The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity
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- Create Date：2022-04-26 08:52:22
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Jon Peterson
- ISBN：0262544903
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
How the early Dungeons & Dragons community grappled with the nature of role-playing games， theorizing a new game genre。
When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s， followed shortly thereafter by other， similar tabletop games， it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games。 D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game。 But in the original rules， the term role-playing is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game。 In The Elusive Shift， Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games--and by doing so， established a new genre of games。
When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s， followed shortly thereafter by other， similar tabletop games， it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games。 D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game。 But in the original rules， the term role-playing is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game。 In The Elusive Shift， Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games--and by doing so， established a new genre of games。
Reviews
Shannon Appelcline
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A somewhat scattered look at design tropes and communities in the first several years of roleplaying。 It presents an interesting chronology of five or so major milestones and also catalogs many， many design battles being fought， some of which are still being fought today， some of which are so settled that people can't even conceive there were battles。 Very dense。 A long read for a short book。 A somewhat scattered look at design tropes and communities in the first several years of roleplaying。 It presents an interesting chronology of five or so major milestones and also catalogs many， many design battles being fought， some of which are still being fought today， some of which are so settled that people can't even conceive there were battles。 Very dense。 A long read for a short book。 。。。more
Kars
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Takes a bit to get going， can be dry at first， but once I became familiar with some if the "recurring characters" that Peterson reports on， this came to life for me。 Very interesting description of the debates the early tabletop fantasy roleplaying community were having in fanzines。 Indeed， this hobby is cursed by a lack of institutional memory， and the same issues get rehashed over and over again。 Pretty crazy to see how folks were already coming up with things back in the late seventies and ea Takes a bit to get going， can be dry at first， but once I became familiar with some if the "recurring characters" that Peterson reports on， this came to life for me。 Very interesting description of the debates the early tabletop fantasy roleplaying community were having in fanzines。 Indeed， this hobby is cursed by a lack of institutional memory， and the same issues get rehashed over and over again。 Pretty crazy to see how folks were already coming up with things back in the late seventies and early eighties that regularly get presented as innovative or revolutionary in today's scene。 。。。more
Richard Burley
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A very enlightening read！ I enjoyed the history about the split between the wargammers and the sci-fi groups that formed the initial RPG players and how they shaped the hobby。 Eisen's vow in particular was fascinating （and so early in the history of RPGs） about immersion which raised questions about rules vs narrative。 Very interesting indeed！ A very enlightening read！ I enjoyed the history about the split between the wargammers and the sci-fi groups that formed the initial RPG players and how they shaped the hobby。 Eisen's vow in particular was fascinating （and so early in the history of RPGs） about immersion which raised questions about rules vs narrative。 Very interesting indeed！ 。。。more
Jordan
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While still very academic and scholarly， I found this volume to be easier reading than Playing At The World。 It's a fascinating window into the early days of the hobby， into how people developed and discussed their understanding of RPGs。 As with Playing At The World， Peterson's depth of research is unimaginably deep。 While still very academic and scholarly， I found this volume to be easier reading than Playing At The World。 It's a fascinating window into the early days of the hobby， into how people developed and discussed their understanding of RPGs。 As with Playing At The World， Peterson's depth of research is unimaginably deep。 。。。more
Richard
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Peterson builds on his previous work and adds some welcome （and overdue） depth to the early years of role-playing game development。 Peterson is careful not to overstate what he's doing here。 The fanzines of the 1970s may have anticipated discussions of role-playing game theory in the 1990s and 2000s， but that doesn't mean those later generations were aware of them。 （Then again， given the egos involved in some of those online discussions， one can't assume that credit would've been given even if t Peterson builds on his previous work and adds some welcome （and overdue） depth to the early years of role-playing game development。 Peterson is careful not to overstate what he's doing here。 The fanzines of the 1970s may have anticipated discussions of role-playing game theory in the 1990s and 2000s， but that doesn't mean those later generations were aware of them。 （Then again， given the egos involved in some of those online discussions， one can't assume that credit would've been given even if they had been aware。）And those early discussions， while impressive， did only go so far。 The role of the gamemaster and what exactly was meant by 'role-playing' were dominant topics， and it's intriguing to watch the first two generations of role-playing gamers feeling their way ahead。 But it was an incremental process， and necessarily concerned with concepts that can now be seen as foundational。 Later generations， having the benefit of decades of experience to look back on， could go higher and construct more sophisticated frameworks for understanding。 The 1970s anticipated more than most of us would expect， but that doesn't mean the 1990s/2000s didn't take things further。So long as the reader goes in with that understanding， though， The Elusive Shift is fascinating and revealing。 An easy recommendation for anyone with a long-standing interest in RPGs。 。。。more
