TPI Seminar 2022: Looking Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Invisible Work of the Magic Circle — Steven L. Dashiell

This poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage.

Description:

This research examines gender difference, associated norms, and their effect on the ability to deeply participate in gameplay. Since the work of Huizinga (1945), there has been the concept of the magic circle, a separated space apart from which individuals created the fictionalized identities and structures of the game world. Debate has raged about the viability of the magic circle, and its ability to firmly separate individuals from real-world concerns (Consalvo, 2008; Stenros, 2015). Drawing from the work of Hochschild (1989) and Bridges (2008), we analyze a mixed method survey of individuals who participate in tabletop role-playing games. We examine what structures are in place to provide the freedom to game, and what real-world constraints participants envision as limiting their ability. We additionally assess their perceived levels of immersion using statistical analysis and Leichert scales. We theorize there is a great deal of invisible labor involved in the ability to effectively immerse and be more deeply involved in the magic circle. Further, gender capital would suggest men have a higher immersion potential because of this invisible labor (done by others in their lives) and the gender capital associated with manhood and fatherhood that allow them to disengage or “break free”(Kivel and Johnson, 2009). We would further postulate that women have more variable levels of immersion due to the greater mindfulness of, and perceived responsibility to, real-world concerns while involved in the game world. In short, gender capital which enforces a leisure space between the “two spheres” which yields men the ability to have a more impenetrable magic circle, while second shift concerns will add to the impermeability for women. This presentation will discuss the preliminary data from the survey, including the survey design.

Bio:

Steven Dashiell is a postdoctoral research fellow at American University in Washington, DC. He is appointed dually to the Department of Sociology and the Game Center. His primary research interest involves the relationships between masculinity, discourse, culture, and practices in male dominated subcultures. Particularly his research looks at gaming spaces, leisure subcultures, the military, and spaces for African American men.

 

 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.