Using Group Role-Playing Games With Gifted

Children and Adolescents: A Psychosocial

Intervention Model
Julien G. Rosselet and Sarah D. Stauffer
University of Lausanne
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Gifted children develop asynchronously, are often advanced for their age cognitively
but at or between their chronological and mental ages socially and emotionally
(Robinson, 2008). In order to help gifted children and adolescents develop and
practice social and emotional self-regulation skills, we investigated the use of an
Adlerian play therapy approach during pen-and-paper role-playing games. Addi-
tionally, we used Goffman’s (1961, 1974) social role identification and distance to
encourage participants to experiment with new identities. Herein, we propose a
psychosocial model of interactions during role-playing games based on Goffman’s
theory and Adlerian play therapy techniques, and suggest that role-playing games are
an effective way of intervening with gifted children and adolescents to improve their
intra- and interpersonal skills. We specifically targeted intrapersonal skills of exer-
cising creativity, becoming self-aware, and setting individual goals by raising partic-
ipants’ awareness of their privately logical reasons for making decisions and their
levels of social interest. We also targeted their needs and means of seeking significance
in the group to promote collaboration and interaction skills with other gifted peers
through role analysis, embracement, and distancing. We report results from a case
study and conclude that role-playing games deserve more attention, both from
researchers and clinical practitioners, because they encourage change while improv-
ing young clients’ social and emotional development.
Keywords: role-playing games, group counseling, Adlerian play therapy, gifted children and
adolescents, Goffman

“The game is a distorted (but recognizable) mirror of reality, just as reality is

a distorted mirror of fantasy” (Fine, 1983, p. 153). Role-playing games offer players,
and especially older children and adolescents, opportunities to work on their
self-concept and to further develop their personal identity and awareness of social
rules and functions. Gifted children and adolescents are no exception, and have
special emotional and social needs that, once met, would improve their overall
self-concept and identity development. The use of semidirective play therapy

Julien G. Rosselet and Sarah D. Stauffer, Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Vaud,
Switzerland.
We thank Dr. Marc Bersier for his openness to the research conducted in conjunction with his
workshops, and the participants, for the unforgettable moments lived in RPG from which we learned
many lessons.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julien Rosselet, Chemin des
Ecureuils 10, CH-2054 Chézard-St-Martin, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]

173
International Journal of Play Therapy © 2013 Association for Play Therapy
2013, Vol. 22, No. 4, 173–192 1555-6824/13/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0034557
 174 Rosselet and Stauffer

techniques during a group role-playing intervention that specifically targets and

addresses those needs may be helpful for furthering these goals therapeutically.
Trained play therapists are well-positioned to provide the support necessary for
gifted children and adolescents to improve their social and emotional functioning
and their interaction skills with others within the role-playing game setting and to
help those clients reflect on how to transfer these skills outside of the role-playing
game (RPG) setting. Herein, we explore the specific social and emotional needs of
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gifted children and adolescents, the importance of fantasy and play to social and
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emotional development, the social opportunities that RPGs provide for fostering
intra- and interpersonal growth and development from Goffman’s (1961, 1974)
sociological perspective, and how Adlerian play therapy (Kottman, 2001, 2011) can
be used to help gifted adolescents in a Group RPG setting. We illustrate this
framework with a description of our intervention and a case analysis.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF GIFTED CHILDREN AND

ADOLESCENTS

Gallagher (2008) asserted that gifted students may have more positive physical,
social, and personality factors than people in the general population. Notwithstand-
ing, Neihart, Reis, Robinson, and Moon (2002) found that although gifted children
are at least as well-adjusted as their “normal” peers, certain contexts of being gifted
may still present social and emotional developmental risks, notably, developing
asynchronously. Such uneven development entails gifted children being cognitively
advanced in one or more domains for their chronological age, but exhibiting social
skills and emotional regulation capabilities corresponding to or between their
chronological age and their mental age (Robinson, 2008). Being intellectually
advanced, yet having average capabilities to cope with such advancements could be
exasperating for gifted individuals because, as Robinson (2008) argued, “their
social environments are poorly calibrated to their interests, language, and personal
maturity” (p. 34), and “the brighter the child is, the more acute the mismatch and
its ensuing consequences” (p. 35).
Gifted children and adolescents often have fears and concerns that reach far
beyond those of their same-age peers; they think and worry about global issues and
conflicts, injustice and fairness, and may be preoccupied with death. They are likely
to be more sensitive than their peers to social comparison due to their high
cognitive abilities and the disconnect they feel in relation to their peers (Robinson,
2008). Many researchers have asserted that all gifted persons (children, adolescents,
and adults) demonstrate high levels of emotional overexcitability (OE), or a
heightened sense of feelings and awareness (Levy & Plucker, 2003). Whether this
emotional OE is deemed (dys)functional depends on the multiple cultural contexts
in which the person lives and is viewed (Levy & Plucker, 2003). Therefore, Levy
and Plucker (2003) advocated for counselors to better understand the subculture of
giftedness and its implications.
Levy and Plucker (2003) argued that gifted children may face complex intra-
and interpersonal challenges, such as depression, perfectionism, multipotentiality,
eccentricity, and deviant behaviors, and they argued that gifted individuals “are
 Group Role-Playing Games 175

likely to experience the world differently than other individuals” (p. 242). Cornell
(2004) cited poor self-concept as a primary concern for gifted students that are
unpopular among their gifted peers and suggested that interventions target the
social arena. Kaiser and Berndt (2004) found that gifted adolescents’ self-reported
degree of loneliness varied as a function of anger, depression, and stressful life
changes. In their study, stress, helplessness, social introversion, and low self-esteem
significantly contributed to depressive symptoms, and they recommended that
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educators pay special attention to the emotional problems that some gifted students
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exhibit.
Education should not only encompass cognitive and intellectual stimulation,
but also gifted students’ social and emotional needs to overcome the introversion,
OE (sensitivity), and perfectionism that stems from internal and external factors in
order to “correct the mismatch” (Robinson, 2008, p. 37) between gifted children’s
asynchronous development and environmental fit. Dramatic arts stimulate gifted
children’s foci on higher-level thinking, feeling, and creativity (Van Tassel-Baska,
Buckingham, & Baska, 2009). We argue that play may fulfill this function, as well.

