Role-playing games

In role-playing games (RPG) participants conduct imaginary events in rule-bound fantasy worlds through enacting characters that usually progress over time. Tabletop RPGs, larps, single-player computer RPGs and multiplayer online RPGs are the most common forms of RPGs. Role-playing as a pretend play activity (acting 'as if') is deeply rooted in humans, yet commercial role-playing game products did not appear until the mid-1970s. Queer themes or LGBTQ+ characters were rare in commercial RPG products before the turn of the millennium, although some clear examples can be found even from the very beginning. RPGs offer sites for envisioning alternative worlds and performing different ways of being, such as adopting different gender expressions or inhabiting worlds without queerphobias. While role-playing games can consciously be used for exploration and transformation, most commonly their regenerative force is rooted in being frivolous, 'just play', in performances that need not reflect back on the performers.