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- (from Tolkien) a fandom of fans of J. R. R. Tolkien's books, which has a close connection with the role-playing subculture. Contents 1 History 2 Some features ... Wikipedia

Informals social group; a general name for representatives of various subcultural youth movements in the USSR in the 80s and 90s of the XX century. The definition of “informal” comes from the phrase “informal associations of youth”, ... ... Wikipedia

Donetsk club "Mithril" Role-playing Games Movement (DRG), Role-playing movement, role-players are an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily live-action role-playing games. Related to role-playing are movements of historical... ... Wikipedia

Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving (confirmed) participant in the First World War on the French side with participants in historical reconstruction dressed in the uniform of soldiers of that era. Reenactors during maneuvers on the Molotov line... Wikipedia

Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving (confirmed) participant in the First World War on the French side with participants in historical reconstruction dressed in the uniform of soldiers of that era. Reenactors during maneuvers on the Molotov line... Wikipedia

Donetsk club "Mithril" Role-playing Games Movement (DRG), Role-playing movement, role-players are an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily live-action role-playing games. Related to role-playing are movements of historical... ... Wikipedia

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Books

• Mobbers (ed. 2014), Ryzhov Alexander Sergeevich. They call themselves mobbers. Their task is to shock the public and at the same time make dozens, or even hundreds of completely different people unfamiliar with each other for a moment...
• Mobbers, Ryzhov A.. They call themselves mobbers. Their task is to shock the public and at the same time make dozens, or even hundreds of completely different people, strangers to each other, feel for a moment...

1) an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily live-action role-playing games. Related to role-playing are the movements of historical reenactors, Tolkienists, hardball players, airsoft players and paintball players; 2) a youth subculture based on participation in productions and reconstructions of plots from books and games, associated with certain clothing, paraphernalia, music and events.

Role-playing games are understood as a set of actions for educational or entertainment purposes, the participants of which are guided in their behavior by the role functions, character, appearance, etc. of the characters they have chosen from certain books, movies, comics, computer games, etc. Such actions are regulated by certain rules , while players can freely improvise within the framework of the chosen rules, determining the direction and outcome of the game (Kaplunenko, 2013).

In the West, the role-playing movement began with board games. It is for this reason that the full name of role-playing games in English - live-action role-playing games - contains role-playing games, which came to be used as a term primarily in relation to Dungeons & Dragons, and subsequently in relation to other board games. However, subsequently the scale of the game action increased and moved to a complete imitation of the game situation with the development of roles, costumes, staging scenes, etc.

Role-playing games in Russia emerged from the activities of various clubs, such as the Club of Science Fiction Fans (CLF), the Club of Amateur Songs (KSP), and also Military History Clubs (VIKs). As in the West, in Russia there are two main types of RI. These are board games and live-action games, but here they develop almost simultaneously.

A role-playing game is usually based on a literary work or game. Thus, the most common in Russia are “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien; "The Witcher", "Harry Potter"; games “WarHammer” and “WarCraft” (Who are Roleplayers?, Electronic resource). Games based on the works of C. S. Lewis, A. Sapkowski, J. Martin, G. L. Oldie, E. Khaetska and many others); European mythology and epic (games based on ancient myths, Celtic mythology, the Finnish epic “Kalevala”, plots of the “Arthurian cycle”); historical events and periods (an extremely wide chronological and cultural spectrum from primitive times to the October events of 1917, from Japan of the Edo era to the oprichnina and the French Revolution). Sometimes the cross-cutting theme of the annual games is a historical retrospective of a country or culture. For example, in St. Petersburg, games “across Ireland” are held annually, recreating the history of this country (including mythological) starting from the “era of the Ancient Kings” (IV-III centuries BC) and ending with turbulent political events of the beginning of the 20th century); cultural and geographical loci (games “Carnival in Venice”, “Tibet”, “Chukotka”, “Texas”, “Voodoo”, etc.); domestic and world classics: games based on the plots of Shakespeare, Hoffmann, Dostoevsky (the game “The Brothers Karamazov”), Chekhov, Cortazar, etc. appeared relatively recently - in the early 2000s. and became a sign of a new round of development of role-playing games; popular and children's literature: games based on books by L. Carroll, T. Jansson, A. Conan Doyle, B. Akunin and based on “Harry Potter”; pastiche, i.e. a mixture of plot fragments and heroes from various works (one of the favorite plot-forming techniques of role-playing games is the so-called “crossroads of worlds”: within the game there can be heroes of different works of the same author, for example, Shakespeare or Hoffmann, heroes of the works of one genre (the game "Tales of Old England") or heroes of different literary works, genres, authors and eras, for example, in the game "Andersen's Fairy Tales" as a result of the intrigues of the Snow Queen, Don Juan was killed by Don Quixote); films, cartoons: games “Pulp Fiction” (“tarantinovka”) (the film “Pulp Fiction”), “Rose and Thistle” (the film “Braveheart”), “With Fire and Sword” based on the film of the same name, etc.; song plots (a relatively new phenomenon; in May 2006, a game based on the songs of the popular group “Melnitsa” was held near Moscow); anime and manga (plots of Japanese animation and comics) (Role-players as a subculture, Electronic source).

According to the organizational principle, role-playing games today are represented by the following varieties: “maneuvers”; the role-playing games themselves; “conventions”, “quests” (completing tasks related to the themes of certain literary works); forum role-playing games on the Internet.

Games are also divided into:

Field games, or “polygonki”, are games in nature of a theatrical nature lasting from one to several days (these also include “maniacs” - games where the plot is weakened or absent, and the main point lies in playful combat interaction);

- “cabinets” (games at home) lasting one or two days, “pavilions” (analogous to “cabinets”, characterized by a larger scale and held in a service area - a gym, office, etc.).

Currently, the role-playing movement is a community that is very diverse in its sociocultural and age composition. The bulk of role-players are students and high school students, many representatives of the technical, humanitarian and creative intelligentsia, there are mid-level entrepreneurs, employees of commercial structures, as well as undecided youth. The range of religious and political views of movement participants is wide: from neo-Christianity to neo-paganism, from preserved hippie ideals to punk nihilism, from liberal democratic positions to national neo-fascism of extremist groups.

The motivation for participating in games also differs: for some young people, participation in role-playing games is the equivalent of living in society, a way to be as dependent on society as possible. For most, role-playing games are a hobby (quite expensive: long trips, costumes, surroundings), where they are attracted, first of all, by the opportunity to communicate with a certain circle of people, to actively participate in the game process, to go into the forest, to visit an unfamiliar city or in extreme conditions.

Role players can be divided into categories such as: “fighters” - those who prefer actual “combat” actions; “munchkins” - results-oriented games and those for whom the game process is attractive in itself; travelers are, first of all, a form of leisure, or even just an opportunity to go into the forest and sit by the fire (Role players as a subculture, Electronic source).

The modern stage of development of the role-playing movement is characterized by the emergence of “workshop” or “creative” groups - associations consisting of a small number of people who invent and develop concepts for original games, held one-time or regularly, as well as other events - festivals, tournaments, theatrical performances, etc. . d. The most famous in Russia are such associations and events as “Floating House” (Moscow, games “Song of Fire and Ice”, “Black Squad”), “Golden Forests” (Moscow, Elven Archery Tournament), “Bastille” (St. Petersburg, games “Pulp Fiction”, “Diamond Chariot”), creative group of Macduff (St. Petersburg, games “Khazar Dictionary”, “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “Coelacanth”, etc.), etc.

Thus, the subculture of role players acts as a form of social practice of escaping the changing social reality in the context of globalization, as well as a tool for self-realization in an alternative form of society.