USING PLAY TO MEET CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS’

DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS

Gaussot (2002) recognized play as an activity integrating both interactive and

social dimensions. Children experiment in the social world through their interac-
tions with others in conjunction with their values systems. Play is a metaphor of true
social interaction because children endorse different roles, understand them, and
integrate them into their concepts of self. Children organize their experiences
through play in order to feel secure and in control of their lives, and to manage their
unmanageable realities through symbolic representation (Landreth, 2012). Chil-
dren and adolescents, alike, may freely express feelings and attitudes through play
that may be too threatening for them to express directly, thereby distancing
themselves from painful experiences (Landreth, 2012; Milgrom, 2005). Through the
medium of play, the “total child” is present, as aspects of his or her physical, mental,
and emotional self may be expressed creatively and through social interaction
(Landreth, 2012).
Social interaction is important in adolescence, as well, because adolescents
self-construct their identities through taking various social roles. This is especially
salient because identification shifts from parents to peers during adolescence (Co-
hen, 2001). Because the primary tasks of adolescence include individuation, sepa-
ration, and preparation for adulthood, some adolescents may be reticent to engage
in play activities in therapy (Milgrom, 2005). However, Milgrom (2005) argued that
play is a good means of assessing how adolescents function in the world and employ
their social skills, exert power and control issues, and express their own feelings of
self-esteem. Allison, von Wahlde, Shockley, and Gabbard (2006) considered the
impact of RPGs particularly important during adolescence because the evolution of
a coherent sense of self is a fundamental maturational task.
Play therapists may address all aspects of the child or adolescent’s behavior, not
just the verbal ones (Landreth, 2012), and we feel this is especially true in role-
 176 Rosselet and Stauffer

playing games. In RPGs, the play therapist can respond not only to the client, but
also to the actions and decisions taken by the client’s character. The character
represents an extension of the person within the fantasy of the game (Fine, 1983).
The opportunity to address both verbal and nonverbal behaviors with children and
adolescents who can more fully engage on cognitive levels with the fantasy of RPGs
is an advantage.
RPGs offer adolescents the opportunity to engage in play while saving face,
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because the use of toys, per se, is not involved (Enfield, 2007). Furthermore, they
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can immerse themselves in the metaphor and practice new skills without being
perceived by others as immature (Enfield, 2007). Because gifted children and
adolescents have cognitive strengths and also tend to be very creative, using fantasy
in play provides a safe distance from their real-world challenges while simultane-
ously offering opportunities to address these challenges metaphorically.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FANTASY IN PLAY AND IN RPGS

The aspect of fantasy in play allows children to experiment with “competencies

and understandings beyond the constraints of their intellect and experience” (Ru-
bin, 2007, p. 5). Additionally, fantasy may be a great source of promoting self-
understanding, growth, and healing in therapy, as well as reducing anxiety (Rubin,
2007). As Rubin (2007) eloquently described:
[Fantasy is] the metaphoric place where problems of the past and present meet the possibilities of
the future, in conflicts both minor and epic. It is the place in which children and adults escape from
but also make sense of their worlds by creating and then living their stories—their own personal
mythologies (pp. 3– 4).

The scenes played in RPGs are imaginary, which allows a lot of freedom in the
interpretation of one’s self. This kind of gaming can facilitate the identity explora-
tion process in adolescents in a nonthreatening way (Blackmon, 1994) because the
role-playing process is very similar in RPGs and everyday life (Fine, 1983). Addi-
tionally, the forces restraining people in their roles are weaker in RPGs than in
everyday life. Goffman (1961) emphasized the importance of fun in such interven-
tions, stating that engrossing activities may become more real for participants.
Thus, using RPGs in a counseling/play therapy intervention may be a means of
observing and noting the client’s current competences and development and of
furthering this development in specific ways. For gifted children and adolescents,
RPGs may provide appropriate contexts for directly working on emotion regulation
and social skill building to meet their developmental needs.

THE STRUCTURE OF ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

According to Hitchens and Drachen (2009), there is not a widely accepted

definition used to describe role-playing games. This is partially due to the various
forms this activity has taken over the years. Briefly, a RPG is a leisure activity
where participants assume the roles of imaginary characters and act in a make-
believe world. RPGs are also known as fantasy role-play gaming, pen-and-paper
 Group Role-Playing Games 177

role-playing games (PnP RPGs), or tabletop role-playing games, and they were
derived from war games created in the late 1970s. Participants of a PnP RPG do not
physically enact the character they play. They use verbal interactions to describe
the actions of their character, as they play within the same room, as opposed to
interacting “anonymously” online. Although Hitchens and Drachen (2009) offered
an interesting general discussion concerning the definition of role-playing games,
they disregarded an important specificity of PnP RPGs: The story of the game is
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coconstructed through the verbal interactions of the participants. Such games

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promote collaboration instead of competition, unlike many Western board games

