Role-playing community: encouraging non-violence through immersion and performance

Table-top role-playing games (ttrpgs) have recently experienced a renaissance, and are being used in ecclesial communities as outreach beyond proselytization. This paper will determine how this ecclesial practice can encourage non-violence in the 'real world,' especially Principles #5 and #6 of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Non-Violence. New data will be collected through ethnography in EcclesiCon at Central Baptist Church in Palmyra, NJ (for example, interviewing gamers and participating in games); author's experiences at other gaming 'conventions' (i.e., gamer gatherings) will also be used. Data will then be analyzed through the lens of immersion (i.e., the act of 'inhabiting' the game world individually and communally) and performance (i.e., the structured yet fluid habitus of gamers) from Role-Playing Games Studies. The hypothesis is that ttrp gaming is demonstrably beneficial as micro-ecclesial practice, especially when intended as macro-community building (i.e., within and beyond the church itself).