A Dicey Situation: A Study of How Controlled Vocabularies Describe Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Abstract

As popular culture has become an accepted aspect of study, academic interest has increased for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). However, existing controlled vocabularies cannot accurately describe them, and this will decrease their discoverability in collections. This article surveys several controlled vocabularies that feature headings for TTRPGs and argues that their definitions, structures, and disambiguation between subject and genre/form fail to distinguish TTRPGs from other forms of roleplay or from works about TTRPGs. The author also offers possible short and long-term solutions for better implementing existing vocabularies in TTRPG records.

Keywords:

• Controlled vocabularies
• roleplaying games
• subject analysis
• genre/form terms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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