This would of course initially be theoretical. Until people actually start formally using RPGs for such therapies, it is unknown what the challenges and pitfalls will be for certain, though certainly many logical assumptions can be made (though will need verification).

II think I'll start out compiling my notes into a more organized document, then post it as a PDF for download, and then also export it to a Wiki style format. Then hopefully over time, as TR and other care professionals begin to (hopefully) use RPGs for their clients, they can modifyand make postings about their experiences to make it a more definite handbook.

Will see how this goes. People have any thoughts on this? If you are a care professional, would you find this useful?

I have setup a dedicated section here: http://www.rpgresearch.com/documents/rpg-research-documents/role-playing-gaming-therapeutic-recreation-handbook-of-practice/

And the wiki version here: http://rpgr.org/documents/rpg-research-documents/role-playing-gaming-therapeutic-recreation-handbook-of-practice/wiki

Please provide comments, insights, suggestions, edits. If you register on this site, you can make edits directly to the wiki page.

Archive here in case it moves/disappears.

Rolling for Initiative--The Decline and Fall & Hopefully Rise of the Print RPG

Column by Scott Thorne

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflct the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com

Fantastic Summer' for Hobby Games

In 2012

The explosive growth in the hobby games business in the spring of this year (see "Hobby Games Explosive") continued through the summer, according to a recently released report in ICv2’s Internal Correspondence #80.  Longtime industry insiders are comparing the current market to the Pokemon boom era around 2000, but with the difference that sales are good across the board rather than dependent on a single title.

The impact of Geek and Sundry’s TableTop continues to grow as more shows become available, with up to a quintupling of sales in the short run and doubling more long term for shows featured.  A promotion in Target is seen as a possible benefit to hobby retailers, with plans for a TableTop hobby channel promotion highly anticipated.

Kickstarter is also having an impact on sales in hobby stores, with the new financing option seen as a net positive for hobby retailers by most, despite the fact that significant sales area taking place direct from manufacturer to consumer.

Hobby game sales are going up across categories; even the perennially week RPG category is growing despite the fact that category-defining Dungeons & Dragons is in the interregnum between the announcement of a new edition and its release.

For the lists of the bestselling Collectible Games in the hobby channel, in the mass channel, and over-all, click here.
For the bestselling board games in the hobby channel, click here.
For the bestselling card/building games in the hobby channel, click here.
For the bestselling RPGs, click here.
For the bestselling non-collectible miniature games, click here.

For information on how to get the new issue of Internal Correspondence #80, see "ICv2 Releases 'Internal Correspondence' #80."

Top 5 RPGs--Summer 2012

From 'ICv2's Internal Correspondence' #80

Published: 10/23/2012 04:47amThis chart of the Top 5 Roleplaying Games (hobby channel) reflects sales in Summer 2012.  The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/20174.html

Game Biz Roared in Q1

New Game Category

"Alan Kingstone, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, had a

problem: all humans have their eyes in the middle of their faces, and there’s

nothing that Kingstone could do about it. His 12-year-old son, Julian Levy,

had the solution: monsters. While some monsters are basically humanoid in

shape, others have eyes on their hands, tails, tentacles and other unnatural

body parts. Perfect. Kingstone would use monsters. And Julian would get his

first publication in a journal from the Royal Society, one of the world’s most

august scientific institutions."

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/10/30/12-year-old-uses-dungeons-and-dragons-to-help-scientist-dad-with-his-research/

PDF Archived here: http://rpgr.org/documents/reference-material/bbc-news-what-happened-to-dungeons-and-dragons-20040426.pdf

Web archive here....

In 1974 two men in the US Midwest, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, created Dungeons and Dragons, the first ever role-playing game.  Developed out of war gaming using table-top miniatures, the paperback rule books were an instant success, a genuine phenomenon which  spawned an industry and influenced a generation of film-makers, writers and videogame developers. An estimated 20 million people  worldwide have played D&D since it was created, with more than $1bn spent on game equipment and books.

"I thought we would sell about 50,000 copies," says Gary Gygax.

