computer interface, etc.)
  4. hybrids (HRPG)


In 2004 there were only about 50 studies on the effects of role-playing games available in the world. As of 2020 our knowledgebase contains more than 10,000 content items and it is continuing to grow exponentially! Much of this content is not available anywhere else, not even through university libraries and databases.


For general citations and documentation purposes referencing RPG Research as a source, use this URL: https://www.rpgresearch.com/knowledgebase


NOTE: Previously the citation URl to use for researchers and papers was /research since 2004, but due to insurance bureaucratic red tape we had to change the title and URL in 2022 to Knowledgebase. The URL above has always been the URL to use to provide access to researchers for all of our website online repository research resources as they have evolved over the decades, online since 2004.


You can start with our pre-curated links here, or use our knowledgebase search.


Then drill down through our resources from there. Our volunteer research archivists are still moving thousands of content items from our older servers to our newer ones. Thank you for your patience during this massive undertaking.


We're Here To Help!

We want to help you find (and share) the information you need to further your efforts.


That is why we exist.


In addition to world's largest online knowledgebase repository, we have unique content not available anywhere else in the world, including the estate archives from the founder of CAR-PGa, Paul Cardwell, Jr. with over a thousand pounds of paper content.


If you can't find what you need in our knowledgebase, let us know, and we'll have our volunteer Archives Team members dig into our additional offline resources to help you out.


Future revisions of our knowledgebase may be including ratings tools to separate "higher quality" content from potentially useful but less rigorously implemented content. We appreciate your input on the best approach to such a scoring system to make it easier for you to find the content you need for your project.


For example, some research projects only allow the most restrictive closed, Q1 peer-reviewed journals as a source, while others allow variations of flexibility in what is considered "valid" content to include in your study.


Extended list of resources

See our Role-Playing Game Research Resources page to see a broad range of resources available to aid you in your role-playing game research efforts.



Role-Playing Game Research

This page helps to provide role-playing games research (RPG research) in the language appropriate to various backgrounds to help you find the role-playing game research information you are looking for.

If you are a layperson such as a role-playing gamer, a parent/guardian of a gamer,, an educator, or healthcare professional, you may want to try the relevant pages that explain this site and projects more in your terminology.

NOTE: Any links to the organization RPG Research's research archives might not be currently accessible to the public due to recent insurance requirements.

Historically, for decades, our research archives have been 100% free and open to the public (to the extent permitted by copyright and privacy laws). We are doing all we can to get the added insurance necessary to allow us to re-open our research archives to the public. This requires substantial donations because the insurance companies consider this a high risk function.

Our research repository contains more than 10,000 content items on the effects of role-playing games, including thousands of items not available anywhere else in the world (such as the Paul Cardwell collection donated to RPG Research by the Paul Cardwell Estate, his widow Gladys Cardwell).

YOUR DONATION MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR ABILITY TO AFFORD THE ANNUAL INSURANCE REQUIRED TO ENABLE US TO RE-OPEN THE WORLD'S LARGEST FREE AND OPEN RESEARCH REPOSITORY ON THE EFFECTS OF ROLE-PLAYING GAMES TO THE PUBLIC.  

Role-Playing Game Research Sorted by Professional Discipline or Knowledge Domain

We are still working on tagging the vast database of content, so these lists are far from complete, but we're working on it as quickly as possible. Please consider joining as a volunteer to help speed up this process. Many disciplines included, based on article tags.

  1. Educator
  2. Cognitive Neuropsychology
  3. Healthcare professional
  4. Therapeutic Recreation / Recreation Therapy
  5. Psychology
  6. Psychiatry
  7. Sociology
  8. Neurosciences (imaging, feedback, EEG, black-box reverse engineering, etc.)
  9. Recreation / Leisure Professionals
  10. Therapeutic Recreation / Recreational Therapy
  11. Business professionals / Executives
  12. Legal professionals
  13. Marketing / public relations professionals
  14. Entertainment professionals
  15. Laypersons
  16. Others


Role-Playing Game Research Archives Sorted by Population or Diagnosis

 Populations include, but are not limited to:

  1. Accessibility
  2. Autism Spectrum (ASD, PDD, Asperger's, etc.)
  3. ADHD
  4. Agoraphobia
  5. Anxiety
  6. Aphantasia
  7. Aphasia
  8. At-risk Youth
  9. Brain Injury Recovery (stroke, TBI, etc.)
  10. Cerebral Palsy
  11. Deaf & Hard of Hearing
  12. Developmental Delays
  13. Developmental Impairments
  14. Gifted & Talented
  15. Hearing Impairment
  16. Incarcerate Adults (prison / jail)
  17. Incarcerated Youth (prison / juvenile detention / jail)
  18. In-patient Adults
  19. In-patient Youth
  20. In-patient to out-patient substance dependency rehabilitation transition
  21. Muscular Dystrophy (MD)
  22. Panic Disorder
  23. Social Skills Development
  24. Social & Agoraphobia
  25. Vision Impairment

Role-Playing Game Research Studies Sorted by Research Study Type

  1. Correlative, correlational research
  2. Meta-analysis research
  3. Case studies
  4. Causal research
  5. Controlled research
  6. Experimental research
  7. Non-experimental research
  8. Quasi-experimental research
  9. Clinical, evidence-in-practice
  10. Peer-reviewed
  11. Longitudinal
  12. Cross-sectional, Synchronous research
  13. Cohort
  14. Non-peer-reviewed
  15. Theoretical research
  16. Applied research
  17. Exploratory research
  18. Qualitative
  19. Quantitative
  20. Descriptive research
  21. Explanatory research
  22. Deductive investigation
  23. Inductive research
  24. Hypothetical-Deductive research
  25. Primary research
  26. Secondary research
  27. Documentary (cabinet)
  28. Field research
  29. Laboratory research
  30. Literature review
  31. Mixed-method: Documentary, field, and/or laborator

Queue of RPG Research Questions

Here is a list of research questions The RPG Research Project would like to be able to answer: http://www.rpgresearch.com/about/list-of-research-questions/


Role-Playing Game Research Sorted by Effects / Potential Benefits/Deficits / Targeted Goals / Topics

Related to the above list of research questions, here is relevant information gathered so far, if you are looking for information targeting specific benefits/goals, many areas of benefit are often realized through the intentional utilization of music and role-playing games, some of the most common benefits include:

Social

  1. Anger Management
  2. Appropriate Behavior
  3. Appropriate Verbal Interaction
  4. Communication
  5. Cooperation with diverse people/cultures/backgrounds
  6. Cooperative Problem Solving
  7. Delayed Gratification
  8. Effective / Assertive (not aggressive) interaction methodologies
  9. Empathy
  10. Exposure to other cultures, religions, histories, belief systems, etc.
  11. Frustration recognition and management
  12. Hostility decreases from cooperation
  13. Hostility increases from competition
  14. Impulse control
  15. Languages/Linguistics
  16. Leadership
  17. Learning/following the rules but also “thinking outside of the box when needed”
  18. Multicultural mythologies
  19. Walking in others shoes/experiences
  20. alignment
  21. Anger management
  22. Appropriate behavior
  23. Appropriate verbal interaction
  24. Communication skills
  25. Cooperation with diverse people/cultures/backgrounds
  26. Cooperative problem solving
  27. Delayed gratification
  28. Effective / Assertive (not aggressive) interaction methodologies
  29. Effective communication techniques
  30. Empathy
  31. Ethics
  32. Exposure to other cultures, religions, histories, belief systems, etc.
  33. Frustration recognition and management
  34. Group communication
  35. Group formation
  36. Hostility decreases from cooperation
  37. Hostility increases from competition
  38. Impulse control
  39. Interaction patterns
  40. Languages/Linguistics
  41. Leadership
  42. Learning/following the rules but also “thinking outside of the box when needed”
  43. Morality
  44. Multicultural mythologies
  45. Small group dynamics
  46. Walking in others shoes/experiences
  47.  


Creative


  1. Artwork (drawing, painting lead figures, etc.)
  2. Improvisation
  3. Music
  4. Poetry
  5. Reading/writing (creative)
  6. Theatrics/acting
  7. Artwork (drawing, painting lead figures, etc.)
  8. Improvisation
  9. Music
  10. Poetry
  11. Reading/writing (creative)
  12. Theatrics/acting




Intellectual, Cognitive, Neuroscience


  1. Architecture
  2. Astronomy
  3. Cartography
  4. Causality
  5. Demographics
  6. Ecology
  7. Economics
  8. Explanatory Styles
  9. Geography
  10. Geology
  11. Government systems
  12. History
  13. Language(s) (primary, secondary)
  14. Mathematics
  15. Memory
  16. Metallurgy
  17. Meteorology
  18. Physics
  19. Politics
  20. Problem solving (e.g. puzzles, riddles, mazes, etc.)
  21. Reading/writing (technical)
  22. Researching
  23. Short and long term planning
  24. Statistics
  25. Technologies past and present
  26. Warfare tactics and strategies    




