Any room for a gamer anthropologist?

*Note: I sent this through the events & registration contact page, but wasn't sure if that was the right place for it. Not sure if this is the right place either, so apologies if I'm too OT*

My name is Nick Mizer. I've been gaming for about 5 years, and am starting work on a PhD dissertation about tabletop gaming. As part of that work, I'd love to attend GaryCon and hopefully meet some other attendees that would be willing to talk to me about both the history of the hobby and their own gaming history.

These would be informal interviews with anyone who would be willing to sit down and spend some time with me, and would help me in my work trying to understand our hobby and its history.

The reason I'm writing is that my department requires me to request permission from the organizers to attend with that purpose in mind. I would not need any exhibitor space or otherwise need to intrude on the convention; I just want to talk to anyone I meet that is willing to chat for a bit.

Thanks,

Nicholas Mizer
PhD Student,
Anthropology Department
Texas A&M University

 

I can talk your ear off about role playing ...as long as it doesn't interfere with gaming.

That includes its' history from birth in 1920 through the 1970's and today, who Dr J. Moreno was, why RPGs were designed as pattern finding games for the hobby's first 20-25 years, and why they are designed and spoken of differently now. Not so much on why dragons breathe fire, but I'm willing to share a pitcher and talk with you.

 

I'm sure you will find plenty of people at Garycon that would be more than willing to put in their $ 0.02 worth. (Or if their like me, $ 0.05, $ 0.10 or $0.25) Besides that, there's a pub upstairs to help loosen tongues & what gamer doesn't like talking about their favorite game? Just hope any interested in your proposal has the time to chat.

 

SEE?! I TOLD YOU!! :lol:

 

............AND, there's always room for another gamer. As long as they like the games I LIKE!!


(Who the hell am I kidding, I like 'em ALL!!)

 

I would defiantly love to talk to you!

 

"defiantly" said the man with an axe?

 

I may be able to offer you an interesting perspective; I've been gaming for 48 years...

 

Heh, I may even want to pick your brain for my own studies in games while divulging my own take on what games do, how they function, and why as cultural, narrative, and performative media.

 

Count me in for having a chat, though I'm not one of the organizers.

Nick, have you read any of Eric S. Raymond's work on Geek/Hacker anthropology? There's some crossover there.

Check out "The Jargon File."

 

I want to be part of this conversation too! I've been blogging about Daniel Mackay's Fantasy Role-Playing Games: A New Performing Art recently and just noticed that Gary Allan Fine is at Northwestern and was thinking about inviting him to GaryCon or visiting him on the way out. Still, I don't know anything about the history in the '20s or Dr. J Moreno or Eric Raymond, and I always learn a fascinating part of gaming history every time I butt into a conversation you're having, Tim.

Maybe we should choose a time to get together?

 

Wow, I knew that we all loved to share gaming stories, and obviously people going to GaryCon would be interested in the history of the hobby, but I didn't expect such a quick and positive response from so many people--this is great!

I still have to wait to see if my funding gets approved before I know for sure if I'll be able to come, since I'm a poor grad student, but I look forward to talking with everyone.

Thanks for the recommendation, Spaartuk, I haven't read that. Tavis, you may also be interested to know that Gary Fine is involved with the new International Journal of Roleplaying (journalofroleplaying.org).

 

Thanks! I may indeed try to hit the Feb. 1 deadline for IJR submissions.

Hey, do you know Norman Harmon of Troll and Flame and Red Box Bryan College Station? I think he's in your area, Nick.

 

That's hilarious. I have totally missed Troll and Flame and the local Red Box group. Thanks for the heads up--he must live within 15 minutes of my house.

 

I'd definitely be happy to chat with you. I'm thinking of working on a PhD in Sociology myself and the topics may overlap a little bit. Hope you can make it to GC. You'll have fun while doing research.....you can't beat it.

 

In addition to various founders of the hobby present (like Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, etc.), there are several folks attending with deep knowledge about the origins of the game---from both the professional POV (folks like Frank Mentzer who ran the GenCon auction for years and years, in addition to working for TSR), and various fan researchers/collectors (folks like Paul Stormberg, Victor Raymond, etc.).

What kind of historical research are you interested in, Nick? I'm sure knowing more about your research topics/areas would help to guide you specific folks.

 

My current focus is our development of various "folk histories" of the hobby, how the way we play has changed over time, and how the way we tell our history has changed over time. Overlapping with this, I'm interested in the personal biographies we tell of our own gaming histories, and how those connect with the history of the hobby as a whole.

I've also looked at things like the Satanism Scare, what factors might have driven rules and edition changes, how the influence of other media (pulp fiction, comics, art, video games, movies, etc.) have influenced the way the game is played.

As an anthropologist, I look at gamers as a subculture or folk group and try to understand the dynamics of what we do in those terms. One of the things anthropologists tend to do (forgive me if you're already familiar with antho. methods) is to look at how all the disparate elements of a culture are connected, so I try to relate the social, economic, mythological/narrative, and ritual/play aspects to each other.

 

You're going to a collect a very scattered set of data, as gamers are drawn from a wide range of demographics. It seems to me gamers run the gamut of economic, religious, and just about every other background category I can think of. Reasons for gaming vary greatly, especially within RPGs. And, with RPGs especially, the way the game was introduced has a lot to do with expectations of the genre. On top of all of that, you have a huge variety of personality types involved.

I'd be happy to chat with you about all of this from my perspective.

 

If they give you permission, I'd be happy to chat with you as well (and if they don't give you permission to do it at the con, I'll do it somewhere else).

 

That's what makes it so fun!

Since everyone has shown such an interest, I figured I should give an update: The organizers have graciously okayed everything, and I should find out on whether I will have funding to come within the next 2-3 weeks. If I don't get funding, I will still try to come, but it might not be possible for this year. In that case, I will probably still want to talk with everyone via the forum, email, etc.