(Rick & Hsi, 2006).
PnP RPGs are role-playing games that bring people together in the same place
to take on the role of fictional characters that freely interact in an imaginary
environment (Rosselet, 2009; Rosselet & Stauffer, 2010). Coconstruction of the
game between game master and players is accomplished through the actions,
reactions, and interactions of all involved parties (Fine, 1983), including the coun-
selor/play therapist, in our case (Bersier, 2006). The game master (who is not the
counselor) arranges the environment and acts as a referee, structuring rules and
guidelines; chance adventures are usually represented by dice. Players exercise the
freedom to act, react, and take into account the actions of others through dialogue
more so than through a psychodrama-type or theatrical incarnation of the roles,
which is further facilitated in the imaginary environment. The “end” of the game is
never preset and success is measured by the success of the group (Lizé, 2004).
There are several key elements germane to RPGs that will help the reader
unfamiliar with conducting them to better understand how RPGs are structured
and how they may be used in counseling. First and foremost, a common set of rules
is established by the game master (or referee), who leads the action and describes
the imaginary universe in which players will interact (Hitchens & Drachen, 2009;
Tychsen, Hitchens, Brolund, & Kavakli, 2006). These rules provide a structure for
using limit-setting techniques by the game master or by the counselor, if the
particular “infraction” speaks to the therapeutic goals of intervention (Rosselet,
2009). The perceived realism and logic that the game master and players use allows
them to make sense of their imaginary story through a common representation, or
what Hitchens and Drachen (2009) referred to as narrative backing. This common
representation provides a context and social milieu for the role-playing experience
from which players’ questions and explanations provide means of exploring com-
munication skills (Rosselet, 2009; Rosselet & Stauffer, 2010).
Players create and play the role of a character, deciding how they would like to
represent their character’s physical and mental attributes, traits, skills, and powers,
as well as their advantages and disadvantages (Bersier, 2006; Enfield, 2007; Hitch-
ens & Drachen, 2009). Their characters serve as transitional objects between their
person and the space of the game, helping them to establish a sense of self-
representation and control (Krout Tabin, 2005) within the scenario. The game
master and counselor ask more experienced players to play out both the strengths
and weaknesses of their characters during the game to work on specific social or
emotional competences (Bersier, 2006; Rosselet, 2009).
Players record this information on a character sheet and track their character’s
evolution by recording pertinent statistics throughout the game. Rule books, dice,
and figurines are used to represent complex game situations and to help concretize
 178 Rosselet and Stauffer

the scenario, which is the storyline or set of adventures experienced by players

(Tychsen et al., 2006) that provides them with the motivation to set and achieve
group and individual goals over the course of the experience. These group and
individual goals are periodically revisited during the game when the game master
and/or counselor see an opportune moment to stimulate insight in a particular
player or in the group, as a whole (Bersier, 2006; Rosselet, 2009).
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SOCIAL ROLES, ROLE DISTANCE, AND FRAME ANALYSIS

According to Fine (1983), RPGs are universes of discourse because the imag-
inary world and characters are built through verbal interactions. This coconstruc-
tion of an imaginary story makes RPGs a dynamic social system. PnP RPGs have
many similarities with social processes that take place in everyday interactions and
contribute to people’s social construction of reality (Fine, 1983). Several key
concepts from Goffman’s (1961, 1974) sociological perspective illustrate how RPGs
can be used therapeutically with gifted adolescents, notably, the embracement of
social roles, role distance, and frame analysis.
Goffman (1961) asserted that playing a social role is very similar to portraying
an imaginary character. When playing a social role, one engages in activities
according to the social demands linked to his or her position. To perform that role,
the individual has to act according to his or her representation of the role (Goff-
man, 1961). Likewise, the PnP RPG player has to play his or her character in a way
that seems most appropriate, given the character’s profile, the scenario, and the
parameters of the fantasy universe.
People usually play one social role at a time unconsciously. But because RPGs
“can be described, explained, and understood as an activity that exists in the unique
interstices between [the imaginary character], player, and person” (Waskul & Lust,
2004, p. 337), each individual will be involved in multiple systems and hence
engaged in multiple roles (Goffman, 1961). Involvement in multiple roles within
complex and overlapping systems impels people to create a common framework
and to delineate these different roles.

Role Embracement, Distance, and Identity in Everyday Life

Embracement occurs when one is totally involved in his or her role. “To
embrace a role is to disappear completely into the virtual self available in the
situation, to be fully seen in terms of the image, and to confirm expressively one’s
acceptance of it” (Goffman, 1961, p. 106). In everyday life, a person may fully
embody his or her role as a parent by leaving work (temporarily or permanently)
in order to care for children. The change in how the person identifies as a parent
more than as a worker would confirm his or her embracement of the role.
Conversely, Goffman (1961) developed the concept of role distance to explain
the freedom the individual may take with regard to the role s/he is playing. In doing
so, s/he refuses total identification with the role and acceptation of the meanings
attached by the social system to that role. Thus, role distance is the individual’s
 Group Role-Playing Games 179

ability to adopt an intermediary position, between identification with and opposi-

tion to the socially established role definition, and to be ready to react to social
pressure to modify one’s behavior in order to find balance again. In the example
above, it may mean a mother taking her full maternity leave, then returning to work
on a full- or part-time basis in order to balance both roles as mother and worker.
The individual, who plays diverse roles defined by the social system, still
conceives of himself or herself as a unique and independent entity or, put differ-
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ently, a self. Goffman (1974) noted that personal freedom can be found in the
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undefined margins left between different social role definitions. The self starts to
exist for itself when the individual accesses a larger and larger range of roles, until
one reaches a diversified social life. To achieve this, the individual has to accept
playing roles according to the socially established role definition attributed to him
or her and s/he has to take some distance from the roles s/he is playing. The person
has to balance his or her role embracement and role distance (see Figure 1), on
penalty of social sanctions if the role is played too freely.
During a RPG session, however, the situation becomes more complex because
the simultaneous management of the roles of player and character demands further
clarifications. Indeed, the other participants in the game (players and referee) need
to differentiate which events or actions need to be interpreted in the light of which
role. Goffman’s (1974) explanations of frame analysis help to understand these
dynamics.