Optimizing the RPG Experience


  1. Immersion
  2. Flow State
  3. Maximizing Flow State
  4. Game Master Variables
  5. Adventure / Campaign Variables
  6. Player Variables
  7. Environment Variables
  8. Game Variables (system, printing, components, etc.)
  9. Group variables
  10. Session variables
  11. Media variables
  12. Play style
  13. Duration
  14. Frequency
  15. Group size






APIE


  1. Assessment
  2. Baseline
  3. Documentation
  4. Evaluation
  5. Intake
  6. Planning / Design
  7. Reassessment
  8. Tools





Assessment Tools


Beck Depression Inventory

Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS)

Children's Depression Inventory

Cognitive Age / Functioning Assessments for Best Game System Complexity Match or Adaptations

Cooperation and Trust Scale (CAT)

Demographics Information

Emotional age / functioning assessment to gauge "safety" of certain story types / tropes/ circumstances

Flow state scales

FOX - Activity Therapy Skills Baseline

Functional Independence Measure (FIM)

Gaming Experience Assessment

Game System Complexity Assessment

Genre Interest Assessment

Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF)

Immersion scales

Leisure Attitude Measurement (LAM)

Leisure Diagnostic Battery

Leisure Interest Measure (LIM)

Leisure/Recreation Interest Assessment Tools

Leisure Satisfaction Measure (LSM)

Play Style Assessment

Rancho Los Amigos Scale

Range of Motion (ROM)

Perceived Locus of Control 

Sedation Scale

Visual Disability Rating Levels Scale

Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale


Book full of example Recreation & Leisure Tools: Assessment Tools for Recreational Therapy and Related Fields, 4th Edition by joan burlingame and Thomas M. Blaschko.




RPG Specific Topics

  1. Bleed
  2. Game Systems
  3. Randomization, dice, probability curves
  4. Player Style
  5. Game Master GM / Dungeon Master DM Style
  6. Old school RPGs
  7. Evil player characters in RPGs
  8. Romance or sex in RPGs
  9. Sandbox
  10. Railroad
  11. Social contract
  12. Gaming Code of conduct
  13. RPG accessories
  14. Electronic technologies with tabletop RPGs
  15. Character archetypes
  16. Player archetypes
  17. Game master archetypes
  18. Game facilities inspection and checklists
  19. Game preparation checklists








By General Topics


  1. Abuse
  2. Accessibility
  3. Addiction
  4. ADHD
  5. ASD / PDD (Autism, Perceptive, etc.)
  6. Aging
  7. Agoraphobia
  8. Alienation
  9. Alzheimer
  10. Anger
  11. Anxiety
  12. Archetypes
  13. Autism
  14. Behavior
  15. Bias
  16. Bipolar Disorder
  17. Bullying
  18. Camaraderie
  19. Children
  20. Cognitive
  21. Criminal / criminality
  22. Compassion
  23. Competence
  24. Confidence
  25. Deaf / Hard of Hearing
  26. Death & Dying
  27. Dementia
  28. Depression
  29. Design
  30. Disability
  31. Disasters
  32. Eating Disorders
  33. Education
  34. Efficacy
  35. Emotional Health
  36. Empathy
  37. Environment
  38. Ethics
  39. Friendship
  40. Flow / Flow-state
  41. Gender, sexual, identity
  42. Hate Crimes
  43. Health
  44. Health Disparities
  45. Human Rights
  46. Immersion
  47. Immigration
  48. Intelligence
  49. Law
  50. Learning & Memory
  51. Locus of Control
  52. Marriage / Divorce
  53. Meaning / Meaninglessness
  54. Mental Health
  55. Military
  56. Money
  57. Obesity
  58. Panic Disorder
  59. Pain
  60. Parenting
  61. Personality
  62. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  63. Predators
  64. Race / Culture
  65. Self identity
  66. Safety
  67. Schizophrenia
  68. Sex
  69. Shyness
  70. Social Phobia
  71. Socioeconomic
  72. Stress
  73. Suicide
  74. Teen
  75. Testing
  76. Therapy
  77. Toddler(s)
  78. Training
  79. Trauma
  80. Violence
  81. Visual Impairment / Blindness
  82. Workplace






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