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I denna studie undersöks hur bordsrollspel kan användas i en behandlingskontext. För att studera detta har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie av verksamma utövares medverkan i podcaster och panelsamtal uppladdade på Youtube där de berättar om metoden. Resultatet visar att bordsrollspel används i två, delvis överlappande, syften: social färdighetsträning och behandling av psykisk ohälsa. Bordsrollspel beskrivs som en social aktivitet med många inneboende positiva följder för spelaren, exempelvis ökad samarbetsförmåga, perspektivtagande och känsloreglering. När aktiviteten leds av en tränad behandlare kan spelet användas för att nå uttalade terapeutiska mål. Detta ställer emellertid stora krav på spelledaren som behöver ha god kännedom om både behandling och spelet. Behandlingen riktar sig främst till ungdomar med svårigheter med socialt samspel, men den har också potential att användas med vuxna klienter. För att diskutera materialet har ett symbolisk interaktionistiskt perspektiv använts. / This study examines how tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can be used as an intervention. We have conducted a qualitative study of practitioners' participation in podcasts and panel discussions published on Youtube where they talk about TTRPGs as an intervention. The results demonstrate how TTRPGs are utilized with two, partially overlapping purposes: social skills training and treatment for mental health conditions. TTRPGs are described as a social activity with a number of inherent benefits for the player, such as increased collaboration skills, perspective-taking and emotional regulation. Whilst being led by a trained professional the game can be used as a tool to reach defined therapeutic goals. This, however, requires the game master to be well-versed in both the role of therapist as well as game master. The intervention studied is primarily used with adolescents struggling with social interactions, but also has potential to be used with adult clients. To discuss the results a symbolic interactionist perspective has been used.

Hur populära rollspel är har ökat kraftigt under en tid då digitaliseringen av rollspel är mycket vanligare än någonsin tidigare. Fler spelare upplever rollspel på ett sätt de inte var originellt utvecklade för. Detta digitala medium kan påverka deras upplevelse av rollspel kraftigt, och i sin tur ändra hur spelare upplever de sociala aspekterna av rollspel. Studiens mål är att undersöka vad för sorts påverkan digitalisering har på den sociala upplevelsen av att spela rollspel, på grund av att mer spelare påverkas av digitalisering än någonsin tidigare, vilket i sin tur påverkas av den generellt ökande populariteten av rollspel. Akademisk litteratur när det gäller spelupplevelser inom detta område är också väldigt få, så studien siktar på att motverka detta också. Frågeställningen som utvecklades från studiens problem var “Vad är deltagarnas erfarenheter och upplevelser av de sociala aspekterna av digitala rollspel?”. En kvalitativ fallstudie genomfördes med en litteraturundersökning angående generella tankar kring digitalisering och att spela online, tagna från onlineforum Detta följdes av semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio rollspelare, som sedan analyserades via en tematisk analys. Det första steget för att besvara frågeställningen var att ta reda på mer information kring vilka delar av onlinespel som ansågs vara mer viktiga av spelarna, vilket i sin tur innebär att intervjun kan bli bättre strukturerad för att samla in mer relevant information. Detta gjordes genom litteraturundersökningen. Genomföringen av intervjun var det andra steget, vilket siktade på att samla så mycket information som möjligt angående spelarnas tankar, känslor, upplevelser och liknande när det kom till digital rollspelning. Det tredje steget var att genomföra de tematiska analyserna på anteckningar om intervjuerna, och tre teman skapades: Det Praktiska med att Spela Online, Rollspelning och Spelvärlden. De följande slutsatserna kunde dras från studien: Digital rollspelning har mycket att ge när det kommer till tillgänglighet, då spelare fann det mycket enklare att komma in i spelet, förbereda sessioner samt att organisera tider för när man faktiskt spelar tillsammans när en session kördes online. Trots detta sa spelare även att själva spelupplevelsen, speciellt när det kom till socialisering eller inlevelse, försämrades online jämfört med att spela på plats. Baserat på dessa slutsatser, så kan det sägas att digitaliseringen av rollspel har mycket att ge när det kommer till social tillgänglighet, men generellt försämrar den sociala upplevelsen jämfört med att spela på plats. En generell positiv eller negativ slutsats kan ej dras från detta, då det är upp till vad spelarna värderar mer inom sina rollspelsupplevelser som bestämmer vare sig digitalisering är en bra eller dålig sak för rollspel. / The popularity of roleplaying games has dramatically increased during a time when digitalisation of the medium is more common than ever before. More and more players are experiencing roleplaying games in a way that they were not originally designed for. This digital medium could affect their experience of the game significantly, and impact how players experience the social aspects of roleplaying games. This study aims to research what form of impact digitalisation has on the social experience of roleplaying games, due to more and more players being affected by digitalisation than ever before, thanks to the overall growing popularity of the hobby. Academic literature on experiences of play within this field is also sparse, so the study aims to expand that as well. The research question developed from this study’s problem was “What were the participant's experiences of the social aspects of digital roleplaying games”. A qualitative case study was conducted through a literature overview regarding general thoughts about digitalisation and online play, taken from online forum posts. This was followed by a semistructured interview with 10 Tabletop Roleplaying-Game (TTRPG) players, which was later analysed via thematic analysis. The first step to answer the research question was to find out more information about what aspects regarding online play people regarded to be more important and significant, in order to better structure the interview to obtain more relevant information. This was done via the literature overview. Conducting an interview was the second step, which aimed to collect as much information about the players' thoughts, feelings, and experiences surrounding digital roleplaying. The third and final step was conducting a thematic analysis of the interview notes, in which three main themes were created: The Convenience of Playing Online, The Role-Playing experience, and the Game World. The following conclusions were drawn from the study: Digital roleplaying has a lot to offer when it comes to accessibility and organisation, as players found it drastically easier to get into the game, prepare sessions, as well as organise times for when to play together when conducting a session online. However, players also stated that the actual experience of play, especially when it came to socialising and immersing themselves, was much worse when playing digitally compared to in person. Based on these conclusions, it can be stated that the digitalisation of roleplaying games has a lot to offer when it comes to social accessibility, but it does dampen the overall social experience compared to an in-person play session. Overall, generally positive or negative conclusions can’t be drawn, and it is up to what players value more in their roleplaying experiences that determine whether digitised play is a good or a bad thing.