pookie
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[Friday Faction] The Elusive Shift—A review of ‘How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity’， a history of the early development of the RPG by Jon Peterson。http://rlyehreviews。blogspot。com/2021。。。 [Friday Faction] The Elusive Shift—A review of ‘How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity’， a history of the early development of the RPG by Jon Peterson。http://rlyehreviews。blogspot。com/2021。。。 。。。more
Kevin
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An excellent followup to his last book。 Instead of looking at the straight history of role-playing games， this looks more at the formative period of the RPG golden age of the 70's， and spends a lot of time on the nature of role-playing games。 Very engrossing， and some excellent talking points that will influence how I think of runningRPGs going forward。 An excellent followup to his last book。 Instead of looking at the straight history of role-playing games， this looks more at the formative period of the RPG golden age of the 70's， and spends a lot of time on the nature of role-playing games。 Very engrossing， and some excellent talking points that will influence how I think of runningRPGs going forward。 。。。more
Michael
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Not an easy book。This is a book about game theory， and the historical development of game theory。 Specifically， the author has gone back to the earliest days of role-playing games， and traced their nascent beginnings from war gaming to an entirely new kind of game called "role playing。" Not for the faint of heart！ This book is published by MIT Press and is remarkably researched: the author read many， many （MANY） 1970s fanzines in order to create a detailed history of how these games were imagine Not an easy book。This is a book about game theory， and the historical development of game theory。 Specifically， the author has gone back to the earliest days of role-playing games， and traced their nascent beginnings from war gaming to an entirely new kind of game called "role playing。" Not for the faint of heart！ This book is published by MIT Press and is remarkably researched: the author read many， many （MANY） 1970s fanzines in order to create a detailed history of how these games were imagined， created， and argued over。 I found it all fascinating。I have been playing these games for 40 years now， and I am at the point where I am as interested in their history as I am in playing them。 Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says about Play， Religion， and Imagined Worlds， Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It， Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons and （a few） other books have begun to tell the story of role playing games and their impact on culture。 Great stuff！The first role playing games came out of war gaming and sci-fi/fantasy fandom。 From pieces on a game board to players 'becoming' characters in a make-believe world， the influence of RPG's earliest development can still be felt today。 Every kid who logs on to a computer game， or flips on their X-Box or PS5 and plays a character running around in a make-believe world owes their experience to people like Gary Gygax and Greg Stafford。 Games--video， TTRPG， etc。--are a multi-billion dollar industry， and were dreamed up by some nerdy dudes in the mid-west 50 or 60 years ago。 Gods be praised！ So， yeah。。。this book is a deep dive into how these games were born。 I can't say I enjoyed read it， but I am glad that I did。 It helped me to understand some of the different styles of play （using experience points for leveled progression vs。 narrative play， for example） that still come up today， five decades later。 TTRPGs have never been more popular than they are today， and for this I am glad: they are a wonderful experience in shared story telling， and if there has been one good thing that's come out of the COVID pandemic， it has been my re-connection with these games。 I love them。 Always have。 。。。more
John
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In 1974 Dungeons & Dragons described itself as a set of “rules for fantastic medieval wargames campaigns。” Nowhere in the text could the term “role-play” or “role-playing game” be found。 This book attempts to show how that term came to be applied to D&D and the games it inspired， and how the application of that term shaped the discussion of what exactly D&D （and other role-playing games） was， and how it should be played。The author does this largely through exploring the fanzines of the era， with In 1974 Dungeons & Dragons described itself as a set of “rules for fantastic medieval wargames campaigns。” Nowhere in the text could the term “role-play” or “role-playing game” be found。 This book attempts to show how that term came to be applied to D&D and the games it inspired， and how the application of that term shaped the discussion of what exactly D&D （and other role-playing games） was， and how it should be played。The author does this largely through exploring the fanzines of the era， within which a lot of this debate played out。 In the process， showing that many of the questions asked by later gamers as to what was the nature of role-playing were being asked by the earliest players， and many of the same answers were being presented。An excellent addition to the still rather limited corpus of works covering the history of role-playing games。 。。。more
Chris Aylott
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