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By Root 402 0

path (Lewis et al., 2004). DMs may do the same thing, but players have the narrative agency to determine which clues to follow, if any. For example, in a dungeon setting one door may be locked or have unbeatable monsters hiding behind it. However, a computer game may simply not allow the player to go a certain way. The directional mouse button may disappear, or the user may be unable to interact with certain characters or objects in the gaming world. In TRPGs such boundaries do not exist. The players may make a high enough roll to pick the lock on that door, or run back to town and hire more allies to beat that previously unbeatable monster. Whatever the obstacle, tabletop gamers can (and often do) find a way around it, at times to the chagrin of the DM who tried so hard to steer them in a certain direction.2

I argue that the key difference between the TRPG and the CRPG is not that the TRPG involves social contact (as that is becoming more common in computer games as well), but that the nature of that social contact is one that involves a high degree of agency. In the TRPG there are really two levels of game designers. There are those who write the rule books and campaign modules, and those who DM. At times (such as in the Sorpraedor campaign) the DM creates a campaign world, thus acting more as a game designer. In other instances the DM may build only on published materials, acting more as a player than a designer. CRPGs do not often have these varying levels, and players are removed from the game designers who write the code and story of the game. They may be able to write to the gaming company with ideas for future games or complaints about current game mechanics, or they may even be able to hack the code and create game “cheats.” However, the average player is not able to interact with a game designer as a standard part of the game play the way that a player interacts with the DM. In addition, the DM may switch between running a game and playing a character in a game someone else runs. In the Role-Playing Gamers Association (RPGA) game that I observed, the majority of the players also ran games as DMs at other RPGA events. Computer game designers are often also gamers themselves; however, the chances of an average player gaming with a game designer are far more rare. While the DM may have ultimate control over a particular campaign or adventure, he or she is more of an equal within the community. Game designers, such as Monte Cook, do often run games at large conventions such as GenCon. Yet, these game designers do not have exclusive control over the direction of the game. All the rule books are clear—it is the DM’s word that is final, not the written rules.

Having the DM’s ear is thus an important influence in D&D. Being able to negotiate face-to-face allows players actual narrative agency, not just the chance for interaction. In fact, the DM often has to adapt the narrative to follow what the players decide. Scott found that he made up a great deal of the Sorpraedor world and story on the fly, in response to what the players decided to pursue. In this way, he was subject to the story that the players wanted to hear and obligated to take it in the direction they wanted to go. This obligation can be true when running a module as well. When my players did not follow the obvious plot points in Speaker in Dreams, I had to think on my feet and skip ahead in the module to where the players led me. While the DM can limit players’ actions, in reality, the players have a great deal of agency in creating the story of the TRPG. Even if this action takes place via a computer-mediated environment, this interaction directly with the DM is important. In MMORPGs, players may still interact with other players in order to determine a course of action; yet, the decisions that the players make are still bounded by the constraints of the pre-programmed world. Players can determine how they will work to defeat a certain monster in the game, but they will not directly be able to interact with the person responsible for the creation of that