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Este trabalho propoe a definicao de uma arquitetura para incorporar jogadores virtuais em uma classe de Sistemas de Apoio a Decisao em Grupos (SADs-G), baseados na utilizacao conjunta de Simulacao Baseada em Multiagentes (MABS) e Jogos de Papeis (RPGs). Estas duas tecnicas, MABS e RPGs, vem sendo utilizadas de forma integrada ha alguns anos devido a capacidade de discussao e aprendizado dos RPG e da capacidade dinamica de MABS. Os jogadores virtuais definidos devem ter a capacidade de tomada de decisao e de comunicacao entre si e com os jogadores reais durante as negociacoes. Os principais aspectos discutidos neste trabalho sao: i) se os jogadores virtuais definidos possuem comportamentos nao-triviais perante aos jogadores reais; ii) se continua ocorrendo o processo de negociacao entre os jogadores, sejam eles reais ou virtuais; iii) se a realizacao de um jogo de forma eletronica (via computador) dificulta a interacao entre os jogadores. De forma a discutir estes aspectos, duas instancias de SADs-G foram implementadas no contexto da Gestao de Recursos Naturais, pois neste dominio o processo de negociacao e extremamente importante e complexo. / This thesis proposes the definition of an architecture to insert virtual players in a particular subclass of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS), that uses Multi-Agent-Based Simulation (MABS) and Role-Playing Games (RPGs) techniques in an integrated way. These techniques can bring interesting results, since it is possible to join the dynamic capacity of MABS with the discussion and learning capacity of RPGs. The defined virtual players must make decisions and communicate with each other and with the real players during the negotiation process. In this work, the main aspects discussed are the following: i) can virtual players have no-trivial behavior in the face of real players? ii) is the negotiation process between all players (virtual or real) still happening when virtual players are inserted? iii) do electronic games make more difficult the interaction between players? In order to discuss these aspects, two instances of GDSSs were developed in the natural resources management domain. This domain was chosen because its negotiation process is both very important and complex.

Este trabalho propoe a definicao de uma arquitetura para incorporar jogadores virtuais em uma classe de Sistemas de Apoio a Decisao em Grupos (SADs-G), baseados na utilizacao conjunta de Simulacao Baseada em Multiagentes (MABS) e Jogos de Papeis (RPGs). Estas duas tecnicas, MABS e RPGs, vem sendo utilizadas de forma integrada ha alguns anos devido a capacidade de discussao e aprendizado dos RPG e da capacidade dinamica de MABS. Os jogadores virtuais definidos devem ter a capacidade de tomada de decisao e de comunicacao entre si e com os jogadores reais durante as negociacoes. Os principais aspectos discutidos neste trabalho sao: i) se os jogadores virtuais definidos possuem comportamentos nao-triviais perante aos jogadores reais; ii) se continua ocorrendo o processo de negociacao entre os jogadores, sejam eles reais ou virtuais; iii) se a realizacao de um jogo de forma eletronica (via computador) dificulta a interacao entre os jogadores. De forma a discutir estes aspectos, duas instancias de SADs-G foram implementadas no contexto da Gestao de Recursos Naturais, pois neste dominio o processo de negociacao e extremamente importante e complexo. / This thesis proposes the definition of an architecture to insert virtual players in a particular subclass of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS), that uses Multi-Agent-Based Simulation (MABS) and Role-Playing Games (RPGs) techniques in an integrated way. These techniques can bring interesting results, since it is possible to join the dynamic capacity of MABS with the discussion and learning capacity of RPGs. The defined virtual players must make decisions and communicate with each other and with the real players during the negotiation process. In this work, the main aspects discussed are the following: i) can virtual players have no-trivial behavior in the face of real players? ii) is the negotiation process between all players (virtual or real) still happening when virtual players are inserted? iii) do electronic games make more difficult the interaction between players? In order to discuss these aspects, two instances of GDSSs were developed in the natural resources management domain. This domain was chosen because its negotiation process is both very important and complex.

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Through more than five years of extensive, participatory research the writer became a fully integrated member of the World of Warcraft community he set out to study. By actually living the grounded practices that constitute the everyday life he concludes that the mundane, often repetitive practice has very little to do with the cyber-utopian claim that one can flee the body and become who they want on the Internet. Instead this doctoral thesis argues that the constant transitions of the borders between offline and online, virtual and real, body and avatar, play and work, player and producer are best described with the concept of leakage. Using leakage to describe the perforated borders that surrounds the game not only allows an understanding of World of Warcraft as a powerful site for production of meaning and culture but also places it far from the traditional understandings of separated fun, play and games. Play as an activity has traditionally been described with three intrinsic features: it is separable from everyday life, in particular from work; it is safe, meaning that it isn’t productive nor does it carry consequence and finally that play is pleasurable or fun. World of Warcraft doesn’t easily admit to these features and should not be understood as neither innocent utopia nor as a devoured mimesis, but rather as an expansion of the life space where players repeatedly and deliberately stretch beyond the producer’s intentions and create a world consisting of work, unwritten social norms, creativity and friendship. Players are social laborers that produce the core of what makes World of Warcraft what it is: a serious game.