Bleed and Identity: A Conceptual Model of Bleed and How Bleed-out from Role-playing Games Can Affect a Player’s Sense of Self

Abstract

The RPG concept bleed describes the spillover of physical states, mental states, physicality, values, opinions, and other similar concepts from player to character and vice versa. Over the years, numerous theorists have suggested several specific types of bleed, but how these suggested types stand in relation to each other has yet to be theorized. In order to create a foundation from which to better be able to study and conduct research on bleed, this article presents a conceptual model that places the previously suggested bleed types in relation to each other and to theories of identity creation in adjacent fields. The concept of the bleed perception threshold and the bleed complex of identity bleed is suggested as part of this model. The article then shows how theories concerned with identity creation from different fields such as psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience inform the model and how the model does not stand in opposition to them. Using the model and the presented theories as a starting point, the article makes suggestions about how bleed can affect a player’s sense of self.