Goffman’s Frame Analysis and RPGs

Goffman (1974) developed frame analysis, which is the process through which
people build a common understanding of events, thus, sharing a common frame of
reference. In order to make sense of everyday life events, people develop a socially
built and shared understanding, called a primary framework. By interpreting a
particular event through one’s schemata and responding in turn, a primary frame-
work makes otherwise meaningless aspects meaningful and coherent (Goffman,
1974), a phenomenon that RPGs render visible.
Games are based in the primary framework, but another layer of meaning is
added. Players, through their interactions, contribute to building a common inter-
pretation of events, which is called the secondary framework (Fine, 1983). This
happens in almost any everyday life situation, but in the case of role-playing gaming

Figure 1. Role-taking through role embracement and distance. The balance between accepting multiple
roles and distancing from them creates a margin of freedom that allows individuals to construct their
identities.
 180 Rosselet and Stauffer

a third layer is added as the player manipulates his or her character in the imaginary
universe (Fine, 1983). However, players are still seated together in the same room,
thus the “blurred margins” of the shared game space allow for real-world influence
to occur in the gaming situation (Tychsen, Hitchens, Brolund, & Kavakli, 2006, p.
268).
Goffman (1974) explained how one can understand and differentiate these
different layers of meaning through what he termed “keying” (p. 44). Keying is the
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process by which one transforms a preconceived meaning from a primary frame-

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work into a new understanding of the act or event. Keying reveals this new meaning
and is implicit in everyday life. However, in RPGs it must be rendered explicit
through verbal or nonverbal communication for a new common understanding to
be reached. To achieve this, players use cues found in the actions taken or in the
words spoken. Usually, this is easily done, but sometimes ambiguities may appear
and clarifications become necessary (see Figure 2). For example, a player may say,
“I’m hungry.” The other participants might be wondering if the person sitting
around the table or the imaginary character is hungry, until—the key is revealed—
the person goes to get some food. Sometimes, RPGs players even joke about these
confusions.
This is when the social construction of the game becomes most important and
visible: The RPG participant constantly juggles his or her multiple selves within the
game context, making framing dynamics important to understanding the frame-
work in question (Fine, 1983). When the meaning of an event is ambiguous, the
question of the framework of reference becomes primordial because different
frameworks can vary greatly from one another (Goffman, 1974). Players juggling
these multiple roles must let their coplayers know to which role they are referring
and, consequentially, to which framework to refer. This allows others to make sense
of the players’ actions. Reciprocally, participants have to pay attention to under-
stand the events in light of the appropriate framework. Frame shifting occurs
generally quickly and easily, but sometimes, it needs to be expressed literally.

Figure 2. Representation of the interactions between the individual and his or her roles as player and
character in a RPG group. Contrary to the individual’s daily role-taking behavior, in a RPG s/he has to
assume multiple roles simultaneously. This requires changing frames of reference. RPG, as a collective
activity, renders these changes visible, and other players must be aware of and correctly attribute
players’ or characters’ actions to their corresponding roles.
 Group Role-Playing Games 181

Counselors can be helpful in clarifying these frames, in guiding the dialogue toward
individual or group insights, and in addressing participants’ social and emotional
needs and competences within the context of the game.

RPGS IN COUNSELING INTERVENTIONS

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Generally speaking, RPGs create a space where participants may experiment

with various emotional states and behaviors, through the role of imaginary char-
acters they create. Moreover, the participant may adjust his or her level of involve-
ment in the role to fit his or her psychological needs through identification or role
distance processes (Goffman, 1974). The fact that players explore and live different
identities through RPGs allows them to build and assert their self, which can be
done without risks for themselves or others. Finally, their inclusion in a group of
players is usually the opportunity for individuals to create and maintain positive
social interactions with peers (Fine, 1983; Lizé, 2004). This may help individuals
develop and practice certain social skills, notably collaboration and communication
skills (Enfield, 2007).
The counselor’s intervention in RPGs fosters change, familiarizes clients with
new ways of regulating their emotions and social interactions, and facilitates the
transfer of these skills to real-world settings through the safety of rules and limit
setting and the clinical investigation of what happens in the game. Many authors
have suggested and illustrated how RPGs could be used either directly (e.g.,
Bersier, 2006; Enfield, 2007; Rosselet & Stauffer, 2010) or indirectly (e.g., Allison
et al., 2006; Blackmon, 1994; Raghuraman, 2000) in counseling. Indirect interven-
tions involve using the content of the game during the sessions to help the client,
even though the games are practiced outside the counseling setting and often not
under counselor supervision. Using the self-reported analogies of the game with
clients could provide rich context for processing clients’ emotions and social inter-
actions in session. However, herein we concentrate on how the counselor/play
therapist can intervene directly during the game in order to facilitate social and
emotional skill building that transfers outside of counseling sessions.
Direct interventions include situations where the game is played during group
sessions under the supervision of a counselor. After a thorough review of the
literature, Enfield (2007) provided the only English-speaking report of the use of
RPGs during psychotherapy sessions under the supervision of a therapist. Bersier
(2006) also described the use of RPGs in a counseling intervention. We should note
that the RPG counseling interventions we describe are based on the assumption
that the players play their characters in a way corresponding, at least a little, to their
general behavioral tendencies. This is consistent with Krout Tabin’s (2005) asser-
tion that the use of transitional objects in play therapy helps provide continuity and
control over one’s self-representation. Indeed, even if “the game is purely fantasy,
players must act, interact, and react by imagining how they would handle the same
circumstances if they were their fantasy persona and the situations were genuine”
(Waskul & Lust, 2004, p. 349).
Enfield (2007) described several advantages of using RPGs in counseling: (a)
the use of metaphor may evoke real-world challenges clients currently face; (b) the
 182 Rosselet and Stauffer

opportunity to engage in play without using toys, per se, removes potential embar-
rassment for older children and adolescents in front of their peers; (c) the incar-
nation of a hero is attractive, and exploring a character’s strengths and issues
provides opportunities for the client to work on his or her own; and (d) the
opportunity to play with an alternative identity can be liberating and formative. The
incarnation of a “hero” (as the main character of a fiction) in RPGs provides
challenges, obstacles, and opportunities for players to work on several important
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intra- and interpersonal competences, such as self-esteem, self-regulation, interper-

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sonal communication, and boundaries (Enfield, 2007).