Co-creator Dave Arneson recalls: "When we started playing we thought we were kind of crazy. It seemed to start quite well and sold better, and better and better." The game spread by word of mouth and became a cult in schools and in universities across the globe. It was even a cult at a Wisconsin naval base. "At one time every nuclear submarine had a D&D group," says Arneson.

D&D is a game in which a group of friends create and develop characters by rolling dice which determine skills and abilities. The characters are taken on adventures which are plotted by a separate player - the Dungeon Master. You can be a fighter, a thief, or a magic user, perhaps even a bard, a druid or a cleric. But there is no board or counters - just pen, paper and an active imagination.

"I get to be braver, stronger, wiser, smarter, faster, handsomer, and just generally more than I am in real life," says current player, Joshua
Turton, 29, from the San Francisco Bay area. "I can perform miracles, save damsels, slay dragons, cast spells, right wrongs, raid tombs, drink ale, and live dangerously." Brad King, author of Dungeons and Dreamers, which charts the influence of D&D on early videogames, says D&D should not be confused with board games.

"It was the first really interactive game. If you play board games there is always an objective or goal. "D&D is the opposite. It's about sitting down and telling stories with your friends." At the height of its popularity in the 1980s the game became a target for cultural conservatives early in the 1970s. The game was wrongly implicated in a missing persons case, a teen suicide and a number of murders. Some schools banned the game, and many parents refused to let their children play.

The controversy inspired a 1982 TV film, Mazes and Monsters, starring Tom Hanks. A later cartoon series and a more recent film kept the brand name alive among non-players but were derided by D&D fans. In the late 1970s and 1980s, lawsuits began to fly - Arneson and Gygax sued each other over the development of the game. Neither man has any current official involvement in D&D - both selling their royalties to  publisher Wizards of the Coast in the 1990s.

Arneson says: "We see each other at conventions. He does his thing and I do mine. There's no stabbing each other in the back."

D&D's popularity began to wane in the early 1990s as the videogame boom began. "D&D never went away," says Liz Schuh, marketing  director for Wizards of the Coast. "It was huge in the 1980s and then dropped off the radar screens but it never went away."

"D&D was so successful that it spawned an industry that ate it," says Mr King. There are now hundreds of different, competing role-playing games which have all taken a bite out of the market dominance D&D once had.

But the game remains - even thrives. Wizards estimates that three million people play in the US each month. Angus MacDonald, a 45-year-old D&D player, who lives near San Francisco, has been playing on and off since 1975. "The game is social, it is a form of storytelling, and it has allowed me industry to develop deep friendships with people over the years."

Delwin Shand, a 47-year-old who has been playing for 30 years, says: "The reason the game has survived is that it allows us the chance to play out a dream of being the classical hero - the slayer of dragons, the hero who saves the land from some terrible foe or danger."

Gygax and Arneson are still actively involved in the industry and are revered by D&D players for their creation. Gygax says: "There is something in D&D that strikes a chord in many people; the call of adventure. "I am certainly happy that it has made people happy and brought so many people together. There is a great fellowship among role players."

Ed Stark, special projects manager at Wizards, says imagination is pivotal to the game. "People often say playing D&D is like writing your own movie at a table. "But of course there are no million dollar special effects - so imagination must fill in the blanks."

In the age of the iPod, mp3s, DVDs and online videogames, it is perhaps remarkable that a game based purely on pen, paper and dice remains so popular.

“They're detached from reality and susceptible to influence,” the [Israeli] army says.

Does the Israel Defense Force believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.

Fans of the popular role-playing game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status. So if you like fantasy games, go see the military psychologist.

The IDF views D&D players as detached from reality. Dungeons and Dragons (also known as D&D) has been a popular role-playing game for decades and is based on a fantasy world. One player assumes the role of “Dungeon Master,” which entails directing the game and controlling the labyrinth, while the others select from a large selection of characters that includes warriors, magicians, dwarfs and thieves. The game focuses on the results of decisions made by the players as determined by the roll of the dice.

In a more "active" version of the game, players leave the table and go out, dressed as the characters they assume for the game, along with the requisite equipment of swords (not real) to play outside.

We have discovered that some of them are simply detached from reality"

It's not a game of winners and losers...but rather an entry into another world with stories and plot changes" usually in the forest or woods. Most D&D players do not don costumes, and participants in such costume games are called "LARPers" (for live-action role playing).

