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Open the Gates Gaming

Our initiative, Open the Gates Gaming (OtG), is a cross-disciplinary collaboration that began as research on cognitive access tools for the popular tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in response to the needs of our local disability community. Our project started with a collaborative grant with the library and was expanded with the help of an ICAT Mini SEAD grant to design and prototype cognitive access tools for D&D, as well as to begin drafting a book of adventures based on operas. Along the way we discovered that our cognitive access tools are helpful not only for those with cognitive disabilities, but also for those with limited time and other demands on their attention. Now we’re excited to bring the tools back to the community so they can tell their own stories. This will involve large-scale playtesting of our cognitive access tools, the creation of websites to publicize our initiative and disseminate the tools, and the completion and submission of the opera adventures book manuscript. Moving forward, we will form an advisory board of leading figures in the TTRPG community with a commitment to our values. Through events locally and with our partners across the country, we will learn what those who run the game—often referred to as dungeon masters (DMs)—need to be better supported and to better support their players, especially those who have historically faced obstacles to being included in the larger TTRPG community.

Midterm report

PI: Elizabeth McLain 
December 6, 2024 

The Open the Gates Gaming research team has made significant progress during the first half of the grant period. Although delays with our dice manufacturer forced us to delay playtesting and reconfigure our project timeline, we were able to capitalize on the opportunity by forging new industry partnerships; receiving a competitive internal AAD grant to purchase equipment to bolster our audio production; writing two chapter abstracts accepted for a new scholarly edited collection entitled Disability Game Studies; soft launching our website; and demonstrating our tools for an episode of a VPM docuseries to be premiered in Fall 2026 on PBS. 

Summary of Progress to Date: 

  • Completed Prototypes of all 6 tools 
  • Website soft launch: OpenTheGatesGaming.org (also redirect from OpenTheGatesGaming.com) 
  • Disability-Forward Research Consulting Session (August 17-18, 2024) ○ Two-day session replicating playtesting; consultants used all 6 tools + module ○ Excerpts from Report:“These tools genuinely cultivated connections between the players and would be useful in building disabled communities in other contexts”; “Disabled people are more likely to be alienated. Radically inclusive and flexible gameplay can intervene to establish and foster disabled community.” 
  • IRB 24-1001 determined that our playtest is not human subjects research 
  • New Industry Partnerships with Doug Cockle (our first advisory board member) and Seb Ford of DoubleJump (the Recording Studio for the Natural Six TTRPG actual play). 
  • New student workers: 5 total now (Illustrator & Video Editor on ICAT grant; Graphic Designer, TTRPG Research Assistant, and Project Management Research Assistant on the Disability Community Technology Center Mellon grant) 
  • $5000 FIRG from AAD allowed us to purchase LAV mics, Rode matched pair condenser mics, stands and cables, headphones, Mac Studio M2 Max Desktop Computer, TASCAM 12-channel mixer, and the Apple Pro Apps Bundle for Education. We are also working with AAD to find long-term research space as we have outgrown Lane 151. 
  • We have temporarily moved into the first floor of the GAMER Lab (since the second floor is inaccessible to PI McLain), and McLain + co-PI Campo-Bowen are joining the Gaming Community of Practice at the invitation of Dr. Ivory 
  • MUS 2134: Disability Culture & the Arts Lab with our tools on November 5 & 7 
  • Book chapter abstracts accepted: Disability Game Studies. Edited by Giuseppe Femia. (Abstract Accepted 14 Nov 2024; manuscript due 28 Feb 2025). 
    • Elizabeth McLain and Atlas Vernier. “Crips to the Table: An (Auto)Ethnography of Disabled and Neurodivergent Defiance.”
    • Christopher Campo-Bowen, Elizabeth McLain, and Atlas Vernier. “The Talking Tree, the Madwoman, and Other Operatic Escapades: Disability and/as Narrative in Dungeons & Dragons.” 
  • Book proposal for Adventures & Arias: A D&D Operatic Sourcebook in progress, sections added for the interpretive essay on the D&D adventure based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca. 
  • VPM filmed our team playing D&D with our tools for an episode of Life in the Heart Land about Autistic Adults in Rural Virginia, which will be released on PBS in Fall 2026. 

Plans for Second grant period 

  • Playtesting with community partners, including the Disability Alliance & Caucus and Lavender House will begin as early as January 2025. 
  • The Talking Cure art exhibit and storytelling experience will be hosted in the Media Building gallery + GAMER Lab during Spring 2025. 
  • Performances and events at Georgetown University and Berklee College of Music in Spring 2025 
  • Convening of Advisory Board following the identification of four more members ● Refinement of Cognitive Access Tools following playtesting 
  • Release of Cognitive Access Tools via website 
  • Production of Short-form Video Content as part of our social media push to catalyze tool dissemination 
  • Writing, Revision, & Publication of chapters for Disability Game Studies ○ Additional IRB for Ethnography Chapter 
  • Captioning Research Project with industry partners 
    • Additional IRB & Experimental Design (McLain + Vernier) 
    • Best Practice Guidelines 
    • Article on Study design, methods, & results 
    • Producing captions for industry partner following guidelines 
  • Funding Applications: we delayed applying for external funding due to evolving project timelines. However, we have identified several opportunities for the coming year: ○ NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant 
    • ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grant 
    • Terra Foundation for American Art Convening Grant (Letter of Inquiry due 17 Feb 2025) for a symposium at VT on the visual culture of TTRPGs 
  • Book proposal completion and submission for Adventures & Arias: A D&D Operatic Sourcebook.
Images of dice from Role 4 Initiative (our dice manufacturer); Sample Adventurer recording session in Perform studio with our custom map and minis; example Cognitive Access Tool (Character Sheet); and stills from Cognitive Access Tool (Explainer Videos)
Images of dice from Role 4 Initiative (our dice manufacturer); Sample Adventurer recording session in Perform studio with our custom map and minis; example Cognitive Access Tool (Character Sheet); and stills from Cognitive Access Tool (Explainer Videos)

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