Role-Playing Games in the Classroom. Highlighting Biases, Player Behaviours, and Ethical Decision-Making

Abstract

Video games offer a wealth of potential topics for instruction at the university level. Theoretical content can be made more concrete and accessible and allow students to consider course content in new ways. Topics related to biases, stereotypes, behaviour, representation, and ethics can be explored. This is particularly true for narrative-rich games, like role-playing games and games that feature religion. These aspects of some video games can support and extend course content on numerous topics including structural inequalities, cultural influences, and player motivations as they relate to narrative content and contexts. Taken together, instructors can use examples from video games to support student discussion and learning by pairing video game content with higher-level theory and course materials. These approaches are effective in engaging students, grounding course concepts, and supporting learning outcomes.