The Invisible Rules of Role-Playing: The Social Framework of Role-Playing Process

Markus Montola's paper argues that role-playing is best understood as a social process resting on three implicit "invisible rules": the imaginary game world, the power structure governing who shapes that world, and the personified player character. Rather than treating role-playing as a fixed artifact, the analysis frames it as a qualitative, negotiated activity that can occur without formal game systems and whose goals are largely diegetic or implicit rather than built into the game. The central aim is to make these tacit rules explicit so that theory can advance beyond the narrower question of whether role-playing counts as a "game" at all.

The work's most significant claims concern how the shared imaginary space is actually produced. The game world is constructed through an interpretation loop in which players interpret input, adjust their subjective diegesis, and communicate those adjustments, meaning the world is never fixed by a rulebook alone. Players routinely redefine rule-given elements through cultural convention and negotiation, and the world need only be coherent rather than realistic or complete. Power is analyzed across exogenous, endogenous, and diegetic layers, with information access shaping who can define the fiction. Tabletop games typically concentrate broad authority in the game master, while online and live-action contexts distribute diegetic power differently.

Montola's conclusions center on the character as a "diegetic identity," a proxy through which the player perceives and acts within the fiction, constructed through pretense and held together by personal narrative. Drawing on Hakkarainen and Stenros and on Harviainen's intermediate model, the paper argues that role-playing lacks the fixed ruleset Juul requires for a classic game, since its invisible rules remain open rather than forming a complete system. It closes by suggesting that ludological frameworks can usefully illuminate role-playing as a game, while cautioning against applying them without reservation.