As part of the sociology of youth, types of role players were studied by Val. A. Lukov (Lukov, 2000, 2002, 2012), S. I. Levikova (Levikova, 2004), D. V. Gromov (Youth subcultures of Moscow, 2009), etc.

Lit.: Who are Roleplayers? / [Electronic resource] Encyclopedia of the role-playing movement.URL:http://rolewiki.org/%D0%9A%D1%82%D0%BE_%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0% B5_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8 (date of access: 11/12/2015); Kupriyanov, B., Podobin, A. (2003) Essays on social pedagogy: role movement in Russia (fourth essay) / [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.altruism.ru/sengine. с§і/5/31/2 (date of access: 09/30/2015); Kaplunenko, A. E. (2013) On the adequacy of the term “historical reconstruction” in the context of the informal youth movement of role players // Bulletin of the Irkutsk State Linguistic University Vol. No. 4 (25) Irkutsk: Publishing house Eurasian Linguistic Institute. pp. 70–76; Levikova, S. I. (2004) Youth subculture: textbook. allowance. M.: FAIR PRESS. 608 pp.; Lukov, V. A. (2000) Youth subcultural phenomena in Russia // Sociological collection. Vol. 7 / Youth Institute; under general ed. V. A. Lukova. M.: Society. pp. 62–83; Lukov, V. A. (2002) Features of youth subcultures in Russia // Sociol. research. No. 10. P. 79–87; Lukov, V. A. (2012) Theories of youth: interdisciplinary analysis. M.: “Canon+” ROOI “Rehabilitation”. 528 pp.; Youth subcultures of Moscow (2009): collection. scientific works / comp. D. V. Gromov; resp. ed. M. Yu. Martynov. M.: IEA RAS. 554 pp.; Pisareva, V. A. (1992) Aggressive-conformist subculture of Russian youth // Youth of Russia at the turn of the 1990s. M.: Publishing house Ros. acad. Sci. 159 pp.; Role players as a subculture / [Electronic resource] liveinternet website URL: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/2997853/post93170856/ (access date: 11/18/2015).

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Presentation on the topic: Roleplayers (subculture)

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Role-Playing Games Movement (DRG) Role-playing movement (Role-players) is an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily live-action role-playing games. Related to role-playing are the movements of historical reenactors, Tolkienists, hardball players, airsoft players and paintball players.

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The role-playing movement is distinguished both as a hobby and as a subculture, which is characterized by its own jargon, its own music, its own literature (mainly fantasy) and other characteristic elements of a single culture. The role-playing movement is distinguished both as a hobby and as a subculture, which is characterized by its own jargon, its own music, its own literature (mainly fantasy) and other characteristic elements of a single culture.

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Role-playing movement in Russia and the USSR The role-playing movement in Russia and the USSR arose in the 80s on the basis of Science Fiction Fans Clubs. In addition to role-playing games, roleplayers gather for Role-playing Conventions - short-term meetings dedicated to informing players about the games of the next season, discussing past games, and informal communication. The conventions host historical fencing tournaments, photo and art exhibitions, concerts by game song authors, theatrical performances, and video screenings.

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Currently, there are critics of this term. Based on the fact that the word “movement” in this context is understood as a community of people having a certain goal, they say that this term brings the wrong meaning to the understanding of role-playing games by the public, since they are an end in themselves and do not pursue any political , social or other purposes. Currently, there are critics of this term. Based on the fact that the word “movement” in this context is understood as a community of people having a certain goal, they say that this term brings the wrong meaning to the understanding of role-playing games by the public, since they are an end in themselves and do not pursue any political , social or other purposes.

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Mafia (game) “Ma Fia” is a parlor team psychological turn-based role-playing game with a detective plot, simulating the struggle of members of an organized minority, informed about each other, with an unorganized majority. Plot plot: Residents of the city, exhausted from the rampant mafia, decide to put every single mafioso in prison. In response, the mafia declares war until the complete destruction of all decent citizens.

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Briefly (classic game) Briefly (classic game) The presenter distributes cards face down to the participants in the game. Everyone gets only one. Those who got the red ones form a team of “honest city residents” who do not know each other (the name “civilians” and the abbreviations “chzh”, “mzh” or “gr” are also common). One of the "honest residents" who received the red ace is a special player - the "commissar". Players with black cards are the “mafia” team.

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The gameplay is divided into two phases - “day” and “night”. The gameplay is divided into two phases - “day” and “night”. When the presenter announces the phase of night in the city, the players close their eyes - “sleep”. On the first night, the host allows players with black cards - the “mafia” - to open their eyes and remember their comrades - to “get acquainted”. After which the mafia “falls asleep”, and the presenter demands the commissioner to wake up. In this way, the presenter becomes aware of the layout (he finds out who is who). When the phase of the day is announced, all residents wake up. During the day, the players discuss which of them may be “dishonest” - involved in the mafia. At the end of the discussion, the presenter announces an open vote for imprisonment (in different versions of the game this process is called lynching, hanging, murder). The most suspicious resident who gets the most votes is sent to jail (leaves the game), and the presenter reveals his card and announces the game status.

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Then comes the “night” phase. At night, the mafia wakes up, silently (with gestures) “consults” and kills one of the surviving townspeople, showing the leader who exactly. The mafia is falling asleep. The commissioner wakes up and points to one of the residents whom he wants to “check” for involvement in the mafia. The presenter still silently, “on his fingers,” shows the commissioner the status of the person being inspected. Then comes the “night” phase. At night, the mafia wakes up, silently (with gestures) “consults” and kills one of the surviving townspeople, showing the host exactly who. The mafia is falling asleep. The commissioner wakes up and points to one of the residents whom he wants to “check” for involvement in the mafia. The presenter still silently, “on his fingers,” shows the commissioner the status of the person being inspected. During the day, the presenter announces who was killed at night. This player leaves the game, his card (“status”) is shown to all residents. Information about the events that took place is used by the surviving players for discussion and the next “condemnation”... The game continues until the complete victory of one of the teams, when the opponents are completely either imprisoned or killed...

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Rules of the game Number of players Possible: from 2 people. Optimal: 8-16 people. With a small number of players, the game quickly ends; with a large number, it loses its meaning due to the general noise and division into groups of discussants. Formula for calculating the number of mafia members: M = N/k, where M is the number of mafiosi, N is the total number of players, k is the calculated coefficient. For playing “live” - in salons (offline, in “real life”), in IRC and chats, k varies from 3 to 4. That is, approximately k = 3.5. In network games with a delay of the turn - PBEM and forum variants, games on blogs and social networks - an increased value for k is usually accepted.

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List of Internet sites, resources and literature: Vorobyova E. Homo sapiens: a person playing or a person hanging out? // Winged Messenger -2001. - No. 2 - P. 34 Voronina E.Yu. Belokol O.L. Role-playing games - what is it: Methodological manual. -M.: Mos.Gor.Syun, 1997. - 60 p. Why I don’t like roleplayers // Winged Messenger. - 2002 -No. 1 How to be considered a bad player // Winged Messenger. - 2002. - No. 1 Kupriyanov B.V. Pavlova O.A. Characteristics of informal youth associations using the example of role-playing game clubs // Psychological support of the processes of modernization of education and professionalization of personnel. - Part I.- M; Kostroma: KSU named after. N.A. Nekrasova, 2002. Nemirova A. Role-playing games: parallel reality and social adaptation // Winged Messenger - 2001 - No. 3 Private site of Laura Bogarova. http://ru.wikipedia.org http://www.scout.org.ru/archives/exchange/ http://www.kulichki.com/tolkien/podshivka/000400.htm

I decided to post a more detailed story about who the “Role Players” are, so that my further “Role Player Tales” would be more understandable to readers. And if the topic interests you, then I will reveal an interesting and fascinating world in more depth.

