Collaborative Storytelling In Dungeons and Dragons And CMC Friendship Maintenance

Date

2024

Authors

Espinoza, Alanna Shellie

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Abstract

This study examines collaborative storytelling in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and computer mediated communication (CMC) friendship maintenance among long-term friends. The theoretical foundations for this study are the Communicated Narrative Sense-Making (CNSM) Theory (Koenig Kellas, 2018) and the concept of co-telling (Mandelbaum, 1987). For this study, 15 individuals who have played D&D online for more than six months with friends they have met in person participated in in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify two emergent themes. The theme of styles of collaborative storytelling, which looks at the different ways that collaborative narratives are shaped in D&D and the focus of the told narratives, provided insight the process of collaborative storytelling in online D&D groups. The theme online collaborative storytelling as "more than" refers to the finding that the experience of stories collaboratively told in D&D as real, as working together, and as a commitment work together to make online D&D feel like a more meaningful mode of CMC friendship maintenance. This study expands the research on CNSM theory and co-telling to include fictional and improvisational stories as meaningful types of collaborative storytelling that can influence relationship quality and relationship maintenance.

Description

Keywords

Computer mediated communication, Relationship maintenance, Collaborative storytelling

Citation

Department

Communication