Our RPG Intervention

This intervention (Bersier, 2006) employed a Dungeons and Dragons-like

format very similar to that described in Enfield’s (2007) RPG intervention. The
purpose of these weekend RPG workshops was to promote social interaction and
provide emotional psychoeducation and training to gifted children, preadolescents,
and adolescents, regardless of whether they were currently or previously had been
clients in a counseling setting. Therefore, the only true criterion for inclusion in the
weekend RPG groups was an IQ score of 130 or more, as measured on the
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV (WISC-IV-France; Wechsler, 2005),
which is one criterion for giftedness.
Participants often learned of the RPG workshops through their involvement in
or referral to counseling under a trained psychologist familiar with the treatment of
psychological and social issues in gifted children and adolescents; some were
siblings of former participants. Those referred for counseling often were seen for
behavioral issues at school or emotional and/or social adjustment issues; however,
being a regular client was not a criterion for inclusion in the weekends. The RPG
weekends were not advertised to the general public. The first author worked in this
psychologist’s independent practice and served as the intervention counselor in
RPG workshops for 2 years.
RPG weekend workshops were held once a semester, though two or three
groups were organized according to the number of participants enrolled. Groups
were limited to six to 12 participants of 8 to 16 years of age. Members were screened
in based on personal interview and developmental appropriateness (Jacobs, Mas-
son, Harvill, & Schimmel, 2012; Smead, 1995) as well as RPG experience. Older
children (8 to 10 years old) were often grouped with preadolescents (11 to 13 years
old) if those preadolescents had few to no role playing experiences. Preadolescents
(12 to 13 years old) with role playing experience and/or those who were more
socially sophisticated were grouped with adolescents (14 to 16 years old). During
the screening process several weeks prior to the RPG weekend, the counselor met
individually with members to develop their character profiles, set individual coun-
seling goals to work on during the game, and finalize RPG group composition.
Participants arrived for the weekend workshop on Friday night, where they met
other players, the game master, and counselor; finalized their characters; received
an orientation to the weekend and rules of the game; and ate and played together
before retiring to dormitories. On Saturday, game play of about 2-hr sessions was
 Group Role-Playing Games 183

interspersed with processing times, mealtimes, and breaks. On Sunday, game play
terminated after breakfast with the resolution of the scenario; participants com-
pleted self-evaluations based on their goals and interactions, and gave oral and
written feedback about what they learned and what they thought about the week-
end (e.g., organization, game play, etc.) to both the referee and the counselor
before departing at noon.
The counselor kept observation notes for each player during the game, and
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used processing times after play to check in with players and give individual and
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group feedback pertaining to players’ social interactions and collaboration skills,

leadership roles and opportunities, communication styles, problem-solving skills,
action choices and solutions offered during play, and the management of their
role-playing skills (as player and character; see Table 1). This feedback was care-
fully aligned to players’ individual and group goals, and discussions directed players
to think of their interactions during and outside of game play. A final written
report, summarizing participants’ strengths and weaknesses during the weekend
was issued after completion of the weekend and mailed to participants and their
parents.
The use of Goffman’s (1961, 1974) concepts of social roles and frames and
Adlerian play therapy theory and techniques were indispensable in structuring the
observations made and the oral and written feedback given to participants based on
their individual and group goals. Important events were recorded during the game,
and the counselor reviewed forms for each participant at least four times during the
weekend. Specific Adlerian concepts, such as encouragement, social interest, and
belonging were highlighted in these observations. Individuals’ private logic and
mistaken goals of behavior were noted on the side with the context in which they
were observed.

Using Adlerian Play Therapy Theory and Techniques in RPGs

Kottman (2011) described Adlerian play therapy as one of several play therapy
approaches that may incorporate varying levels of directivity progressively from
nondirective to more directive as the therapeutic relationship develops. Because of
this flexibility in the approach, along with several concepts key to the foundation of
Adlerian theory and play therapy, Adlerian play therapy was the best choice for
meeting the emotional and social goals of the participants who received this
intervention. To do so, understanding and taking the individual’s private logic
(Eckstein & Kern, 2002) into account was primordial for planning and implement-
ing counseling strategies.
Private logic is the subjective worldview unique to each individual through
which the person “filters” his or her reality (Eckstein & Kern, 2002, p. 8). Adler
(1956) posited that people were socially embedded, meaning that people seek
belonging and significance in their respective familial or cultural groups. Modern
Adlerians further described how all behavior is purposeful and goal-directed (e.g.,
Dinkmeyer, McKay, & Dinkmeyer, 1997; Dreikurs, 1964). When people are en-
couraged, they seek belonging and significance through social-interested actions,
which is a mark of good mental health (Adler, 1956). When people are discouraged,
 184 Rosselet and Stauffer

Table 1. Observation Form Used During Game Sessions

Social skills (group leadership
and collaboration)
Participation Speaks frequently and explains ideas regularly.
Is active in the game.
Task orientation Reminds others of group objectives.
Is concerned by group efficiency.
Intervenes in other players’ actions to help the other(s)
succeed.
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Relationship orientation Intervenes in other players’ relationships to mediate conflict

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or to connect with others.

Explains things to other players (rules, character sheet
elements, etc.).
Reassures or comforts other players, promotes belonging,
displays social interest.
Awareness of and Observes actions and situations of other players.
sensitivity to others Acts according to other players’ actions and situations to
further group goals (social interest).
Instrumental coordination Awareness of his or her character strengths and weaknesses.
Acts according to his or her character abilities.
Communication skills
General Uses gestures to help understanding.
Speaks loudly (enough).
Chooses suitable sentences.
Cooperative Explains own opinion or situation.
Listens actively to others opinions (how others count).
Negotiates with players who have a different opinion.
Expresses positive feelings towards others, displays social
interest towards others.
Says “Yes” to other players’ requests.
Asks questions, asks someone for something to connect with
others, and appropriately gain significance within the
group.
Assertive Says “No” to other players’ requests.
Expresses negative feelings towards others, lacks social
interest.
Asks for help.
Problems solving abilities
Problem representation Clarifies the situation (asks the referee questions, for
example).
Goal Shows understanding of the goal to achieve (reminds others,
for example).
Use of past experience Identifies useful and necessary resources.
Suggests hypotheses, plans actions, demonstrates willingness
to take risks.
Solution seeking Suggests many solutions, demonstrates capabilities.
Solution selection Is able to choose a solution.
Explains his or her choice.
Role-taking management
Identification Embracement Uses the pronoun “I” when speaking about the character.
Mimics character actions.
Speaks as the character.
Experiences the emotions of the character (or because of
what happens to the character).
Understands and uses the character’s attitudes and goals.
Distance Role distance Is able to consider the character as something separated
from himself or herself; is able to take some distance
from his or her character’s actions and is not personally
affected by what happens to the character.
Is able to do something logical for the character, despite
costs to the player or person (for example endanger or
sacrifice the character).
Note. Behaviors were evaluated from “inadequate/poor” when the considered behavior was not
regularly observed, “adequate, suitable” when the behavior was positive, and “excessive/overdone”
when it was too frequently observed.
 Group Role-Playing Games 185

