The educational and therapeutic value of role playing games - a meta-analysis

Abstract

Thesis. The article deals with the issue of the use of role playing games (RPG) in the educational process, but also in the therapeutic process. The author attempts to compile current national and foreign data on this subject. The basic assumption underlying the article is to analyze the didactic process in terms of the value of personal experience and spontaneous activity.

Concepts discussed. The research is derived from pedagogical or therapeutic practice using role playing games. The diversity of this entertainment means that some of the works focus on the aspect of classic RPG games, while others focus more on theatrical role playing games (LARP - Live Action Role Play), often in a simplified form of drama games.

Results and conclusions. The validity of using role playing games in education is based on the value of the author’s own experience and learning from it, which plays an important role in the teaching process. Participation in a game embedded in the realities of history or using a foreign language significantly increases the level of students' involvement and the quality of their thinking. At the same time, many researchers point to methodological difficulties in determining the real effectiveness of RPG games as a teaching method. The author’s reflections appearing in the research aim at the combined approach that both the lack of reliable research on role-playing games, as well as the huge conventionality present in Polish education mean that the wide use of games of various types during lessons still remains an infrequent curiosity, unrecognized for its valuable method.

The cognitive value of the approach. The study combines Polish studies with foreign ones and cpmpares them, which leads to relatively critical conclusions about the state of Polish education and thoughts on the importance of personal experience in both the scientific and therapeutic processes.