SUBCULTURES
Dr Żaneta E. Tempczyk-Nagórka
ERPEGOVERS
History
Role-playing games (RPG) have been in the youth's use since the 1970s,
however it was not until the 1990s in the United States ,and at the beginning
of the 21st century in Poland, that they started to be perceived as a socio-
cultural phenomenon, full of complex psychological processes.
The name of this unique type of game, which has created a very specific
subculture around it, refers to the main principle of the game which is that
individual players impersonate the characters whose roles they play.
In Poland, these games are called role-playing games. The players create a
team of fictional characters, and the leading role is played by Game
Master, the arbiter, director and all-knowing narrator of the story in which
they take part. The game is played according to specific rules and is based
primarily on the imagination of the players (Grzybowska 2001).
The beginnings of this culture and fascination can be found in 1973, "when
two Americans, Gary Gygax and Dave Arnenson, self-published the first
Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, opening a completely new
chapter in the entertainment industry" (Baran, 2003) . It was not long before
other positions in the category began to appear. RPG came to Poland
around the mid-eighties, and the first magazine fully devoted to role-playing
games was established in 1993, until recently published monthly by MAG -
Magia i Miecz". (Baran 2003).
Ideology
The ideology of RPG players is not an openly proclaimed slogan, nevertheless, on the basis of
literature on the function of RPGs in their lives or psychological studies, it is possible to define
the attitude of erpeg players towards the world and man. Therefore, the ideology of this
subculture is hidden within itself, just like the ideology of goths, which only appears when the
lyrics of songs are analysed.
First of all, it is important to understand the function that gaming has for young people. D.
Grzybkowska says that in playing, a person transcends himself. He has the opportunity to
transcend the existing arrangements that surround him. One of the most important things is
the inversion of irreversible decisions and standing in front of original possibilities, thanks to
which, one is always able to restart and throw away the burden of one's history. In this way,
the young person frees himself from the determinism that seems to him to be part of a reality
in which everything is planned, determined, where one has to face the consequences of
one's actions and is condemned to a grey everyday life in which he feels uncomfortable and
which he rejects. Meanwhile, the game offers him a different vision of today's reality. It draws
on shamanic stories told around a campfire, uses elements of primitive symbolic culture, and
returns to history. The game is an answer to the longing for times past or future, but cured from
the disease of civilisational technicisation. (Grzybowska 2001)
Ideology cont.
RPG players are not quite accepting of the world around them, but they recognize
that they cannot completely escape the culture in which they live, So they replace it
with something alternative from start to finish: they create from the beginning a
completely different, better (in their opinion) world than the one outside their window.
This may be the effect of very far-reaching attitudes of decadence which, having
reached their apogee, burst out with creative visions of a different reality, very real
and tangible for the players (Baran 2003)
In this other world, the player is not a person anymore, but becomes a hero who has
an extraordinary mission to complete, more important, in his opinion, than doing his
homework or cleaning his room. Here he becomes someone special, the future of the
world is in his hands. He fights for his life and the lives of his companions. A. Busse-
Brandyk and D. Chmielewska-Łuczak write that "a character who cannot come to
terms with the existing reality sets off on an expedition, meets a certain person, and
this person makes him realise the existing danger. These are real dangers for him to
face. (Busse-Brandyk and D. Chmielewska-Łuczak, 2009)
"RPG allows to de-react to reality. Young, rebellious people get into a fight with
monsters that hate each other - this is a better way to discharge aggression than on
the street, at a concert, or even in computer games. The others want to test
themselves in many situations, impossible in the outside world - to meet with magic, to
fall into an abyss and at the last moment to fly up, these are always dreams of the
extremes. Sometimes they are simple desires to do something good, extraordinary - so
that someone would notice us and respect the effort put into a certain task"
(Grzybowska)
Ideology cont.
Two others aspects of ideology are: not finding one's place in one's social
roles, and feeling isolated in the world.
The performance of social roles is an important element of development and
proof of full social adaptation. However, there are some people who do not
like to limit their lives to the roles imposed by society. This dissatisfaction leads
to a need to look for ways to change this state of affairs. it turns out that the
only way out is to enter the role of a created hero in a role-playing game. In
addition, taking on such a role gives the player an opportunity to test certain
elements of identity, personal beliefs and values, especially in terms of
relationships with others. (Niemiec 2008) Besides, "the game is also an
opportunity to make up for something that has not been done here - then it
takes on a compensatory character, performs certain functions of drama,
both for the Narrator and the Characters. Certainly, RPG builds individuality
on the one hand, and cooperation and a sense of community in a team on
the other". (Grzybowska 2001)
All this causes a sense of inadequacy to pile up in the players, motivating
them to look for new experiences. This alienation from society is, according to
the author, the result of a different internal formation of erpeg players,
connected to an incompatibility with entering adulthood without a certain
childhood heritage.
Ideology cont.
Collecting the information presented above, it can be said that the
members of this subculture cannot find their place in the surrounding
world, which appears to them as a grey world, dominated by the
achievements of civilisation, which, in their opinion, degrade man and
lock him into a strictly defined framework of social roles that he will
either fulfil, or be thrown out on the margins of social life. Refusing to
come to terms with such a picture of reality, the players do something
that no subculture has ever done before, They do not openly rebel
against the adult world order as punks or hippies did. They do not find
an important aspect of identity for themselves, which they defend
fiercely, like scarves or skinheads, They do not transform elements of
reality for their own use like skaters and traceurs, nor do they even
manifest an alternative culture beside existing cultural models, as hip-
hoppers or goths used to do. Erpegists close themselves and create
from the beginning not only an alternative culture, but a whole world,
a whole reality with its past and its future. It is ruled by their own laws
and offers the possibility to take on any role, without suffering the
consequences for it in their life.
