Necessidades psicológicas básicas e prática de role-playing game (rpg) de mesa durante a pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

When COVID-19 became a global health problem, little was known about the virus. Initially the main measures to combat the proliferation of the virus were social distancing measures, until vaccines were developed and mass vaccination began. This entire period was accompanied by many stressors and the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, which directly affect the well-being of individuals, seem to have been affected by this pandemic context. Games, in this scenario, could become attractive for being able to satisfy basic psychological needs that everyday life could not. The tabletop role-playing game is played in groups, is collaborative, interactive and provides a collective construction of a social world. Its characteristics make it a game that seems to have a lot to contribute in terms of satisfying these needs, so the objective of this research was to investigate the systematic practice of tabletop RPGs and its relationship with basic psychological needs during the COVID-19 pandemic period through Self-Determination Theory. The research was divided into three phases and to participate in the next phase it was necessary to have participated in the previous phase, all participants played tabletop RPG with some frequency. A questionnaire was used in the first phase, in the second phase The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale and the Ubisoft Perceived Experience Questionnaire and Problem Videogame Playing was used, and a semi-structured interview was used in the third phase. The results seems to indicate that the practice of tabletop RPG helped to satisfy basic psychological needs, especially the relatedness, and helped to minimize the effects of stressors caused by this period. It is hoped that this research can contribute to studies on potential benefits of playing games on well-being in times of crisis.