A Textual Analysis of a D&D Player
When you think of the game Dungeons and Dragons, who do you imagine playing it? Different forms of media (such as the show community) would have you believe that only “nerds” exclusively play Dungeons and dragons. The article “Players Roll the Dice for Dungeons & Dragons Remake” [1] by Ethan Gilsdorf analyses the portrayal of gamers (of Dungeons and Dragons) from its creation to today. How has the portrayal of gamers changed over time, and how does this article perform a textual analysis?
Dungeons and Dragons has always been a nerdy pastime [2] but throughout the 1970’s and ‘80s, the portrayal of these players went through radical changes. It was perceived that Dungeons and Dragons changed average people into cult like black magic, and caused suicide. This was unfounded, but does show the power of how media can spread an image over a sub culture. But today it’s considered a “badge of honor for hipsters and artists [3] with the likes of the film director Jon Favreau, the comedian Stephen Colbert, the N.B.A. star Tim Duncan and the actor Vin Diesel professing their love of the game” as stated by the New York Times article. For now, Wizards of the coast are about to reboot the franchise to bring in a larger fan-base affectively changing the portrayal of gamers.
Richard Campbell states that textual analysis is an “interpretation of cultural messages, including those found in books, movies, and TV programs” he further states an example as how an Arab character is portrayed in popular films. This article is giving the current portrayal of gamers, and is attempting to change the portrayal by showing its history.
The Research paper on Article Analysis on Mate Selection
The entire article is based on evolutionary psychology and the title of the article is Mate Selection criteria: A trait desirability assessment study of sex differences of Serbia. The entire paper examines the predictions from socio-structural perspective and evolutionary on sex differences in the mate selection in Serbia. There were a total of 127 respondents that were taken from Serbia and the ...
I feel that the change in the portrayal of gamers is a positive change. Dungeons and Dragons is a great form of storytelling that is underutilized. If newcomers aren’t afraid to look “geeky” then this form of storytelling can gain more popularity.
The underutilized form of storytelling known as Dungeons and Dragons has gone from being portrayed as a nerdy hobby, to a practice in black magic, to now being a badge of honor for hipsters and artists. Textual analysis from different forms of media (such as this article) has encouraged this change and will continue to.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/arts/video-games/dungeons-dragons-remake-uses-players-input.html?pagewanted=2&ref=video-games
[2] http://www.salon.com/2011/03/09/dungeons_and_dragons_comes_back/
[3] http://thetorchonline.com/latest/20-celebrities-who-play-dungeons-dragons/
