Case Study: The Connection between Play and Identity in DnD
Sidhu and Carter (2021) conducted a study among a DnD group to examine one aspect of DnD and its affect on player's lives- death. In DnD, death is frequent and an expected element of folklore. Being a game that takes players on an adventure, players often encounter other nonplayer characters (NPCs) that they may enter combat with and kill, or be injured or killed by the NPC. Death can occur in many ways in DnD, and often a character "dies" but is later revived by some in game element such as a magical potion or another player's healing ability. In some cases, though, a character dies and is unable to be revived.
The study conducted by Sidhu and Carter focused on player's experiences with in-game death and how they responded to it. When players were asked about memorable moments in game, death was mentioned most often. Sidhu and Carter found that players had strong feelings associated with these experiences:
The impact of death on players was not limited to the game space or context of play... In their rich explanations, participants described death evocatively. Some participants characterized death as “devastating,” “horrific,” “intense,” “brutal,” and “the ultimate finality.” Others recalled death as “exciting,” “manageable,” “poetic,” “powerful,” and “freeing.” These dichotomies of death were further reflected in our participants’ play experiences which ranged from tragic and humorous player-character (PC) and non-player character (NPC) deaths, to experiences of genuine grief and reflection on real-life deaths through death experienced in-game. (Sidhu and Carter 2021, 1051).
Ultimately, Sidhu and Carter (2021) found that the shared physical and social environments of DnD significantly impact player's experiences. "...the layered social and natural frames present throughout physical D&D play allow players to implicitly construct shared meanings and values during their gameplay and role-play experiences" (Sidhu and Carter 2021). Elements such as death that are an integral part of DnD allow us to understand the ways in which identity is expressed through play and within the bounds of the rules, norms, and expectations of the game.