RPG Research

RPG Research is a 501(c)3 non-profit research and human services charitable organization, that is 100% volunteer-run, studying the effects of all role-playing game formats and their potential to improve lives around the world. This includes tabletop, live-action, electronic, and hybrid formats. We provide local in-person community and online programs that help improve functioning and quality of life for participants in our programs. We provide the world's largest free and open research repository on role-playing games, including Drop In and RPG, the RPG Community Center programs, the RPG Museum experiential learning historical museum archives. We research the effects of cooperative music and all role-playing game formats: tabletop, live-action, electronic, and hybrids. Building on the research, using it to train our growing network of volunteers, our community, interactive experiential RPG Museum, and online programs directly help improve the lives of people around the world. The data from these programs cycles back to further the research body of knowledge and contribute to the archives.

Mission: 1) To clearly establish, through rigorous scientific testing, the effects on participants of: music and all role-playing game (RPG) formats: tabletop (TRPG), live-action (LRPG), electronic (ERPG), and all hybrid variants (HRPG). In addition to determining the potential relevance of correlated factors, wherever possible, significant emphasis is placed on contributing to the body of causal research information. 2) Based on any available established research, from a variety of disciplines, using relevant evidence-based and theory-based approaches, RPG Research will assess, design, develop, implement & evaluate intervention programs using music and/or various role-playing game formats as intervention modalities for participants to achieve their recreational, educational, professional, therapeutic or other quality-of-life-enhancing goals. 3) Based on funding, staffing, and resource availability, RPG Research will provide these services to individuals, population groups, and communities where research indicates they may benefit the most from our programs, and advocate for accessibility and inclusiveness for the widest range of populations possible, especially those in under-served and un-served areas. 4) Whenever legally and ethically possible, all such research information will be freely and openly shared with the public to help further advance the global body of knowledge and overall improve the experience of the human condition. Vision: Using scientific research and community outreach programs to determine the actual caveats & benefits from participation in cooperative music & role-playing game activities, over time we will: 1) Eliminate the myths & stigma associated with these activities. 2) Through these inclusive and accessible programs help the widest range of populations possible globally achieve a remarkably improved quality of life. 3) Raise the experience of the human condition globally through the sharing of knowledge on a free platform accessible to all, while encouraging others to share their findings on this platform. 4) Provide free training to those willing to take the time as volunteers to develop the skills necessary to achieve these goals. 5) To provide services that achieve all of the above. Impact: https://www.rpgresearch.com/impact There is a very long list of role-playing game benefits, here are just a few highlights, and how RPG Research's use of role-playing games helps improve the lives of participants, and the communities where are programs run. * Empathy skills and compassion building * Communication skills development * Camaraderie * Cooperative problem solving skills * Social skills development * Reading skills * Math skills * Individual problem solving skills * Social phobias * Immersion and flow state experiences and benefits * Impulse control * Aggression reduction * ADHD * Autism spectrum