Morality
Session - a single game usually lasting several hours.
Game Master - short for MG (Game Master) - a game director, acting
according to a scenario, is the most important person in the game. He
plays the role of narrator, and his role, in addition to creating and
describing the world, is to play all the other characters with which the
heroes meet.
Characters, Heroes - player-created characters of various races and
professions that erpeg players take on for the duration of the game.
Character Card - this card contains all the parameters that describe a
character..
Race - usually uses the racial division proposed by Tolkien, which
differentiates between humans, elves, dwarves, and lowlanders, but
each system has its own suggestions for races.
Profession - specifies the character's main profession. The most common
include: mage, warrior, rogue, traveler, priest, archer, merchant,
alchemist.
World - is a specific place to which the Game Master moves all participants
for the duration of the game. The worlds have their own geography, culture,
history, religion, societies of beings and heroes inhabiting them.
Team - all the heroes of the game, which the game master places in one
place and gives them specific missions to complete. The success of personal
missions depends on the joint action of all
NPCs (NPC-non-playing characters) - characters led by the Game Master,
usually family, friends and employers of the game protagonist, but also
accidentally encountered people and enemies.
Guide - the published rules of the game.
Cubes (4,6,8,10,12,20,100-sided) - introduce a random factor into the game,
they are called according to the walls or possible numbers to be thrown
RPG systems - a set of rules and laws created by the author of the game that
influence the reality presented in the game.
A campaign - a great saga of the characters' lives created by several
interconnected scenarios. It can last for several years. "The end of a
campaign is generally associated with a change of characters, because the
fundamental purpose has been achieved and the surrounding reality
profoundly transformed.„
An adventure - a mission to be completed by the team, full of contradictions
to be faced.
Three main RPG conventions can be distinguished, which individual teams play according to their
own tastes:
fantasy - they refer to the world of fairy tales, myths, legends, characters and events full of
elements of the miraculous and unusual.
science fiction or cyberpunk - they refer to stories with a plot based on the envisioned
achievements of science and technology;
horror - they are based on an atmosphere that creates dread - fear (Kurek-Kokocińska 1998)
Erpegists, apart from meeting for sessions, also meet in clubs and organise their own conventions.
One of the best known is the all-Poland fantasy convention Pyrkon, which is mostly dedicated to
different varieties of RPG.
B. Chaciński remarks that the community of erpeg players is very sociable and open, cooperative,
but only if you share their passion. As in the case of the subculture of metalheads or skaters, there is
a strong sense of community among the members of this youth cultural circle. Thanks to their
common interests (which, apart from playing role-playing games, include literature and
filmography with e.g. fantasy and Tolkiestics), they easily make contact with each other and
quickly find a common language. (Chaciński, 2012)
The authors report that men far dominate among erpeg players than women. The cultural and
social theme seems to be important here. Young men, who have deep-seated dreams to find
adventure and be warriors, are much less able to fulfil these dreams in today's world, especially
when they are further stimulated by adventure and fantasy films and books.
Women, on the other hand, having suggestions from all sides for emphasising their beauty and
femininity, can easily feel like 'princesses' and therefore most of them do not look for other forms of
realisation of these needs.
The image created
The two-level image
It seems extremely important to create the
image of the hero whom the players
impersonate, as it is usually a reflection of their
dream image, often not achievable in reality.
"The player himself creates the character he
performs, giving him his abilities, feelings,
intelligence; the hero is the one who acts. The
mask put on by the man becomes his essence"
- Alterego. At the same time, when we talk
about the image of the character, it is
necessary to take in to account, not only his
physical features and dress, but also his abilities,
skills and attributes that the player wishes to
give him, as well as the specific race and
profession with which certain characteristics are
associated.
A. A. Busse-Brandyk and D. Chmielewska-Łuczak (2009) analysing the process of
individualisation in role-playing games describe the four most common
characters:
villain (werewolf, vampire, demon) - presents the side of the Shadow, can be
either a thief or a paid assassin for whom no morality exists. This character allows
the player to escape from the norms and prohibitions, the existing rules.
Sometimes the player can set the limits of his own behaviour as a given
character.
warrior (samurai, knight, paladin, scout) - this character is usually chosen by
young people during adolescence. At first he is a donkey and a barbarian, but
during the process of the campaign the player discovers and integrates his
positive and negative aspects. He usually wears his armour and fights with a
sword, preferring direct confrontation to long-distance combat.
priestess (visionary, fairy, healer, shaman) - a character often chosen by older
and more experienced female players, although the male gender also creates
priests. She is a hero who possesses the mystical power of healing and giving life,
she has intuition, tries to live in unity with nature, but also has to fight with the
power of destruction hidden inside her.
Mage (sorcerer, sage) - chosen by beginning and advanced players. This
character has secret knowledge of the game world and can create different
magic spells, many of which are very powerful.
Creativity
Creativity is a feature of the
game that actually crosses all
aspects of this subculture. A
successful session, as a whole,
combines many of the arts
syncretistically. It is important to
remember that it is creation and
creativity that lay at the heart of
building an alternative world and
the characters that live with it.
"Man makes creative expansions
into all areas of life, and in the
process becomes creative
himself. (...) players create a
fantasy world that needs a lot of
sensitivity, intelligence and
imagination from its creators"