Well, let's get started.

“We were born to make a fairy tale come true...”

Lyrics from the song...

Roleplayers are a union of people who love history, love legends and myths. But they not only love to read, but also try to experience in their own skin what our ancestors or the heroes of legends and fairy tales felt.

If you are interested in how a person in chain mail feels in the rain, how long you can run in armor, how you would behave in the place of a great magician, how the inquisitors proved the guilt of witches, what it means to get a sword on your helmet in a knightly tournament or to be a princess, or feel like a serf - welcome to the world of Role Players.

But remember, tourism should not be confused with immigration. A fairy tale in words will turn into harsh everyday life in real life. Role players build their world with their own hands. There are still very few far-sighted sponsors and therefore, in order to become a knight, you need to acquire armor; To become a princess - you must prove that you are a princess; to get into the range game - you need to be prepared to live in the wild; to enjoy the game - you must learn to live.

Those who are ready to come to terms with the harsh reality and boldly look into the eyes of gray everyday life and work on themselves - read on. Those who are not ready also read and enjoy. ;)

The main event in the life of every role player is considered to be the Game.

The game is an attempt by role-players to live in real life a certain episode from the history of mankind or from the world created by writers, or any fictional world. The main difference between a game and a performance is the complete improvisation of all the characters taking part in the game.

There are different games, but the most important and striking are considered to be Polygon games that take place in nature: in forests, forest plantations, forest areas, lasting more than one day.

I'll tell you more about what games are another time. In the meantime, a short excursion into the history of Roleplayers.

So where did the Role-playing movement come from?

The founders of the Role-playing movement were members of the Science Fiction Writers Club of the Soviet Union. In 1989, at the next congress of science fiction writers, the then little-known work of J.R.R., which was still little known in the vastness of the USSR, was hotly discussed. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", and within the framework of the festival it was decided to try to dramatize the events described in the book. The proposal was accepted and implemented with the typical imagination and enthusiasm of writers, and subsequently it was decided to make it an annual event. The people who took part in this event spread the idea throughout the entire expanse of the now former Soviet Union, including Ukraine. The first Ukrainian club was created (and even officially registered in 1990). The Role-playing movement came to Zaporozhye in 1994, thanks to the acquaintance of young students with Valeria Aleksandrovna Matorina (among the Role-playing people affectionately called VAMushka). Her translation of Tolkien’s works was recognized as the best translation into Russian. Well, perhaps this is where we end the excursion into history.

As we found out, the roots came from the works of Tolkien and the first Role Players began to be called Tolkienists. Young, romantically minded guys in the Soviet Union, inexperienced with fantasy works, were shocked by the detail of the world described by Tolkien, and everyone found in it something close to them. And since the work was fabulous, the first taste of the unusual was felt by the children acting out mythical characters. This is how elves, gnomes and orcs appeared.

But if the actors playing on stage temporarily learn their role by reading the same phrases, then the role-players had to keep themselves in character for several days and improvise with dialogues, which for some of them became fatal, and they for many years so they remained elves and other creatures.

Having nothing behind them but naked enthusiasm, the guys began to create costumes for themselves from whatever they could get their hands on. But there wasn’t much that came across. At this stage, Tolkienists discredited themselves to the public by running around city parks with clubs instead of swords and pot lids instead of shields. This caused natural bewilderment among most people, and even those who would not mind joining, after seeing all this disgrace, passed by. In connection with this, for many years the public did not attach any importance to these mysterious teenagers, considering them another manifestation of the difficult post-Soviet legacy.

But the years passed, the movement expanded, the guys grew up. Naturally, Tolkien alone became not enough and games began to be organized based on other works, as well as on the basis of events that took place in history.

Clubs appeared where children could share experiences and see and exchange experiences with each other. Forges appeared. Craftsmen appeared, forging swords, making armor and crossbows. Craftswomen appeared who sewed suits to order.

The guys involved in sports and martial arts organized training and created different systems for teaching historical fencing. Today, knightly tournaments have acquired an almost uniform standard and are regularly held in all major regions. Special literature and videos are available.

Some more organized clubs earn extra money as stuntmen on film sets.

Today, historical festivals are held throughout the CIS, supported by sponsors and generating profit for their organizers and participants.

Over the past years, highly specialized communities have appeared in the Role-playing movement.

Fighters have appeared - fighters who devote themselves mainly to preparations for tournaments.

Reenactors appeared - people who are purely interested in the reconstruction of weapons, armor and costume. They try to recreate, down to the smallest detail, the things that our ancestors wore 40-700 years ago, and maybe more.

The guys who have greater opportunities than others are already reconstructing not only things, but also life itself, creating small settlements that fully correspond to the spirit of the Middle Ages.

And there are talents that have always been there, these are minstrels, singing folk, now writing modern ballads and songs.

And, of course, there are and will always be Masters. Masters who create and organize games.

I will try to tell you more about the different directions, and how to become a Roleplayer, about who the masters or fighters are separately, because there is too much information.

Today, the Role-playing movement in the CIS countries numbers about 300 thousand people (according to some sources, up to half a million). And the best part is that the overwhelming majority are good, honest, educated and, most importantly, bright and talented people.

Submitting your good work to the knowledge base is easy. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

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Introduction

Modern culture is fragmented and mosaic, so the search for self-identification is carried out in various layers and aspects, including in those areas of activity that have traditionally been associated with leisure, interests, and hobbies. It is possible simultaneously in a variety of communities, and among them is the community of role-playing game participants.

Role-playing games as intellectual entertainment involve the reproduction of hypothetical life situations, presented in the form of specific plots and with the participation of a “master” presenter who acts as a screenwriter. In this case, role-playing game is understood as a narrower concept - live-action role-playing game: participants make a conscious attempt to live for some time in the role of another person (or creature), performing on his behalf some actions determined by circumstances or the need to achieve a goal. . In a role-playing game, there is a starting situation, but there is no script; the development of the plot is not predetermined and depends entirely on the participants in the game. The participant thinks through his character in advance (biography, character, habits, costume) and reacts to all game events as, in the player’s opinion, his character would act. The carriers of the subculture of role-playing games are mainly city residents - high school students, students and young professionals (age - from 15 to 30 years).

The number of fans of role-playing games numbers tens of thousands of people both in Russia and around the world, and is constantly growing.

Besides Russia, the most common live action role-playing games are in Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the Scandinavian Peninsula and Western Europe, Israel, the USA, Canada and Australia. The scale of distribution of communities of participants in role-playing games emphasizes the relevance of their research.

Accordingly, there is a need to understand the subculture of the community of role-playing game participants in Russia.

The history of the origins of the role-playing Movement

roleplaying game

The role-playing movement originated in Ancient Greece during the Hellenistic period. A group of aesthetes led by Theocritus, in the shade of their gardens, created a myth about shepherd-poets who sing shepherd songs in the lap of nature, harmoniously merging with it, and not with the political chatter of Alexandrian squares. This was a reaction to the vicious and emasculated imperial culture, familiar to everyone from later times.