knowing how to seek belonging and significance in socially appropriate ways may
be confusing, so they may use one of four mistaken goals to do so: attention (to
keep others occupied with them), power (to exert control over a situation), revenge
(to hurt others before they are hurt, or to hurt back when hurt first), or displaying
inadequacy (to give up trying to belong when the effort seems futile so others will
leave them alone; Dinkmeyer et al., 1997; Dreikurs, 1964).
In RPGs, a person’s private logic and mistaken goals may be revealed through
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the players’ and his or her characters’ words and actions, and may provide the
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counselor with ideas about which aspects of social or emotional development to

target when intervening. For developing emotional skills, the mistaken goal(s)
underlying the players’ behaviors are critical to identify and reveal, bringing
awareness to the person and to the group so that changes can be made. Further-
more, the importance of being courageous (Adler, 1956), of taking risks, and having
the “courage to be imperfect” (Dreikurs, 1964, p. 38) are essential considerations
for emotional development. For developing individual and group social skills, such
as communication, cooperation, and collaboration, the concepts of belonging and
social interest (Adler, 1956) are employed to better understand and elucidate
player decisions and interactions in the RPG problem-solving context.
Gemeinschaftsgefühl, more specifically translated from German as “social in-
terest” or community feeling, is a defining characteristic of Adler’s individual
psychology (Eckstein & Kern, 2002). According to Eckstein and Kern (2002), social
interest encompasses belonging, cooperation, and responsibility toward others.
Adler emphasized the counselor’s role in bolstering clients’ social interest in order
to become more cooperative members of society (Eckstein & Kern, 2002). Conse-
quently, the notions of belonging, cooperation, and taking actions for the good of
the group, sometimes at a personal sacrifice, were all important social skills pro-
moted and encouraged during game play among group members in this interven-
tion.
Enfield (2007) highlighted that super hero play through RPGs may reveal
issues of “power, control, popularity, and perceived importance” (p. 230). Adlerian
play therapists can explore these issues and foster mature interactions between
players by highlighting moments when characters exhibit social interest in others
and the four “crucial Cs”: connecting with others, demonstrating capabilities, be-
lieving they count and gaining significance through appropriate means, and exhib-
iting the courage to take risks and try new things (Lew & Bettner, 1996; Kottman,
2001, 2011). Limit setting may be useful in promoting awareness of infringed social
or emotional boundaries and to further explore the purpose and impact of these
infringements (Kottman, 2001) on other players’ or their characters’ feelings.
To do this, play therapists can use tracking skills to “notice” statements made
in character in order to encourage players’ awareness of their characters’ strengths
and areas for improvement, thereby indirectly commenting on the players’ own. By
“wondering” about a character’s intentions or how an individual or group decision
will play out, counselors may either nondirectively invite or semidirectively suggest
that players experiment with their characters’ advantages or disadvantages to affect
the scenario. Choosing which wonderings to express involves the counselor using
his or her clinical judgment to carefully invite new dialogue or steer the current
dialogue or role-play in therapeutic directions.
 186 Rosselet and Stauffer

Play therapists can further promote social and emotional skill development
during intermediary processing times after a game sequence has been played when
it is easier to “separate the deed from the doer” (Dreikurs, 1964, p. 38). By
remarking how players have used their characters’ identities to try new things and
to discuss how they felt about the outcomes, counselors can encourage healthy
risk-taking behaviors and highlight the positive consequences that may ensue.
Where players feel uncomfortable, counselors can allay and reify their concerns
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into concrete suggestions for improving players’ social interactions during and
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outside of the game context, as we did with Matthew over the course of several
RPG weekend interventions.

THE CASE OF MATTHEW

Matthew (pseudonym), a long-term client of the psychologist mentioned above,

was 15 years old at the time of his fourth RPG weekend. Matthew tested with an
IQ within the gifted range, though several inconsistencies in his profile indicated
autistic or psychotic tendencies. He was being treated at his parents’ request for
symptoms resulting from low self-esteem, behavior problems at school, bullying,
and academic failure (retained 1 year). As a “provocative victim, who [is] charac-
terized by a combination of both anxious and aggressive reaction patterns” (Ol-
weus, 1993, p. 33, italics in original), Matthew often had difficulty adequately
regulating his emotions and appropriately measuring his responses to others. He
reacted in extremes, either completely shutting down or making impulsive and
irrational decisions inappropriate for the situations he faced. In Adlerian terms,
Matthew had privately logical reasons for how he perceived others’ behaviors,
which were at the root of his extreme reactions. These patterns played out during
RPG weekends, allowing the counselor multiple opportunities to identify his
mistaken goals of behavior and to work with Matthew on the emotional and social
issues underlying his responses.
In his first RPG weekend, Matthew was one of 12 players. He role-played very
little throughout the scenario. However, when he played, he displayed low social
interest and frequently disturbed the rhythm of the game by disproportionately
reacting to events. Matthew showed a complete embracement of his character’s
role; he played his character as he, himself, would react. He also changed decisions
without a specific goal in mind in ways that confused other players, the referee, and
the counselor. For example, in entering a tavern with the group, Matthew wanted
to start a fight with patrons there and kill them all. This decision went against the
group’s common understanding of their purpose in the tavern, which was to lie low
and gather information discretely before moving on with their mission. After the
counselor reality-tested the feasibility of this plan, Matthew realized that this was
unrealistic and against the goals of the adventure. He put out the fire burning in the
chimney, instead, without explaining his actions.
The lack of social interest he displayed affected Matthew’s sense of belonging
in the group and among the other members. In seeing the extreme behaviors he
exhibited, other players began suggesting outlandish actions to Matthew to see if he
would actually carry through with them, which he did. This illustrated the blurred
 Group Role-Playing Games 187