Thousands of youth and teens in Israel play D&D, fighting dragons and demons using their rich imaginations. The game has also increased in popularity due to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. However the IDF does not approve of this unusual hobby and prevents D&D players from being considered for sensitive army positions by labeling them with low security clearance.

"We have discovered that some of them are simply detached from reality," a security source told Ynet. Game enthusiasts are aware of their problematic image in the army and prefer to maintain their anonymity. Many of them are from the former Soviet Union, where the game is very popular. In Israel there are  thousands of players, between the ages 16 to 35, and include lawyers, high-tech workers and businessmen.

'The game indicates a weak personality' A security official tells Ynet

Matan, 22, and Igor, a 21-year-old IDF soldier, organize activities for groups of players. Soon hundreds of fans are expected to meet in a forest in the southern part of Israel for a two-day game of pure fantasy. "It's not a game of winners and losers," Matan says, "but rather entry into another world with stories and plot changes." He is aware of the game's problematic reputation, especially in the IDF.

The army is not indifferent to the unique hobby and is trying to locate soldiers who in their free time dress up as witches and play in forests. 'The game indicates a weak personality' A security official tells Ynet there are specific criteria for deciding the level of a soldier's security clearance. "One of the tests we do, either by asking soldiers directly or through information provided us, is to ask whether they take part in the game," he says. "If a soldier answers in the affirmative, he is sent to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist." More than half of the soldiers sent for evaluation receive low security clearances, thus preventing them from serving in sensitive IDF positions, he says.

soldiers whose military career was harmed due to their connection to the game.

Igor says exposing soldiers who play the game could result in the soldiers being sent to a military psychologist or even being kicked out of the army. "Exposing them could also harm their chances at being accepted to other military courses," he says. Matan says he has personally met soldiers whose military career was harmed due to their connection to the game.

Most soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons simply do not admit to it while they are in the army, he says. Why does IDF believe game is dangerous? "These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality - elements which lower a person's security  clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions." Unsurprisingly, Igor, Matan and thier friends do not approve of this IDF policy.

Most soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons simply do not admit to it while they are in the army,

They say the game is only a colorful, non-violent hobby. "Many people who play served in the most classified units," David says. "They are intelligent and any attempt to label them as 'weird' is incorrect and unfair." But in the struggle between the game players and the Defense Minister, the latter wins - or at least this is the case in the real world of the IDF.

Here is the youtube link to the same 30 second clip if the above link has any issues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnWIdLt6Mco

Here is the complete (almost 10 minutes) video including when they mentioned RPG Research (near the end of the video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9QhyDdWbBY

Here is the video they posted last week on the benefits of playing Dungeons & Dragons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFtlDhksGHA

polls-surveys/participant-online-registration-form

Even if you can not come to the facilities in Spokane, Washington, your completion of the questionnaire will be very helpful in building the data, so please do consider completing the online form. Your information will be kept confidential.

See the About RPG Research page for more information about the goals of this project.

The RPG Research Participants Registration and Questionnaire are now available in printed form to register, and also have been setup currently at Merlyn's games and hobbies, and soon will be at other game, hobby, and book stores in the greater Washington, Idaho, and Montana areas.

1312 N. Monroe #114

Spokane, Washington

99201

Phone: (509) 252-0800

Email: information at rpgresearch dot com

Photos of the new facilities:

Entrance, incoming view:

Receptionist area:

Main conference room:

Office (one of several):

Another conference room (the "gray room"):

D&D & Pathfinder were very close in the RPG sales arena. This other detail should be a strong warning to WotC that their move to D&D 4.0 and strong arm license revisions have not been embraced by the purchasing RPG market and WotC should take heed.

Meanwhile, the question remains, is the down turn in video games just due to economic cut bucks from normal spenders, or might there be other trend indicators such as the continuing lack of creativity in the video game industry for so many years, or will this just be a brief blip in the video game market? Does it mean a second chance for the RPG market to experience real growth again (not seen since the 1980's)? Is this because of high unemployment in the younger target audience, or other factors?