Having created the myth, the Greek poets identified several personalities (characters) in it, who were assigned elaborate and beautiful songs (they composed them for the heroes). The characters had their own stories, destinies, experiences, they were connected by friendship or common sadness. The story of the shepherd Daphnis is especially noteworthy (not to be confused with the Daphnis whose Chloe is a Roman interpretation). This young shepherd with a wonderful voice and marvelous appearance loved forests, sea waves and birds, but he fled from love. When Aphrodite herself fell in love with him, he refused her reciprocation, and the offended Aphrodite wished him worse. As time passed, Daphnis, cursed by the goddess, withered away in the arms of his friends to their sad and beautiful songs, accompanied by playing the harp. It is not difficult to see in this idyll early parallels with our role-players' ideas about elves. But we will return to this much later.

So, having composed the characters, the Greek poets could not deny themselves the pleasure of playing with them right away. These adults and most likely bearded people dressed in shepherd's clothing (as they imagined it to be), went out into nature and lived there, wandering under the stars, singing songs they invented, calling each other fictitious names and extremely perplexing the real shepherds who shied away from them to the nearest cypress trees. Of course, Daphnises tried to make contact with real goatherds, but the goatherds did not understand a word in their “shepherd” songs and, judging by their clothes, they thought they were eccentrics.

Ancient Rome did not provide such striking examples of role-playing itself, because in comparison with Greece it was completely devoid of innocence. Gladiators reenacting the battles of the Argonauts with the Amazons, emperors playing gladiators, patricians imagining their own funerals and the triumphs of ancient kings are not perfect examples. Caligula's conquest of Britain should be considered a good role-playing game (the legions approached the shore of an Italian swamp, cut each other down in the reeds, were carried out in the mud, after which a satisfied Caesar brought them back). But, strictly speaking, this was a cultural action (performance), and not a role-playing game proper with complete immersion (not in a swamp).

Then Christianity was adopted in Europe, and humanity was busy for many centuries. From our point of view, it found itself in a situation of some intellectual poverty, when reading was the lot of the elite, the main text was Scripture, and manifestations of the creative spirit were reduced to handicrafts and assault. The Crusades somewhat revived the situation, since they were a source of unprecedented information about the world. An extremely attractive attempt is to consider the history of military knightly orders as a role-playing phenomenon (a game of characters from the Old and New Testaments), but, knowing the overwhelming illiteracy of European chivalry of that time and the general religious intensity, this attempt should be rejected.

They were no longer playing in Palestine. And according to a different archetype. This is not a peasant (a shepherd, a fisherman - let's say, of Jewish nationality), but a sorcerer (a sage, interpreter, scribe - let's say, of Jewish nationality). The literature brought from Palestine fell on virgin soil. The soil immediately sprouted. The prototype of all magicians and sorcerers is an elderly Templar knight, holding the scrolls of Kabbalah and the Keys of Solomon in one hand, and a battle sword in the other. One need only look at the lists of later Masonic initiation degrees to see the entire history of magical role-playing games.

It must be said that these are typical “marvelous” games - the players do not see the difference between reality and the game, they replace life goals with illusory (textual) ones, use internal titles and nicknames instead of names, and play to death. From this point of view, all manifestations of religious life not recognized by the church - ecstatic cults, Satanism, witchcraft, heretical sects - are playful.

But we are not interested in the history of errors. By the 13th century, the culture of troubadours flourished in the French South, which should be recognized as exemplary and role-playing. It bloomed throughout the autumn of the Middle Ages, despite the Albigensian wars - until the 15th century. We played Knights and Dames. Courts of Love, the names of the legendary Knights of the Round Table or the Knights of the Magic Land, gaming tournaments, whimsical names taken by women as poetic pseudonyms, poetic masks, poetry competitions... Of course, at first everything was natural: only literature was created where the “roles” of the Proud or The Gracious Lady, the Stupid Jealous Husband, the Inconsolable or Frivolous Vassal, the Singer of Beauty, the Valiant Knight... With the degree of distance from the actual knightly times, the courtliness, pomp and theatricality increased - the roles were sorted out, the plots were played out. Nobody ever plays contemporaries. This is the law. Quality reflection requires time.

After this you can put an ellipsis. The foundations were laid. Three main role types have emerged: Singer (lander), Knight and Magician. Natural man, urbanized man and infernal man. Or - a feeling person, an acting person and a knowing person. Everything else is nothing more than derivatives.

It remains to be noted that idyllic games of shepherds, naiads and dryads have appeared on European stages more than once (the age of classicism, the salons of the ladies of the 17th century), magical games have never completely left the arena (one Count Cagliostro or Saint Germain is worth it), heroic games were valuable during the times of romanticism and during the Third Reich (occult-Teutonic project). The natural conclusion from the above is that role-playing requires certain prerequisites. This is a certain level of social wealth, state stability, accessibility and breadth of cultural information, idleness.

Subculture of the role-playing movement

In the last decade, there has been widespread interest in sociology in the connections between movements and subcultures, in informal networks of communication, and in the interpretations of social reality that circulate in these networks. It was recognized that subcultures and social networks should be included in the definition of movements as well as collective action. New lifestyles, alternative social perceptions and, finally, the use of cultural codes different from those of the dominant culture should also be considered as elements of movements.

A role movement is a kind of social formation, a social environment, a social circle, a conglomerate of groups or even their hierarchy. But still, in gaming associations there is a pronounced division into “us” and “strangers,” common symbols and their standard interpretations, their own traditions in behavior and appearance, and folklore. “The gaming community,” writes N.Yu. Gavrilova, - a collective with its own group norm, slightly different in different cities with the labels “us” - “stranger”, slang (for example, the curse “wonderful”), paraphernalia coming from “The Lord of the Rings”, a predilection for “magic” rings , beaded bracelets borrowed from hippies, various pendants, headbands convenient for training and in field conditions.” So, this essay is devoted to the subculture of the domestic role-playing movement.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in the study of subculture problems, which is confirmed by the emergence of research in philosophy, pedagogy, jurisprudence, psychology, and cultural studies. A subculture is considered as a special culture of a social group: children, youth, including those of a certain nationality, prisoners, a religious sect. The dissertation research determined the specifics of the content of political and criminal subcultures. Subculture was studied as an aesthetic phenomenon, the problem of neutralizing certain types of subculture was investigated, and a model of a special form of human socialization in a subculture was proposed.

Analysis of definitions of youth, children's and teenage subculture A.V. Mudrika, K.D. Radina, N.D. Sarkisova, S.F. Sirotkin allows us to agree with the following definition of this phenomenon - “a social formation that reflects the value-semantic and everyday existential social self-determination, the self-identification of a specific group.” In line with the problem we are considering, it is noteworthy to define the culture of an organization (E. Schein) as a pattern of collective basic ideas acquired by a group when solving problems of adaptation to changes in the external environment and internal integration, the effectiveness of which turns out to be sufficient for it to be considered valuable and transferred to new members of the group as a correct system of perception and consideration of these problems. From this it is clear that the essence of a subculture is revealed in the interaction of the group as a carrier of the subculture and society.

It is traditionally believed that the youth subculture contains opposition to the official culture - “the younger generation’s rejection of the culture of their fathers, the way of life it sanctifies and the type of personality it shapes.” At the same time, counterculture is unthinkable and does not exist without official society: they are complementary and connected, they are one whole. For this kind of “dropped out” crops, T.V. Shchepanskaya suggests using the term “external” (from the Latin externus - alien). Let us dwell on some provisions of this approach.

The sphere of external culture includes, in fact, many different subcultures: for example, criminal, bohemian, drug mafia, etc. - they are external to the extent that their internal values ​​are opposed to the so-called “generally accepted”. The role-playing movement is one of this set, however, it is fundamentally different from the rest. The main feature here, perhaps, should be called the presence of socially oriented activities in the community, which, naturally, is reflected in its culture. No other external culture has any analogues to this: they are usually either “inactive” or “antisocial”. This naturally raises the question of the socio-pedagogical specifics of the role movement.