margins (Tychsen et al., 2006) between the game and reality, because the ideas
discussed around the table were carried out by characters in the game. Again,
Matthew played his character as he would have reacted and relived his provocative
victim tendencies during the game: He was caught between his desire to be
accepted by others in making poor decisions under their influences and their
eventual rejection of and verbal aggression toward Matthew when he refused to
accept the consequences of these decisions once results turned negative. He was
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trying to belong and to fit in, but his actions via his character pointed toward
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mistaken goals of revenge when he engaged in game play (e.g., “I will get you
before you can get me”) and inadequacy in the fact that he did not frequently
engage in play (e.g., “I do not believe I can belong, so there is no use in trying”).
These patterns provided limit-setting opportunities and teachable moments for
understanding and building communication, collaboration, and social skills for
Matthew and the other players.
During his second RPG workshop, Matthew was one of five players, and none
of the players from his first RPG weekend were present. Matthew exhibited
progress in his decisions and interactions with others. Matthew’s engagement was
much more socially interested during this weekend RPG. He acted much more
constructively in the scenario, sought others’ attention less, and more happily
played his character without inconveniencing others during the game. He success-
fully juggled between embracing his character and showing some role distance
because he felt concerned by the adventure and still could think of his character as
something separate from his self. He also managed his multiple roles as player and
mentor to others and successfully balanced this with role distancing to help younger
players communicate with the group. He either directly relayed their ideas more
effectively or asked others to listen to them more attentively.
Through this workshop, Matthew became more aware of the interaction pat-
tern that he exhibited during this and the first RPG weekend. Matthew displayed
the mistaken goal of inadequacy when he was confused about something or did not
understand what had happened in a situation. He had a tendency to disrupt the flow
of the action by doing the first thing that came to mind, which was rarely appro-
priate and created confusion in the secondary framework of the game. In this
scenario, the group was on a mission to collect information about secret passages to
get a nearby capital city to alert their authorities of an imminent war. They were in
a local inn when guards entered the lobby. The other players remained cool and
collected, pretending to do nothing in particular in order not to raise the guards’
suspicions. Matthew, however, said his character panicked and began screaming. At
this moment, he showed strong role embracement and made his character react as
Matthew would have.
In order to remain consistent with the actions interjected by Matthew’s char-
acter, the game master then was obligated to make the guards intervene and
forcefully subdue Matthew’s character on the ground to further investigate. Seeing
that he posed no real threat, the guards released him and continued with their
mission, arresting the innkeeper before leaving the scene. During the processing
time that followed this sequence, Matthew explained that he was “a little lost”
because he had not been paying enough attention to understand what the others
were doing.
 188 Rosselet and Stauffer

He did not juggle multiple roles well, embracing only the desires of his
character and not distancing enough from his role to further the group’s goals. He
admitted acting this way to try to belong to the group and be included in the action.
The counselor encouraged him to use productive help-seeking behaviors in order to
feel more included in the group and discussed what that might look like. During
self-evaluations, Matthew reported learning that it was worthwhile to seek help
from others when he did not understand and that taking proper distance from his
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role to juggle multiple perspectives could help him in future interactions with
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others. This was a point that we emphasized with him during processing sessions
and game times, when appropriate.
During his third RPG workshop, Matthew was one of nine players, re-
grouped with four other participants from his second RPG weekend. He con-
tinued to evolve in his positive and constructive interactions with others,
displaying greater social interest than before and relying less on his mistaken
goals of revenge and inadequacy. This proved fruitful in his being accepted by
the group. Matthew managed multiple roles of player, character, and mentor to
others well, with behaviors that were much more stable and rational. He did
what he could to help other players and their characters during the scenario.
The counselor encouraged Matthew to continue to seek help for himself when
he did not understand things or how to intervene when role-playing dangerous
situations, when his mistaken goal of revenge was likely to be triggered.
In his fourth RPG weekend, Matthew was one of nine players, grouped with
three others that had attended previous RPG workshops with him. During this
scenario, however, Matthew held back quite a bit and was visibly less comfort-
able this time than during the previous two workshops. He helped other players,
but was more distracted, which diminished the quality of his role-play. Although
he seemed to belong less during this weekend RPG, the higher social interest he
had exhibited in the previous two weekend RPGs remained intact. Matthew
made big efforts to act appropriately in the game and to support the group. He
took more distance with his role as character, and was more into doing for
others and the group as a player than being in character and more fully
embracing the role play. He did not achieve the same balance in his role
distance as he had in previous RPG weekends.
We hypothesized that the investments he made to interact more in the
group may have thwarted his own investment in his character’s actions. This was
the exact opposite from his actions during his first RPG weekend. Therefore,
finding the balance between different roles (person, player, character, mentor,
friend, etc.) is usually difficult and has to be reevaluated from moment to
moment during the game and in the long term to transfer this skill outside of the
game.
After these four RPG weekend workshops and the ongoing counseling
support he received from his psychologist, Matthew was doing better in school
and in his interactions with his family. Although he was reacting less extremely
with his peers, there was still progress for him to make in his social interactions
with classmates, where he had not yet found a true sense of belonging. The work
started during the RPG interventions continued in individual sessions.
 Group Role-Playing Games 189

