{"title":"The Table and the Tomb: Positioning Trans Power and Play Amid Fantasy Realism in <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>","authors":"PS Berge","doi":"10.1177/15554120231204145","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article contends with the transphobic logics perpetuated by the “world's greatest roleplaying game,” Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Bringing together game texts and scraped social media data from reactionary D&D fans, I argue that despite cursory improvements in official representation, D&D's hostility to trans play is inscribed in the game's engagement of fantasy realism—a culturally sculpted “common sense” that rearticulates the logics of established fantasy media. From sex-swap curses in Gygax's “Tomb of Horrors” (1978) to the shapechanging “blessed elves of Corellon” (2017), D&D's approach to fantasy realism mechanically and narratively excludes trans bodies, vilifies trans stories, and diminishes trans power. Drawing on the work of analog game and trans media scholars, I use this case study to center trans power in tabletop gaming and explore D&D's relationship with fantasy realism by asking Whose fantasy? and Whose reality?","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Games and Culture","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231204145","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article contends with the transphobic logics perpetuated by the “world's greatest roleplaying game,” Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Bringing together game texts and scraped social media data from reactionary D&D fans, I argue that despite cursory improvements in official representation, D&D's hostility to trans play is inscribed in the game's engagement of fantasy realism—a culturally sculpted “common sense” that rearticulates the logics of established fantasy media. From sex-swap curses in Gygax's “Tomb of Horrors” (1978) to the shapechanging “blessed elves of Corellon” (2017), D&D's approach to fantasy realism mechanically and narratively excludes trans bodies, vilifies trans stories, and diminishes trans power. Drawing on the work of analog game and trans media scholars, I use this case study to center trans power in tabletop gaming and explore D&D's relationship with fantasy realism by asking Whose fantasy? and Whose reality?
期刊介绍:
Games and Culture publishes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within the context of interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for groundbreaking and germinal work in the field of game studies. The journal"s scope includes the sociocultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives, including textual analysis, political economy, cultural studies, ethnography, critical race studies, gender studies, media studies, public policy, international relations, and communication studies.