Why role playing games are good for our brains

The holiday season brought with it extra things to do – functions to attend, gifts and cards to purchase and give, cooking and planning. While it was meant to be a season of joy and togetherness, some of us may have ended up stressed or upset when politics, religion or other sensitive topics were raised.

So, for next holiday season, what activities can we plan to do together with friends, family and colleagues that is fun to do but also good for us?

Goncu & Perone (2005) show that play is a lifelong activity and is good for our brains, no matter what our age. The popularity of Stranger Things ™ has prompted our project team to explore the benefits of role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). With D&D or other table top role playing games (TTRPG), we find ourselves storytelling and creating characters and identities through the course of the play – and the ability to do this is linked to similar skills we draw on when conversing with and relating to others.

Stories in all cultures are what bring us together. When we can create a story in conversation with others, mutual bonds are created through sharing and listening. To be mutually enjoyable, the storytelling needs to go back and forth and both parties need to contribute to the negotiated meaning of the story and in doing so they experience belonging and connection. Engaging in this process has an impact on our brains – it helps us synchronise and bond as we become immersed in the story and share the experience of the person telling the story. Creating a story with others, following narrative threads, and shifting in the moment as meanings are negotiated takes flexible thinking. Flexible thinking is a specific skill developed and reinforced through play at all ages.

So how do we develop flexible thinking that would be useful in our social life?

The play process of object substitution (e.g., finding various uses for objects that they were not initially designed for) is what pretend play is all about. It is really about negotiation of meaning. The development of this ability involves building on the object substitution play engaged in during childhood (Rakoczy, Tomasello & Striano, 2006).

Researchers have shown all of us can gain the benefits of play no matter what our age. Playing role playing games, engaging in acting, writing stories, or even playing charades prompt us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of another, create a story and narrative around that character and in so doing, exercise those parts of our brains responsible for flexible and sequential thinking, narrative and imagination. The Imagine Create Belong program has been noted as having similar therapeutic goals as those observed from playing TTRPG. These include flexible thinking, ability to manage emotion, being in the role of another character, and ability to develop a sequential narrative (Kupfershmidt, 2020). These are abilities that support maintenance of our social connections for neurodivergent and neurotypical people alike, promoting belonging and wellbeing.

If you or a young person you know would benefit from participating in an Imagine Create Belong program, be sure to let us know via the website Imagine Create Belong as we deliver both in person and online programs. If you would like to have your say in what would be useful in an accompanying parent program currently under development please visit Participants needed. And next holidays, our family are going to try some role playing games for those potentially awkward get togethers. If we can't find a Dragon Master, we might just organise ourselves a game of charades to immerse ourselves in the fun zone of negotiating meaning and having a laugh.

Reference

Göncü, A., & Perone, A. (2005). Pretend Play as a Life-span Activity. Topoi, 24(2), 137-147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-005-5051-7

Kupfershmidt, S (2020). Gaming for Change: Using Role Playing Games in Group Work with Children and adolescents. Praxis, 20, pp. 60-72.

Rakoczy, H., Tomasello, M., & Striano, T. (2006). The role of experience and discourse in children's developing understanding of pretend play actions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24, 305-335. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005X36001