This poster presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage.
Description:
In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to preserving intangible cultural heritage (ICH) through games. From combined game studies and heritage studies perspective, role-playing games (RPGs) have a unique advantage that immerses the player in a character to experience and understands the basics of culture in an engaging way. Among different types of role-playing games, live-action role-plays (LARPs) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have a great potential to promote learning of intangible cultural expressions and traditions that make them available to a wider public. In China, MMORPGs have shown a positive impact on preserving China’s intangible heritage in virtual space and larps, also known as Jubensha in China, are playing more important role on the same way. The purpose of this study is to delve into how intangible cultural heritages of China are being represented in the MMORPGs and live-action role-plays game LARPs as an educational tool. With that target in mind, close reading of selected MMORPG games, A Dream of Jianghu and Justice Online, and LARP game, The Secret of Gauze Lantern, is conducted to understand what cultural experiences are integrated in the role-playing games to introduce Chinese intangible heritages and explore what are the main differences when represents intangible cultural elements in these games. After analyzing these RPG games in-depth, I argue that both MMORPG and LARP shows its potential on safeguard intangible cultural heritage of China. While MMORPGs provide a lens of national-level intangible elements from different regions of China, Jubensha as a larp game focuses more on indigenous traditions and customs in small-scale local areas.
Bio:
Yuqiao Liu is a game designer and researcher who received M.A. degree in Game Design at Uppsala University. His research interests include game and culture studies, East Asian civilization, Chinese studies, Japanese history and digital media studies.
Click here to read PDF of slides.
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This seminar is hosted by the Transformative Play Initiative in the Games & Society Lab at the Department of Game Design, Uppsala University Campus Gotland. This seminar is made possible by financial support from the Sustainable Heritage Research Forum (SuHRF). The Transformative Play Initiative explores the use of analog role-playing games as vehicles for lasting personal and social change.
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Graphic Design by Liliia Chorna. Music by Elias Faltin.