What unites external subcultures is that they are all local communication systems located outside the framework of the main social structure (the one that determines the state structure). External cultures accumulate certain norms and symbolism. If the main culture is those norms and symbols that set the basic principle of ordering of a given society, then the external ones flock to everything that remains outside the main myth - the self-description of society: the remnants of previous myths, the sprouts of a new one, information penetrating from “strangers” and does not fit into the main myth. All this settles in the sphere of external culture.

Various concepts of subculture indicate a breakdown in its communication ties with the systems of the “big world”. The level of opposition to society varies greatly among different communities of roleplayers. Some of them can be considered quite “built-in” into the social structure (clubs operating on the basis of additional education institutions, “schoolchildren’s rooms”, universities, teaching teams of role-playing camps). Representatives of other associations strive to stand out from the surrounding society to the point of using other languages, most often artificial (for example, Elvish).

K.D. Kelly (University of Michigan) draws attention to the fact that in modern post-industrial society, a fairly significant part of the population is being forced out of the labor market, and at the same time the scope of the work ethic (a value system in which work is the basis of status and self-esteem) is narrowing. The first to be displaced are women, racial minorities and young people. They form the basis of the most numerous alternative movements and social formations.

There is a way to define a community through its place in the social structure. T.V. Shchepanskaya, who studied hippie culture, noted that a typical representative of this movement is in the gap between the positions of the social structure. V. Turner, speaking about the communities of Western hippies, classified them as “liminal communities,” that is, emerging and existing in intermediate areas of the structure of society (from the Latin limen - threshold). Here, “liminal” individuals gather, people with an uncertain status, those in the process of transition or those who have fallen out of society.

According to our observations, it would be unfair to fully say the same about role players. Although uncertainty of social status as a discrepancy between what is desired and what is real is a fairly common occurrence in this environment. An artist who works in a boiler room as a fireman, a poet-janitor, a philosopher-leader of a circle - there are many of them here. Accordingly, this person finds himself in an uncertain position with regard to norms: after all, norms are associated with status. In general, a typical example of a liminal personality, “suspended” between positions. Status in one's own eyes does not coincide with status in the eyes of society; accepted norms and values ​​are different from those prescribed by society.

Where and why do dropped people appear? There are two directions of understanding here. First: in this dropped, uncertain, “suspended” state, a person finds himself during the period of transition from the position of one to the position of another social structure. Then, as a rule, he finds his permanent place, acquires a certain status, enters society - and leaves the sphere of counterculture.

The second direction explains the appearance of “dropped out” people in society by shifts in society itself. It looks like this: when young people grow up, they come to a world that is no longer the world for which they were prepared during their upbringing. The experience of elders is not good. The young were prepared to occupy certain positions in the social structure, but the structure is already different, those positions are not in it. This is where the value and positional gap begins, which entails the rapid growth of youth communities, pushing away the world of adults and their unnecessary experience. And the result of being in the bosom of the counterculture is different here: not integration into the previous structure, but the construction of a new one.

In fact, these two directions do not reject each other, but complement each other. We are simply talking about different periods in the life of society, or its different states. In stable periods and in traditional societies, the people who have fallen out are, indeed, those who are currently, but temporarily, in the process of transition. In the end, they enter society, settle down there, and acquire status. During periods of change, significant layers become left out to one degree or another, and sometimes this affects almost everyone. Not all of them become hippies, punks, rockers or elves, but many go through a countercultural state (and fall into the zone of action of the values ​​of one of the subcultures).

In general, an encouraging and sometimes admiring attitude towards this kind of “falling out of society” will be rightfully considered as basic ideas, unconscious, self-evident beliefs for role players, which is the deepest level of analysis of the subculture. The possibility, or rather even the necessity, of alternative self-identification (adopting a game name, often a game race or nationality) has been elevated to a tradition, a symbol of belonging to a community. But - within reasonable limits, as evidenced by the widespread use of the slang term “marvelous”, i.e. overplayed, usually used with a negative connotation. At the same time, the ideologists of the role-playing movement focus society’s attention on the prosocial nature of such escape (from the English escape - to run away, avoid, slip away) as opposed to drugs and violence.

Analyzing the movement, we can say that, for the most part, role-players are running not from reality or their own problems (although this also occurs), but from routine and everyday life. For some, the game contains the opportunity to remove the burden of social norms and responsibilities (in the game I can deceive, be rude, without thinking about swinging a sword). Others come here to realize themselves as specialists in something that they have not succeeded in life (a programmer shows his cultural and historical erudition, and a scientist shows his craftsmanship and physical strength). Still others find in the game the opportunity to try on various masks, often more than exotic (a cardinal or a samurai, a concubine in a harem or a nun, a peasant or a commander).

Role-playing games involve "disconnecting" from everything that is not game material. Pedagogically oriented associations (role-playing game clubs, workshops and game teams involved in the actual preparation and conduct of role-playing games, various types of joint activities “on their occasion”) diligently emphasize the need to “remove” participants from the game, come up with various forms and technologies for reducing individual gaming experience into the sphere of human social interaction. However, this is where deep experience games came into being. This only emphasizes the reality of escapism in a role-playing environment and its attractiveness for young people.

Role-players have developed their own ethics - the ethics of heroism, which comes from the game itself and the philosophical ideas of literature in the style of science fiction and fantasy. It is based on Action and individual achievement as the basis of status and self-esteem. For every role player, self-realization and self-affirmation, skill in some area, which require constant comparison with others and competition, are important. In addition, the Hero always carries some kind of mission, which is deeply individualistic in the nature of its implementation and social in content. On the other hand, the Great Mission “justifies” forgiveness of minor weaknesses, irresponsibility in everyday relationships, and laziness. Heroism, Action, Great Mission, Achievement, Competition are the proclaimed values, collective norms and rules of behavior used by the bearers of a given culture, which are one of its most important characteristics.

Artifacts can be identified as an external, easily diagnosed level of a subculture - what can be seen, heard, felt when entering a new group with an unfamiliar culture. This is exactly what usually happens at the level of everyday consciousness: trying to explain who hippies (or metalheads, or rockers, etc.) are, we first of all describe their signs. And indeed, the presence of special symbols, regarded as “one’s own,” is already an unconditional sign of the existence of a communicative field, some kind of social formation. Let us turn to understanding the symbolism of the role movement.

Research into the hippie subculture allowed T.V. Shchepanskaya states: “The system can be considered as a community, since there are such features as a common language (slang and symbols), a network of communications - personal connections, superficial acquaintances. There are common norms and values, as well as patterns of behavior and forms of relationships. There is also Systemic self-awareness, which is expressed, in particular, in self-names...” Referring to A.P. Cohen, she defines community as a field of symbols: “The reality of community as perceived by people lies in their belonging... to a common field of symbols; people's perception and understanding of their community... comes down to an orientation towards its symbolism.” Having your own symbols creates the possibility of forming a community, since it provides a means of communication. A symbol is a shell into which “its own” information is packaged; in this form it is distinguishable from someone else's.

The word “symbolism” comes from the Greek word “symbolon” ​​(a sign, a material image of something abstract), which in turn comes from the verb “symballein” (to add, throw down or gather together). The original meaning of this concept was “to put together an object that has been broken into pieces.” There is a legend that when in ancient times people went somewhere on long hikes, each one carried a piece of a common sign broken into pieces. Returning and not always immediately recognizing each other, they gathered and put these pieces together and, when the integrity of the common sign was restored, they said: “We are all together again, and there are no strangers among us.”

