Session Zero

The Session Zero duo delve into what the field of psychology thinks rituals are, what purpose they can serve at the table, and explore some of their own tried and true rituals together.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Hobson, N. M., Schroeder, J., Risen, J. L., Xygalatas, D., & Inzlicht, M. (2018). The psychology of rituals: An integrative review and process-based framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22(3), 260-284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317734944

“10 Most Superstitious Athletes” by Ryan Murphy

Maurice LaMarche impression of Orson Welles’s classic Frozen Peas outtake

Stephen Colbert’s pre-show ritual

“Mental Rituals in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” by Seth J. Gillihan, Ph.D

“Ritual Discourse in Role-Playing Games” by Christopher Lehrich

Our characters have taught us all sorts of interesting and useful life skills, like public speaking and picking locks! Come join Porter and Steve while they discuss personal growth through gaming and explore the ways that we support and scaffold each other towards our developmental goals and values.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Roleplay for Development: “The Surprising Benefits for Role-Playing Games (and How to Get Started)” by Patrick Allan

“Counseling Psychology vs Clinical Psychology” by the Society of Counseling Psychology

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436661

“3 Benefits of Making Role-Play Part of Training” by John Buelow

Gagné, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.). Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Doolittle, P.E. (1997) Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development as a Theoretical Foundation for Cooperative Learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 8(1), 83-103.

Aly Grauer’s Dialect Coaching classes

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Types of Escapism: Hagstrõm, D., & Kaldo, V. (2014). Escapism among players of MMORPGs – conceptual clarification, its relation to mental health factors, and development of a new measure. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(1), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0222

Actual–ideal self in gaming: Li, D., Liau, A., & Khoo, A. (2011). Examining the influence of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, depression, and escapism, on pathological gaming among massively multiplayer online adolescent gamers. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(9), 535-539. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0463

Actual–ideal self-discrepancy: Higgins, E.T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319-340.

Avatar creation: Wang, I., Rouse, S.V., & Mancuso, E.K. (2017) The virtual self: Avatar and individual determinants of mood. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 22(1), 29-38.

Mental practice: Driskell, J. E., Copper, C., & Moran, A. (1994). Does mental practice enhance performance? Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 481-492.

Wikipedia page on Reinforcement (with sections on punishment)

“What is Exposure Therapy?” by the American Psychological Association

Magpie Games’s Bluebeard’s Bride, Pasión de las Pasiones, and Cartel.

Edgar Clément & Miguel Angel Espinoza’s Nahual

The Session Zero duo delve into mental illness and its function in game worlds. Join us in thinking a little deeper about the tropes and traditions of our hobby and how they sometimes mimic people’s lived experience of pain.

CW: Mentions of violence, mental illness, discussions of psychological trauma, brief mentions of suicidal ideation, brief mentions of sexual assault

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Definition and types of mental illnesses: “Mental Health Conditions” by the National Alliance on Mental Illness

Moselhy H, F. (1999). Lycanthropy: New Evidence of Its Origin. Psychopathology, 32, 173-176. doi: 10.1159/000029086 (pdf here)

Blom, J.D. (2014) When doctors cry wolf: a systematic review of the literature on clinical lycanthropy History of Psychiatry, 25(1), 87-102. doi.org/10.1177/0957154X13512192

Definition of Trauma from the American Psychological Association

Mathieu, C., & Babiak, P. (2016). Corporate psychopathy and abusive supervision: Their influence on employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Personality and Individual Differences, 91, 102-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.002

“Mental Health & Stigma” by Graham C.L. Davey, Ph.D.

The List of Madness Tropes on TVTropes

Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu

Onyx Path Publishing’s Chronicles of Darkness

Posthuman Studios’s Eclipse Phase

Evil Hat Productions’s Fate Core

Jenna Moran’s Chubbo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine

The Session Zero duo explore those awkward feelings of concern and fear of judgment that some tabletop and live action roleplaying gamers feel when interacting with non-gamers. We will dive into the concept of stigma and explore what it’s like to experience the stigma of being a gamer.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Stigma: The Wikipedia page for Social Stigma

Fandom identity stigma: Cohen, E. L., Atwell Seate, A., Anderson, S. M., & Tindage, M. F. (2017). Sport fans and Sci-Fi fanatics: The social stigma of popular media fandom. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 6(3), 193-207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000095

In-Group/Out-group bias: “Social Identity Theory” by Saul McLeod

Stigmatized identity management: Chaudoir, S. R., & Fisher, J. D. (2010). The disclosure processes model: Understanding disclosure decision-making and post-disclosure outcomes among people living with a concealable stigmatized identity. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 236-256. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018193

Strategic thinking and speaking the language of the majority: Ogbu, J.U. The Urban Review (2004) 36: 1. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:URRE.0000042734.83194.f6

Satanic Panic & D&D: “How D&D Writers Fought the Satanic Panic of the 1980s” by Ben Riggs.

