Privilege, Power, and Dungeons & Dragons: How Systems Shape Racial and Gender Identities in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

ABSTRACT

This article takes a cultural-historical approach to analyzing how systems shape the assumptions, identities, and experiences of their users. Focusing on how the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is built on a system of play that has grown and shifted over the course of 40 years, this study emphasizes the central role that systems play in mediating the experiences of participants. By focusing on depictions of gender, race, and power in Dungeons & Dragons—as a singular cultural practice—this study highlights how researchers must attend to cultural production both around and within systems.

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation; they provided resources and mentorship that were crucial for completing this article. I also thank Bonnie Nardi and the two anonymous reviewers who helped me revise this work.