PHENOMENOLOGICAL-EXISTENTIAL UNDERSTANDING OF ROLE PLAYING GAMES (RPG): UNVEILING SENSES
Role Playing Game; RPG players; Heideggerian Hermeneutic Phenomenology; Phenomenological research.
This work is a Phenomenological-Existential and Heideggerian-inspired qualitative research,
done with Role Playing Game (RPG) players. The literature review showed that the academic
production in the Psychology field about the RPG in Brasil is small, but in the Education and
Psychology fields, the studies are growing and adresses, mostly, the use of the game inside
the classrooms as a facilitating tool of the teaching-learning process. Some studies point to the
effectiveness of the game on the teaching of school subjects. Ohter studies, focuses on the
benefits for the development and stimulation of memory and attention, and improvement of
the reading and writing performance. Abroad, there is a higher flow of studies in Psychology,
addressing the benefits on the improvement of the cognitive performance, development of
social skills, creation of support groups and conflicts resolution. These studies gives the
support to think and discuss the game with a bias beyond the pedagogical one, worrying to
look to the RPG player while being-in-the-world that, when inhabiting its existence, thinks
and gives meanings to its experiences. Therefore, this research aims to understand, in the light
of Heideggerian hermeneutics, the experience of being a RPG player. Narrative interviews
were conducted with three RPG players with a triggering question about his experience as a
player. The data were analyzed based on the phenomenological hermeneutic method of
Heideggerian inspiration, because it allows an understanding view of the phenomenon. It was
possible to perceive, from the players' narratives, that the game provides a space in which
they feel free to be themselves, occupying a place of great importance in their lives.