Dark Dungeons, the movie based on the Chick tract: “A Review of Dark Dungeons, the Film Every Roleplayer Should See (Before It’s Too Late)” by Becky Chambers.

Chris Mackey, I-O psychology practitioner, can be found on twitter at @D20PhD, and on her website at Improved Initiative Consulting.

D&D article mentioned in episode: “Why the Cool Kids Are Playing Dungeons & Dragons” by Annalee Newitz

Porter and Steve discuss privilege and how it can play out in our imaginary worlds as well as the real one. What role does oppression play in our imaginations? Join us in examining the impact of the statuses we hold on the worlds we build and the characters we make.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Privilege, Power, and Oppression: Johnson, A. G. (2018). Privilege, power and difference (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Causes for racial differences in cognitive testing: Outtz, J. L., & Newman, D. A. (2010). A theory of adverse impact. In J. L. Outtz (Ed.), Adverse impact: Implications for organizational staffing and high stakes selection (pp. 53-94). New York: Taylor & Francis.

Belonging Outside Belonging – Avery Alder’s Dream Askew, and Benjamin Rosenbaum’s Dream Apart

One Shot Podcast’s run of Dream Apart: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

“May I Play a Character From Another Race?” by James Mendez Hodes

“The Sugarcoated Language of White Fragility” by Anna Kegler

White fragility: The works of Robin DiAngelo, PhD

Racism in Fantasy Race building:

Monson, M. J. (2012). Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 7(1), 48–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412012440308

Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre By Paul B Sturtevant

Porter and Steve explore what types of meaning we can make in our shared, internal, imaginary worlds through the use of symbolic metaphors and analogies. Join us to find out why gaming can be philosophically true even if it isn’t real.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Robert Bohl’s Misspent Youth

The Spark Roleplaying Game

Fate Core

Nonexistent Objects & Imaginary Worlds from CrashCourse

Adult Imaginary Play by Jared Keller

Links between Paracosms and adult creativity

Lit review on paracosm:

MacKeith, S. A. (1983). Paracosms and the Development of Fantasy in Childhood. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2(3), 261–267. https://doi.org/10.2190/0GA7-WGUH-L7KF-GYYF

Taylor, M. , Mottweiler, C. M., Aguiar, N. R., Naylor, E. R. and Levernier, J. G. (2018), Paracosms: The Imaginary Worlds of Middle Childhood. Child Dev. doi:10.1111/cdev.13162

Porter & Steve are joined by game developer and conservationist Emily Care Boss in the second half of a two-part interview where they come together to discuss whether bleed is a good or a bad thing, strategies for addressing and mitigating bleed safety, and some positive takeaways they have experienced from their own experiences of bleed.

Please consider donating to the GoFundMe drive to help Jef from System Mastery pay his hospital bills: http://bit.ly/livingmastery

Emily Care Boss can be found at her games website at www.blackgreengames.com, and on twitter at @emilycare.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Bleed: https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/ by Sarah Lynne Bowman

Bleed: https://nordiclarp.org/2019/01/25/investigating-types-of-bleed-in-larp-emotional-procedural-and-memetic/ by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes Game: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lesson-of-a-lifetime-72754306/ by Stephen G. Bloom

Documentary about the Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes Experiment: https://youtu.be/1mcCLm_LwpE by Frontline PBS

OK Check-In: https://participationsafety.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/toolkit-the-ok-check-in/ by Johanna Koljonen

Emily Care Boss can be found at her games website at www.blackgreengames.com, and on twitter at @emilycare.

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Bleed: https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/ by Sarah Lynne Bowman

Bleed: https://nordiclarp.org/2019/01/25/investigating-types-of-bleed-in-larp-emotional-procedural-and-memetic/ by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

Relationship Development through Roleplaying: http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/nbnfioulu-201412022038.pdf

Alibi: Montola, M., & Holopainen, J. (2012). First person audience and painful role-playing. In C. B. Nielsen & C. Raasted (Eds.), Immersive Gameplay: Essays on Participatory Media and Role-playing (pp. 13-30). Jefferson, NC, USA: McFarland.

Magpie Games?s Bluebeard?s Bride

Porter & Steve discuss what the literature says about what emotions are at their core, what their meaning and value can be in the gaming experience, and some useful ways to consider and manage the emotions of yourself and your fellow roleplayer.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes, and consequences of affective experiences at work. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol 18, pp 1-74). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press

Frijda, N. H. (1993). Moods, emotional episodes and emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 381-403). New York: Guilford Press.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201806/basic-and-complex-emotions

A worksheet to explore your parts of mind: https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/wise-mind.pdf