S.I. Ozhegov gives a definition: a symbol is something that serves as a conventional sign of some concept, phenomenon, idea. The meaning of a symbol lies not in its own visual content, but in other content (object, process, relationship, etc.) that it, the symbol, means, symbolizes. Thanks to a person’s ability to generalize, his sensory perception rises to the level of thought, idea and, at the same time, materializes on a conventional basis in visually tangible, emotionally affecting factors - words, objects, actions. A symbol is a material phenomenon that expresses abstract ideas and concepts in a visual and figurative form. In other words, an object, action or word becomes a symbol, a sign, not because of its natural characteristics, but as a result of the fact that they begin to play a special role in human activity, turning the generalized content into a visually tangible, emotionally affecting factor. The influence of a symbol on others occurs due to the ability of human consciousness to assign a certain moral and value content to various words, objects, and actions.

Based on the ways of expressing ideas contained in symbolism and the specifics of their impact on the consciousness and feelings of people, we considered the approach of MSU graduate student S.N. convincing. Smirnov, in which the symbols are combined into five groups.

The first group includes symbols united by a verbal way of expressing their content. First of all, these are means of communication (slang, jargon), means of self-identification (name of the association, names, nicknames), as well as means of preserving valuable information (folklore forms: mottos, legends, parables, sayings, anecdotes, ditties, songs).

Among the specific slang expressions of role-players, one can highlight words and expressions denoting the phenomena of the role-playing movement as a whole, terms for defining individual directions in the role-playing game movement, hierarchy within the role-playing movement, proper names - names of conventions, games, self-names of associations, etc. There are words that are necessary for direct communication during the preparation and conduct of a role-playing game. They are used to refer to various types of activities within the role-playing game club, social roles during the game, and various subjects related to role-playing games. A special place is occupied by vocabulary used in the process of constructing and analyzing a role-playing game.

As already noted, in the role-playing movement, unlike other subcultural formations, in addition to slang as such, some associations use fictitious languages, the most common of which is Elvish. They are mainly used at games and for writing songs, poems, hymns, and less often in everyday communication.

Most game names (self-names) among roleplayers can say a lot about a person, since they are borrowed from various literary works and often have their own symbolic meaning or translation from one of the artificial languages. By name, one can often determine one’s belonging to a particular fantastic civilization, race, people, as well as a person’s ideas and ideals, and suggest a possible range of interests and preferred style of interaction.

Analysis of the folklore forms of a particular association within the framework of a general subculture allows us to see differences in attitudes towards such phenomena as escapism and heroism, “playing too hard” and “strangers”, to representatives of other associations and movements in the movement.

Symbols united by an objective (attributive) way of expressing their content constitute the second group. It can include flags and standards as symbols of a particular association or team, books that have become a kind of “symbols of faith.”

Elements of appearance often act as symbols of belonging to a particular culture. The stereotypical idea of ​​a role player is associated with long hair (“hair”, from the English hair), tied with a “hiratnik”, a mantle, belted with a belt, a wooden sword, a cloak sewn from a piece of either a curtain or a mother’s skirt. The role player is similar to other representatives of “post-hippie trends in youth culture, with its somewhat feminine orientation, the cult of “nature”, “naturalness” (“no scissors: the hair grows - and let it grow!”) and “freedom” (“in everything times only slaves had their hair cut!”). The realities of modern role-playing culture are as far from this stereotype as the mandatory wearing of glasses, a tie and a briefcase is from the image of an intellectual.

Role-players have a special attitude towards gaming clothes and weapons made by movement participants for themselves or to order. This is a matter of pride and concern. Most often, they are really close to the style of various periods of the Western European Middle Ages, however, there are clubs whose image is far from the traditions of fairy tales in the force of “fantasy”. At CONs (conventions) you can meet “hussars” and “Petlyurists”, “Russian knights” and “guests from the future” in black robes, wide-brimmed hats and dark glasses.

By analogy with the hippie subculture, baubles (fenki) are widely represented among role-players. T.V. Shchepanskaya explains that fennecs “... are given to each other, they are filled with symbolism - colors, patterns are significant, there is numerical and geometric symbolism. However, fenki are also called various kinds of badges and decorations, even poems - something that can be given as a gift. It is not they themselves as things that have the main value, but the symbolic wishes and images embedded in them - fennecs play the role of talismans...”

The runes that we classify as the next group of symbols are ideal for creating talismans. Their appearance allows you to give the talisman an aesthetic form, and the fact that it is a magical alphabet makes them especially attractive to role-players prone to various kinds of mysticism. Tradition allows one to simply write down a magical intention in runes, and this recording is in itself a magical act. Indeed, archaeologists have found similar talismans more than once. Runes were often used in funeral rites, their designs were applied to weapons to give them their own magical life and power. By analogy, role players give their swords and daggers names and create their own spells. The basic form of a runic talisman is simply to cut or etch suitable runes on an object or item (according to the book “Using the Runes” by D. Jason Cooper).

So, runes belong to the group of symbols of the iconic-figurative variety. Here is an example of a description of one of the runes.

Rune Ansuz.

The rune is a symbol of theology, the rune of Odin.

Literally: the rune guides a person’s spiritual life, helps to establish a connection with the gods.

In worldly meaning, Ansuz is the rune of communication, messages, inspiration, study and teaching.

The rune can be used against cunning and deception, as a weapon (fighting enemies with the help of magic).

Each of the twenty-four runes has several interpretations. It was no coincidence that we chose Ansuz. It reflects many of the subcultural ideas of the role-playing movement. Judge for yourself:

TREES AND RUNES. ASH. Inner trembling. Ash. The leaves have fallen off. The wind tears off the earrings and carries them around the world. The branches sway welcomingly, as if inviting you somewhere. Wood gives a slight warmth when touched. Suddenly, the space previously occupied by the tree takes on new properties. A rectangle is formed, the size of a door. This is a shimmering colorless space, an entrance to other worlds.

Ash. Ansuz. This big, tall tree grows not far from my house. I go up to him and stand next to him for a long time. Over a fairly large area of ​​the tree's surface, the bark is missing and the wood is exposed. This is a window, a door, you can enter there. Enter and be transported to other worlds. And this miracle is close to home. You just have to look around you sometimes.”

“... This rune indicates the need to unite unconscious aspirations and conscious intentions. This is a sign to turn your gaze inward, to the very foundations of existence and to recognize the inexhaustible Divine source within your nature...”

Ralph H. Bloom

“... The power of releasing the Breath of Life, the self-expression of the creative Spirit. The energy of thought and inspiration, functions of the deepest levels of the Mind, where the subconscious is revealed. It acts as a link with the wisdom of our ancestors, allowing us to restore lost knowledge..."

K. Meadows

“... Rune of poetry and magic, inspiration, revelations, Rune of Knowledge. The rune is associated with travel between worlds and the image of the World Tree..."

A. Platov

In addition to runes and the closely related runic elven script (J.R.R. Tolkien), this group includes coats of arms, badges, insignia, and emblems. Unlike the second group, they cannot be used as instruments for ceremonies. The variety of symbolism here reflects the different existential values ​​of the movement. In coats of arms and emblems we can find symbols of Time (hourglass), Knowledge and Wisdom (mythical animals, book, owl), Courage and Valor (lion, sword, shield), Love and Poetry (rose, lyre, feather), Good Luck ( unicorn), Search and adventure (star), Plurality of worlds, Life and Death, etc.

The fourth group of symbols is represented by various symbolic gestures and actions (rituals). Representing a system of symbolic actions, rituals are aimed at expressing specific ideas, thoughts, and ideas. Among role-players, initiations, rituals of taking oaths, accepting weapons, etc. are widespread.

