Role-Playing Games of Japan: Transcultural Dynamics and Orderings

314 Pages·2020·6.018 MB·English

by  Björn-Ole Kamm

Role-Playing Games
of Japan
Transcultural Dynamics and Orderings
Björn-Ole Kamm
Role-Playing Games of Japan
Björn-Ole Kamm
Role-Playing Games
of Japan
Transcultural Dynamics and Orderings
Björn-Ole Kamm
Graduate School of Letters
Kyoto University
Kyoto, Japan
ISBN 978-3-030-50952-1 ISBN 978-3-030-50953-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50953-8
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Acknowledgements
I cannot express in words the gratitude, warmth and appreciation I feel
for all those who helped me during the research for and writing process
of this book.
The scholars who have supported me on the road with critique and
encouragementaretoonumeroustobenamedhere.HasanAshraf,Myriel
Balzer,JaquelineBerndt,RafaelBienia,VolkerElis,HaraldFuess,Patrick
W.Galbraith,J.TuomasHarviainen,CarolaHommerich,Ito¯ Kimio,Kam
ThiamHuat,Kato¯ Ko¯hei,DavidMervart,BarbaraMittler,SophieRoche,
Takahashi Muneyuki and Wagner L. Schmit may stand as representatives.
Mostimportantly,Iwanttoexpressmygratitudetoalltherole-players,
larpers, game designers and organisers, who contributed to this project
with comments, information and questions. My thanks go especially to
those who took part in my interviews and who let me come to their
events. I am in debt to Kondo¯ Ko¯shi and Adventure Planning Service, to
OkadaAtsuhiroandTRPGCaféDaydream,toNicoStahlbergandCastle
Tintagel,totheMoroishisandLaymu¯nLarp/CLOSSandmostdearlyto
the members of the youth-larp group in Germany and the TRPG circle
in Tokyo that took me in and to all the anonymous interviewees, who
participated in this study.
Thisbookisbasedonresearchconductedformydissertation“Playing
with Uncertainty” at the Philosophical Faculty of Heidelberg Univer-
sity, which would not have been possible without the support of several
organisations and the opportunity to work in a number of outstanding
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
research centres. My first fieldwork phase is indebted to a scholarship
fromtheGermanInstituteforJapaneseStudies(DIJ),Tokyo.Afterwards
the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) supported me with a fellowship. I
receivedmostifnotallofmytheoreticalinputfromtheClusterofExcel-
lence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context,” Heidelberg, its reading
classesandcolloquia,especiallyfromthePopcultgroup.Mysecondphase
offieldworkwasmadepossiblethroughafellowshipoftheGlobalCentre
ofExcellence“TheIntimateandthePublicSpheres”atKyotoUniversity.
Lastly, the Yamaoka Memorial Foundation also supported later stages of
the research refining the original dissertation. Without these supporters,
this journey and project would not have been possible.
Lastbutnotleast,mygratitudegoestofriendsandfamilywhodidnot
tire to encourage me in my endeavour throughout the years.
Kyoto, Japan Björn-Ole Kamm
February 2020
Notes on Language and Conventions
(cid:129) JapanesewordsinthisbookarewritteninrevisedHepburnRoman-
isation. Names appear in the Japanese order of family name first and
given name second except for those cases when Japanese authors of
English-languagetextshavethemselveslistedtheirgivennamesfirst.
(cid:129) Macrons (e.g. o¯, u¯) have been omitted in commonly used words or
place names, such as Tokyo.
(cid:129) All names of personal interlocutors are pseudonyms except where
permission was granted to the author, e.g. from game designers or
publishersactiveinthepublicdomain.Anynamesresemblingactual
individuals are coincidental.
(cid:129) Translations of Japanese, German or other Non-English texts and
interviews are by the author unless otherwise noted.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction—Before Play 1
1.1 Prelude 1
1.2 Controversies of Role-Playing 7
Uncertainty and Fluidity 9
Controversy and Knowledge 11
Translation and Transculturality 16
An Assemblage of Practices 20
1.3 “How to Use This Book” 22
References 24
2 Games—Playing with Borders of Reality, or the First
Act 29
2.1 The (Ancient) Origins of Role-Playing Games 29
A History with Reality 32
Kriegsspiel—From India to Prussia and Beyond 34
The Network Wargaming 38
2.2 Creating Markets and Acronyms: D&D, TRPGs,
and LARP 39
Translating TRPGs: Different Languages, Diverse
Media 44
Ages of Winter and Countermeasures: Moé, VTT,
PoD, and Other Abbreviations 50
The Network Table-Top Role-Playing 55
ix
x CONTENTS
Live-Action Role-Play—Theatre, Therapy,
and Education 57
The Network of Larping 66
2.3 Defining and Designing the “Magic Circle” 67
Introducing the Magic Circle 69
Game Design Considerations 73
Typifying Players, or Not? 74
Games as Enterprise 79
2.4 Governing Games: Escapism and the Serious Side of Life 83
Escapism: Stepping Out of (Globalised?) Reality 84
From Moratorium to Withdrawal 86
Playing, the Self and Governing Mentalities 88
Borders and Circles 92
References 94
3 Stereotypes—The Agency of Labels, or the Second Act 111
3.1 Labelling or Making-up People 111
Stereotypes and Representation 130
Practicing Stereotypes 134
Dynamics and Agencies of Stereotypes 143
3.2 Child-Murdering, Satanic Play, and the Otaku 148
Unpacking Black Boxes 150
Establishing the Otaku 151
Suicidal Geniuses, Worried Parents, and Dungeons &
Dragons 157
Recursive Modes of Ordering 168
3.3 Negotiating Stereotypes and Bad Players 171
Gamer Stereotypes 171
“Playing” Otaku 173
Connected Worlds of Stereotypes 179
References 181
4 Mediation—Counterpoints of Dis/Connection,
or the Third Act 197
4.1 AMediator’sCounterpoint:Non-HumanandHuman
Actors 197
4.2 The Internet as a Dis/Connector 200
Japan’s Internet Access 201
CONTENTS xi
Connection: Websites and Forums 204
Disconnection: Identity Technologies and Privacy 217
4.3 “Cultural Brokers” and Translators: Human
Mediators 220
From Japan to “the West:” Tenra Bansho¯ Zero 223
Tenra and “Western” Values 228
From Berlin to Iruma: Larping 231
The Making of Patoria So¯ris and Laym¯un Larp 236
The Role of Language 242
The Roles of Mediators: Cultural Brokers Revisited 246
References 250
5 After Play—Knowledge (and) Practices 257
5.1 Ordering Knowledge Practices 257
Lists of Knowledge and Truth In-Game 260
5.2 Knowledge Through Play: Education
and Professionalisation 264
Learning by Playing 264
The Fine Insider 269
Nordic Nodal Points 274
5.3 The Modes of Ordering RPGs 277
The Mode of Enterprise 278
The Mode of Disclaiming 279
The Mode of Authenticity 281
The Mode of the Magic Circle 282
5.4 The Shape of Partial Connections: Role-Playing Games
as a Practice-Network 283
References 287
Index 295