A Coin with Two Sides: Role-Playing Games as Symbolic Devices

This paper argues that role-playing games (RPGs) function as symbolic devices, combining the mythic narrative and ritual enactment that the author treats as the two possible exegeses of the symbol. Drawing on Schelling's philosophy of the romantic symbol, the author defines symbols by three properties: autonomy, syntheticism (the power to reunite opposites), and tautegoricity, the identity of meaning and being. The central claim is that RPGs are not reducible to either ritual or myth but form an undifferentiated balance of the two, allowing players to engage directly with archetypal material.

The analysis revisits three ritual features of RPGs: the magic circle, which must be permeable enough to allow metagame information flow yet closed enough to preserve the distinction between player and character; liminality, the transitional state in which players temporarily step outside ordinary social roles; and collective effervescence, linked to immersion and the presence of co-participants as witnesses. The paper further proposes a spectrum of symbolic exegesis, placing tabletop RPGs toward the narrative pole and live-action role-play (larp) toward the dramatic pole, while maintaining that both remain symbolic.

The work situates RPGs as a possible response to the "disenchantment" of modern life, offering a balance of rational schema and imaginative allegory that may foster community and personal mythology. The author acknowledges that the argument is primarily philosophical and identifies psychology, shadow work, and the risks of reinforcing social inequalities as areas requiring further study.