The symbols of the last, fifth group are musical symbols, uniting melodies and songs. As a rule, musical symbols are used in rituals, however, in our opinion, they have intrinsic value, turning any everyday situation into a significant one. It is difficult to highlight the specifics of “role-playing” music, since the authors work in a variety of directions. Here are the thoughts of one of the participants in the movement (punctuation and grammar by the author: www.wizardrules.com):

“For me, fantasy is the personification of the eternal struggle, so in moments of being in an unreal world (when you read, for example) - the world of fantasy, it’s better to have something energetic (in the sense of charging with energy), triumphant; battle - victory - rejoicing, battle - defeat - despair, and everything is driven through music - a change of fast marching compositions and slow ones - sad and lyrical (for “defeat”) and “victorious”, triumphant.

Almost anything can be called fantasy music - the main thing here is that it creates the appropriate mood!!! Everyone chooses for himself - what he likes, what makes him feel deeper into the magical atmosphere of the fantasy world... And if, for example, you are disgusted by some group, then let their music be classified at least a hundred times in the fantasy genre - You won’t listen to her anyway!

Oddly enough, it is the fantasy genre that, it seems to me, best reflects the emotional side of the lives of REAL people.

Our life is an eternal struggle - with ourselves, with the world around us.

Come on, try wrestling to “I’m Losing My Mind”!

Heavy music is a kind of anthem, a march that raises the morale of fantasy fans. Fast, energetic compositions - and two huge armies converge in the field, the superhero destroys his enemies right and left, the great magician calls on all his forces and destroys cities and armies with a wave of his hand (Perumov’s Fess likes to do this). Slow, beautiful, lyrical compositions - touch on the inner, spiritual side of life, all our feelings - love, grief for the dead, despair (Fallen One (Hammerfall) - a sea of ​​despair, an attempt to break out of the iron shackles, for the most dramatic moments.

Somewhere among all this nonsense is my point of view on this issue.”

As for the lyrics of amateur songs, the same heroic motifs, descriptions of battles and images of love dominate here, but there are also lyrics of not entirely decent content. It should be noted that this group of symbols is close to verbal ones in terms of folklore and the preservation of valuable information.

Being a phenomenon of a superstructural order, symbolism has always been a reflection of the way of thinking, worldview, ideology of a certain class, which, in turn, formed feelings, way of thinking, worldview on the basis of its social relations. When considering the problem of the impact of symbols on the consciousness of young people, two essential relationships should be emphasized, substantiated by the example of the use of symbols in instilling patriotic feelings in students of the cadet corps. Firstly, these are the special properties of the content and form of symbols - the ability to form semantic associative connections (integration of generally accepted socially significant contexts into the individual subjective meaning of the pupil), which K. Levin called “valence”. Secondly, the specific mode of existence of the symbolic field is a combination and alternation of direct and indirect, individual and public, organized and spontaneous, continuous and discrete, everyday and event-related semantic influences, which can be interpreted in accordance with the works of L.I. Novikova, N.L. Selivanova and others as “ambivalence”. Both regularities require confirmation based on the empirical material of the role community.

The most complete expression of the influence of a subculture on the process of socialization can be observed when studying the image (or style) of life of a particular group.

In the Brief Sociological Dictionary, lifestyle is given the following definition: “forms of human (individual and group) life activity, typical for historically specific social relations.” In the same publication, the way of life is characterized by “the unity of objective (the method of joint activity, the social connection of people that determine the nature of communication and behavior) and subjective (goals of communication, interests and motives for activity, value orientations) aspects.” The phrase “lifestyle” is used “to characterize the individual (socio-psychological, moral and aesthetic) characteristics of the lifestyle of an individual or groups of people (formal or informal communities).”

In the publication “How to be considered a bad player?” the image of a “bad player” is presented, thanks to which, by arguing backwards, we can construct requirements for an ideal (good player). At the stage of preparation for the game, the future participant needs to be modest (not demand an overly important role, overly powerful gaming tools), consistent (once he has stated his wishes regarding the role, do not change them), punctual (not be late for the game). During the game, a good player must be constructive (do not argue about any issue), law-abiding (follow the rules of the game, do not invent your own rules, do not specifically look for contradictions in the rules, do not use objects that do not correspond to the game world), decent (do not make fun of the game, do not intrigue against the masters, do not drink alcohol), be tolerant towards other participants (do not transfer gaming relationships into life and vice versa, do not use profanity). These requirements can be interpreted so that a good player must show a high degree of subjectivity (responsibility, independence, reflexivity) in relation to the people around him, to the game as a joint activity.

The task of describing the lifestyle of a participant in a gaming association seems quite difficult for a number of reasons, so we decided to carry out a kind of scientific test. So, when characterizing the lifestyle, we will proceed from the trinity of the participant’s everyday life: the reality of life, the reality of the subculture and the reality of an individual game. All of them can be opposed to one another. A collected, restrained, highly self-organized businessman comes to a gaming informal association to be absent-minded, relaxed and spontaneous. At the same time, since a significant part of the participants in the movement are students, distinguished by their objective infantilism, one can imagine that in all three realities the role player looks the way it is reflected in the material of the “Winged Messenger” of 2002 - “Why I don’t like role players ?. In it, the author denounces the behavioral stereotypes of a role player: “extreme unreliability and optionality, unpunctuality, ... frivolity and irresponsibility (failure to keep promises), ... extreme disorganization, ... incredible laziness, ... for a role player the exception is to finish the job to the end, ...militant amateurism, ...inability to learn.” All of the above traits relate to the role-player as a participant in real (life) interaction. Another assumption is possible here: the role-playing game itself requires childishness, spontaneity, and creativity from its participant, which in turn leads to such a not very pleasant picture.

Role play

Role-playing game (English RolePlay game - RPG) is an entertainment game, a type of dramatic action, the participants of which act within the framework of their chosen roles, guided by the nature of their role and the internal logic of the action environment; together they create or follow an already created plot. The actions of the game participants are considered successful or not in accordance with the accepted rules. Players are free to improvise within the chosen rules, determining the direction and outcome of the game.

Thus, the game process itself is a simulation of a particular situation by a group of people. Each of them behaves as he wants, playing for his character.

The basis of the sociocultural practice of youth gaming associations is role-playing games, which involve:

· competitiveness - individual or group;

· the presence of rules that regulate game interaction and, at the same time, ensure the creativity of participants in creating their own image and choosing ways to solve problems;

· more or less clearly defined roles, including role prescriptions, a description of the goals of interaction and attitudes to what is happening;

· two-dimensionality of the situation, i.e. some fantasy, convention, on the one hand, and the reality of interaction, on the other;

· endowing various objects with game meanings.

The role-playing game takes place in the game world. The game world may look like anything, but it determines the course of the game. The plot proposed by the game master and the world he describes forms the basis of a role-playing game. The world can be completely fictitious, based on some work of art (book, film or play).

Achieving a goal is not necessarily the main goal of an RPG, and some RPGs don't have one at all. The main task may be character development, correct roleplaying, or exploration of the world.

The role-playing community distributes non-profit publications devoted to games and issues of historical reconstruction, as well as collections of authors, including music.

It should be noted that since the 70s of the 20th century, role-playing games began to be used in teaching foreign languages, and at about the same time - in the practice of psychology and psychiatry.

The role-playing community has developed its own terms to denote the realities of the game.

In the West, the development of role-playing games began with board games. This is evidenced by the history and names: role-playing games - means tabletop role-playing games and appeared earlier than live-action roleplaying games - live-action role-playing games.

