Fantasy In Real Life: Making Meaning from Vicarious Experiences with a Tabletop RPG Internet Stream

Abstract

This study investigated the experiences of people who claimed exposure to Critical Role, a web series featuring a group of voice actors playing a tabletop role-playing game (TRPG), impacted their lives in meaningful ways beyond entertain-ment. Building on previous research that documented players engaging in role-playing games, livestreaming, and role-playing game (RPG) fandom subculture, this study specifically explored the perspectives of individuals who reported a transformation-al impact of experiencing gaming vicariously through watching Critical Role. This paper reports a detailed narrative of one of the cases from qualitative interviews, which conveys major themes that illustrate the perspective of the individual watching. The paper compliments this detailed case description with a discussion of findings from seven in depth interviews to explore the experiences of the interviewee focused on in the context of the study sample. This study is primarily focused on the individ-ual watchers’ experience of gameplay and role-playing experiences, which they attribute to personal growth. The term paraso-cial gaming is introduced to characterize a part of vicarious experience associated with watching media figures playing games.