A Dicey Situation: A Study of How Controlled Vocabularies Describe Tabletop Roleplaying Games

A Dicey Situation: A Study of How Controlled Vocabularies Describe Tabletop Roleplaying Games

A Dicey Situation: A Study of How Controlled Vocabularies Describe Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Taylor Skelton Smith

Abstract

"As popular culture has become an accepted aspect of study, academic interest has increased for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). However, existing controlled vocabularies cannot accurately describe them, and this will decrease their discover- ability in collections. This article surveys several controlled vocabularies that feature headings for TTRPGs and argues that their definitions, structures, and disambiguation between sub-ject and genre/form fail to distinguish TTRPGs from other forms of roleplay or from works about TTRPGs. The author also offers possible short and long-term solutions for better implementing existing vocabularies in TTRPG records."

Reference

Smith, T. S. (2024). A dicey situation: A study of how controlled vocabularies describe tabletop roleplaying games. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 62(2), 99–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2024.2308117

Keywords

Controlled Vocabularies, Roleplaying Games, Subject Analysis