The Table and the Tomb: Positioning Trans Power and Play Amid Fantasy Realism in Dungeons & Dragons

IF 2.4 2区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Games and Culture Pub Date : 2023-10-11 DOI:10.1177/15554120231204145

PS Berge

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?

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桌与墓:《地下城》奇幻现实主义中跨权力与玩法的定位龙

这篇文章与“世界上最伟大的角色扮演游戏”《地下城》(Dungeons &龙(D& D)。我将游戏文本和从保守的D&D粉丝那里收集到的社交媒体数据结合在一起，认为尽管官方表现略有改善，但D&D对跨性别游戏的敌意还是体现在游戏对幻想现实主义的参与中——一种文化塑造的“常识”，重新阐明了既定幻想媒体的逻辑。从吉盖克斯(Gygax)的《恐怖之墓》(Tomb of Horrors, 1978)中的性别互换诅咒，到变形的《科雷隆的祝福精灵》(blessed elves of Corellon, 2017)， D&D的奇幻现实主义手法在机械和叙事上排斥变性人，诋毁变性人的故事，削弱变性人的力量。借鉴模拟游戏和跨媒体学者的研究成果，我用这个案例来研究桌面游戏中的跨媒体力量，并通过“谁的幻想?”谁的现实?

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Games and Culture Multiple-

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

7.10%

发文量

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.