DISCUSSION

Van Tassel-Baska, Buckingham, and Baska (2009) argued that the arts may
“serve as a bridge to deeper levels of cognition” and that the subjective experience
of engaging in the arts may “free a gifted child’s mind to connect with herself [sic]
and those around her [sic] in more meaningful ways” (p. 229). RPGs are a fun and
efficient way to motivate children and adolescents to involve themselves in the
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treatment setting. RPGs may offer interesting possibilities for the development of
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the self, such as safe identity exploration, emotional expression and regulation,
self-awareness, and interpersonal skill building.
First, the incarnation of different identities allows players to explore and
integrate various aspects of themselves and experience negative consequences in a
secure environment. Thus, they may build their identity and individuality little by
little, which is of particular significance during late childhood and adolescence. In
the case of Matthew, we were able to see this evolution across four RPG weekends,
where he learned to progressively temper his reactions to scenarios and engage
more appropriately with others. During the second and third RPG weekends,
especially, Matthew interacted more within the scenarios and with the other group
members. He found ways to connect with others and further the groups’ goals
through his ability to juggle multiple roles as player and mentor to others by
explaining individuals’ needs and ideas more efficiently to everyone.
Second, the game provides a place where players may express their pent up
emotions, again, in a safe way for themselves and for others (Blackmon, 1994;
Enfield, 2007; Fine, 1983; Lizé, 2004). In fact, the role distance between players and
their characters allows individuals to express or act out emotions that would be too
threatening if expressed directly. Matthew’s preemptive revenge-seeking tenden-
cies to hurt or kill innocents within the scenario during the first RPG weekend were
a prime example. His private logic and mistaken revenge goal to “get them” before
they could “get” him or his group could have been interpreted as a protective
instinct in a virtuous light. However, Matthew’s character’s actions raised unnec-
essary suspicions of his group in the tavern, thereby endangering the other char-
acters more than helping them. Acting this out in the game carried no real-life
physical consequences for anyone involved, but allowed Matthew to see that his
revenge goal was maladaptive in promoting friendship or camaraderie with others
and ineffective for advancing the adventure in a positive direction. Matthew
became conscious of these aspects of his private logic and balanced his role distance
between what the group needed from him as a player with what he wanted to do as
a character. He was better able to choose more socially interested actions in future
RPG weekend scenarios.
Third, through imaginary universes and characters, RPGs give individuals the
opportunity to consider various aspects of the self, from the darkest to the most
virtuous, and to see these aspects as external objects. When the counselor identifies
and reveals the mistaken goal(s) a character and— by extension, a player— exhibits,
the participant can consciously decide how to change his or her strategy to belong
or find significance more appropriately within the group. For Matthew, this process
occurred across several RPG weekends as he realized that some of his actions ran
contrary to the groups’ goals. The margins were blurred between how others
 190 Rosselet and Stauffer

perceived Matthew’s character’s actions and the real-life consequences others

levied against Matthew as a player in ostracizing and criticizing him for making
those character decisions. These group dynamics provided growth opportunities for
Matthew to find more constructive ways of belonging and for the group to learn to
accept another player’s mistaken goal(s) as a means of seeking significance within
the group.
Finally, RPGs allow players to develop interpersonal competences. Because
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the story of the game is coconstructed through verbal interactions, players have to
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communicate with each other and with the referee. Moreover, players are brought
to cooperate as a group to overcome the difficulties of the scenario (Ducheneaut &
Moore, 2005; Zagal, Rick, & Hsi, 2006). Matthew became aware of the negative
interaction patterns that resulted from his misunderstanding certain game se-
quences. He was able to recognize these patterns and take corrective steps. Mat-
thew better managed his role distance to avoid acting inappropriately and juggled
his multiple roles as player, mentor, and character to seek significance by being
helpful to others and to the group.
Matthew made significant progress across the weekend RPGs. He set and
achieved individual goals to better control his emotions, understand and reason
through his privately logical impulses to do something—anything—to find signifi-
cance within the group, and to more appropriately interact with others through his
character. As Enfield (2007) noted, he was able to “experiment with and master
elements of an alternative identity—the person they would like to become” (p. 230)
and transfer some of those newly acquired skills outside of the treatment setting.
After the RPG interventions, Matthew had fewer behavioral and academic prob-
lems at school and began to interact more appropriately with his peers. Enfield
(2007) reported similar positive results from parents and teachers of his partici-
pants, noting improved social functioning and communication skills and decreased
impulsivity. Enfield remarked that, over time, participants engaged with one an-
other more and cooperated more to confront challenges and monsters in their
scenario, as our participants also did.
We advocate for using RPGs in counseling and play therapy intervention
settings, in particular with clients who are reluctant to work directly on their
problems with the therapist. Rubin (2007) highlighted the benefit of tension reduc-
tion that comes with resolving problems through fantasy and imaginal play. Fantasy
might, then, be an alternative medium for accessing and investigating frail or
sensitive aspects of the self and in helping clients develop personal strengths.
Moreover, the structure given by the rules of the game provides a frame for
interaction, as well as growth and limit-setting opportunities for the play therapist
that help clients transfer newly learned skills outside of the treatment setting.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Goffman’s social roles, embracement and distancing, along with Adlerian

concepts used in a semidirective RPG/play therapy approach, may help gifted
children and adolescents develop communication, collaboration, and emotional
regulation skills and further help them to concretize their personal identities. Case
 Group Role-Playing Games 191

studies have demonstrated the power of RPG interventions, and further research
and practice is encouraged. Although this research was exploratory in nature,
future research could utilize longitudinal means of tracking individuals’ progress
through an RPG/play therapy intervention. For instance, differences in quantitative
measures of self-esteem, affect (e.g., anxiety or depression), or behavior could be
evaluated over time using repeated-measures ANOVA (for larger samples) or
using latent group analysis in structural equation modeling (for smaller samples).
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Other research could qualitatively study the effects of different aspects of the RPG
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process. More specific qualitative and quantitative outcome data would serve to
further support the effectiveness of such interventions in the future.

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Received March 15, 2013

Revision received August 27, 2013
Accepted August 27, 2013 䡲