In the USSR, these two branches of role-playing games originated and developed in parallel. Tabletop role-playing games were developed by enthusiasts based on game books and The Enchanted Land. Live-action role-playing games originated in Science Fiction Lovers Clubs (CLF) and Amateur Song Clubs (ASC), and in the 1980s led to the emergence of an independent informal role-playing movement.

It is extremely difficult to describe the development of tabletop role-playing games in the USSR and the CIS, since the community of roleplayers playing board games is very loose and unconnected. Therefore, in the following, only the history of the development of live action games is described.

Classification of role-playing games, roles and actions in the game

According to the set goals (jargon).

· A combat game, a process, a combat role implies, first of all, game weapon interaction, with an almost obligatory competitive component in the behavior of both players and characters.

· Theatrical play (theatrical role-playing) implies a greater emphasis on the certainty and specificity of the plot, compliance with the roles (for example, if the game is historical, then the absence of subjunctive probabilities: If Rodrigo Borgia became Pope in reality, then in the game activity too, and not how it goes) . With the achievement of the appropriate atmosphere.

· Extreme (survival game) means that during the game the player obviously finds himself in situations that are extreme for him, perhaps psychological, perhaps physical.

· Mystery (mystery game) presupposes a deep psychological immersion of the player into the essence of his character, and in a collective game it also involves the most adequate action for all participants

· Modeling - special attention is paid to the accuracy of modeling. Most common in strategic role-playing games and computer games.

· Business role-playing games are used in vocational education by simulating any life situations, for example, working in a work team. In this case, participants take on the roles of various jobs and professions.

According to the way players interact and modeling conventions.

In tabletop role-playing games and in word games, all the action takes place in the imagination of the participants, and the development of events in most cases is controlled by the so-called master (game master, GM, dungeon master, DM) in accordance with predetermined rules, or without them. The difference between board games and word games lies in the presence or absence of a gaming system.

In live-action role-playing games, players physically participate in the events of the game. There are also rules and wizards. In this case, the masters are not responsible for the entire world, but only for the unmodeled part of it. Sometimes masters somehow control the entire game world through the introduction of master characters or through masterful arbitrariness. The rules also describe only those actions that are replaced by the model.

In computer role-playing games, the entire environment surrounding the players is controlled by a computer program. Often these games are designed for one player and have a prescribed plot (the development of which, to a certain extent, depends on the player’s decisions). In recent years, multiplayer online role-playing games in which thousands of players interact with each other via the Internet have become widespread.

Email role-playing games are small-player, single-master games played via email (such as Mafia), as well as related forum-based role-playing games and browser-based role-playing games.

By type of characters played.

Most games assume that a role is one being, one personality, one self, played by one player. More complex structural constructions are possible. Below are some of them.

Strategic role-playing games - role-playing by one person of a country. That is, role = (territory + people + state apparatus +...).

Ships (there is no established term) - the role of the ship with its crew and captain, as a single whole, is played out.

Properties of the whole - (not written, there is no established term in the role-playing environment). Example - “Expedition” - players role-play a landing on an unknown planet with properties unknown to them, and the other part of the players role-play exactly the different properties of the planet. The game master only coordinates the actions of the players.

However, role-playing games have quite a few varieties that differ significantly from each other. In various publications there are many approaches to their classification. Based on scale (duration, number of participants, playing area), small and large games are distinguished; by location - office, training ground, field, city; by the nature of interaction - verbal, theatrical, interactive, combat. And of course, there are complex games that, when one type dominates, include other types of games as elements or episodes. The material for the game is most often either historical events of various eras, or legends and myths of the peoples of the world, or plots of literary works.

History of the emergence and development of the domestic role-playing movement

From the second half of the 70s, the prerequisites for a mass role-playing movement began to mature; in the early 80s, the first role-playing games of a new type appeared, in 1985-86. local groups of role-players were formed, and in 1990 the movement took shape as such.

Apparently, the legitimate forms of life activity offered by sociocultural reality (participation in the economic, social, cultural life of the country), which acted as a space for self-realization, could not satisfy the youth. To this circumstance, perhaps, a mythological need was added. The fact is that the dominance of this or that ideology carries within itself a system of explanations of man’s place in nature and in the human world. At one time, this task was realized by paganism, Orthodoxy, and later by the communist idea. During the period of perestroika in the mid-80s, the niche turned out to be unfilled. The social stratum that interests us, being dissatisfied with its own social roles, either did not try or did not have the opportunity to choose real social functions. Most likely, this is why this group of young people focused on playing roles, and preferred the path of internal (spiritual) transformation to external (objective) transformation.

The essence of the remaining signs and the changes that have occurred is very important (in role-playing games as a form of joint activity, in role-playing game clubs as informal associations, in the subculture of youth associations). Let's turn to the analysis of the transformation object. The gaming practice that interests us has ethnocultural roots and patterns. The following excerpt seems very significant in terms of characterizing ethnocultural gaming practice: “The capture of a snowy town, immortalized in the famous painting by V.I. Surikov (according to the artist’s direct observations), occurred mainly in the Urals and Siberia. This complex undertaking, which included equally elements of a game, a performance and a sports competition, was preceded, like skiing from the ice mountains, by the participation of young people in the construction of a special structure... One party occupied the fortress. The other was going to attack. The besiegers were mounted and on foot. The latter climbed the wall, falling off the slippery icy surface to the laughter of spectators, and the riders had to break through the gate one by one. Those besieged with brooms, twigs, whips, whipped the horse, frightened it to force it to retreat back... Then the victors walked solemnly through the village...” This quote allows us to assert that military-strategic imitation - fun (a sign) has existed in Russian everyday culture at least since the 18th-19th centuries.

Apparently, ethnocultural gaming practice has found its continuation in two interdependent phenomena: the spontaneous gaming practice of children and the organized gaming practice of military-historical clubs, communal associations, pioneer and Komsomol organizations.

It is generally accepted that Military History Clubs (MIHCs) played a certain role in the formation of the role-playing movement. “With enviable regularity, people from all over the Union came to the Battle of Borodino, the siege of Stalingrad, and the battle on the Kulikovo Field. But... such actions were only a theatrical performance, their outcome was predetermined.” Perhaps turning to the reconstruction of the sociocultural contexts of the past was an option for gaining mental integrity.

We would venture to suggest that the changes consisted in the fact that the reconstruction of historical contexts was supplemented by improvisation, and the predetermined outcome was lost. Although in fairness it should be noted that the level of improvisation differed and differs in different clubs. The activities of role-playing game clubs have retained such a component as the production of medieval weapons, ammunition, armor, as well as a focus on preparing for one, less often two or three annual events.

Characteristics of association practices that influenced situational role-playing games.

1. The collective nature of the activity and a well-developed technology for the collective organization of activity: stages (joint goal setting, planning, preparation, conduct, analysis), distribution of functions of participants (which is not a precursor to the distribution of roles in the game), etc.

2. The creative nature of the activity, which in a role-playing game manifests itself as creativity in development, organization, and participation. The same game in a given group can be played, as a rule, no more than once, since knowledge of the game tasks of other participants deprives the role-playing game of one of the main and necessary characteristics. Consequently, each time you have to come up with a new game. In general, the process of role-playing game itself is unthinkable without the creativity of both the master and each player who tries on the role and strives to solve game problems within the given game context of interaction. There is an interesting point of view of Denis Torgashov, who proposes to consider role-playing games as a type of art: “a game is a work of art, a work of art created jointly by the master and the players.” In this regard, the author of the article refers to the similarity of the functions of art and role-playing games: “To provide the opportunity to experience feelings that have never been experienced before.”

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