The nonprofit, which uses games to facilitate community growth as well as for therapeutic and educational purposes, has seen its numbers double since the beginning of the pandemic. Davis, executive director of Game to Grow in Kirkland, Washington. What makes these games so different is that they’re a way to reinforce social connections without actually scripting how kids interact, says Adam D. “People like seeing expressions, and many depend on them for unspoken social cues,” A safe space to develop new communication and social skills “That face-to-face connection makes a difference,” Horne says. During the pandemic, parents and players even set up outdoor, physically distanced games to maintain connections. “That has no limits.”Īnd although each player assumes a specific role or character, RPGs are typically played in-person as opposed to behind a digital avatar or anonymously. “They are conjured in the imagination of the players, and ensue in a collaborative, cooperative atmosphere,” he says. On the other hand, games like D&D involve what Horne calls theater of the mind. “When you’re playing a video game-even one in which you’re playing a role-you’re limited by the parameters of the game,” says Sam “Shammo” Horne, the chief creative officer at Maryland-based Alternative Games, a group of game masters who facilitate storytelling games like D&D in-person and online. True RPGs like D&D differ from popular app and console-based games, like Adopt Me and Minecraft, which have also captured kids’ time and attention during the pandemic. Here’s what makes RPGs special and how to get your kid in on the game. It turns out RPGs aren’t just popular because they’re a ton of fun-they also have unique characteristics that benefit kids’ mental health and social skills, something especially important during the pandemic. Plus, D&D revenue was up 33 percent in 2020 alone. Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast-which owns popular games like D&D and Magic, The Gathering-raked in $816 million in 2020, a 24 percent increase from 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal. Once considered the province of the uber-nerdy, RPGs are going mainstream. “He and his friends didn’t have much to talk about-until they had the game.”Įlijah is part of a growing group of kids and adults who have discovered the world of role-playing games (RPGs). “My son has been really isolated from other kids, and there had been so little going on in their locked-down lives,” says his mother, Alissa. Together with two other friends from school, he navigates a complex world of medieval-inspired heroes and monsters in an exciting game of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).īefore the pandemic, Elijah and his D&D group met at the library or in the park- but over the past year, the action unfolds virtually over Zoom. Once a week for an hour at a time, 12-year-old Elijah Zachary transforms from a regular sixth-grade student into a Dungeon Master.
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