Book Review

The Role-Playing Society: Essays on the Cultural Influence of RPGs (McFarland, 2016) represents a crux point in the relationship between academia and role-playing games. Rather than attempting to take a more urbane view of role-playing through various disciplines, the editors set the ambitious goal of measuring the influence of role-playing on culture, a “variety of essays that illustrate RPG’s [role- playing games’] broad appeal and impact.” What was once a random, odd game of pen and paper is today one of the most influential games in the contemporary world. The impact of role-playing games on the social world is staggering in scope and while the book valiantly attempts to explore this thesis, it manages just to scratch the surface