It's Dangerous to Go Alone: An Ethnography of Friendship Through Tabletop Gaming Communities of Practice

Abstract

As the world continues to move online in the 21st century, in-person communities of practice continue to thrive in game stores, libraries, campuses, and in personal homes. In these spaces, and many others that are too varied to name, people engage with tabletop roleplaying games as members of groups of adventurers. Individuals come together to create identities, craft narratives, and build connections with one another that continue even after the game ends. This paper examines the ways that these communities of practice are constructed and maintained by the diverse group of individuals who inhabit them, and how they come to construct identities and meaning through their engagement. Over the period of 18 months between 2017 and 2019, participant observation fieldwork was conducted with various tabletop roleplaying game groups across the Ottawa, Ontario area. This took place at game stores, campuses, libraries, people's homes, and restaurants to understand the ways in which people come together in-person to play games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. Interviews were simultaneously conducted with individuals from these groups to develop life-histories of some of those involved in these communities. What was found throughout this research was that individuals were coming together to play games, but more importantly to develop a sense of belonging and to build communities of practice with other like-minded game players. This has informed a dissertation which may more accurately be labeled an 'ethnography of friendship', and which analyses (1) the role of play in the lives of members of communities of practice, (2) identity as it is constructed through performances as people engage in roleplaying activities, and (3) the role of in-person communities and friendships in an increasingly digital world. As we increasingly rely on digital technologies and online worlds to foster our relationships, many people still seek in-person communities. This has been made clearer with the easing of social distancing restrictions and lockdown orders following the COVID-19 pandemic, as individuals have quickly moved to rebuild the in-person communities of practice that were put on-hold for the past 2 years.