Can Roleplay be Literature?

Every so often, in online roleplaying communities, I see repeated the question, “Is roleplay literature?” I would say that the question is misleading. Literature, by definition, is any written work; and, as it is usually asked in some forum devoted to written roleplay, it is implied that written roleplay is what is meant. Thus, the answer merely an exercise in tautology. By definition, if the roleplay is written down, then the roleplay is literature, but so is the menu at a restaurant or the warning label on a product box, if we are operating under that most broad definition.

Now that we have the most obvious problem with answering the question out of the way, as the answer by the most general definition is clearly not what is intended, we have the problem of then choosing what definition of literature is intended. Most often, when the question of whether something counts as “literature” is asked, what is meant is whether this expression of the written word has risen to the level of “art” in written form, or literary art. To which I respond that any method and medium “can” be art. Painting “can” be art, as can be shown in any art museum, but most would agree that the freshly painted wall behind the painting would not be considered “art” even though it is also painted. Neither would the whitewash on the fence across the street from a painted mural.

Whether or not the method for creating the work is roleplay has no more relevance than asking if visual art is still art because it is made on a computer screen or carved instead of painted. The relevant issues for determining whether a piece is art, or more specifically, if a written piece is literature, are intent and reception. With graffiti, tagging something or just scrawling obscenities is not likely to count as art. It is just action for the joy of the process, not intended to really inspire anything in the viewer, and it is unlikely to inspire anything in the viewer more than the mess left by a dog on a sidewalk would. However, graffiti that is purposefully made to inspire some feeling or idea in the viewer, and is successful in doing so, is quite clearly art.

This is where we reach the real point. The question, as intended, appears to be more properly expressed as “Can the method of roleplay result in literary art?” I believe that it can result in art, but that usually, it does not. First, there is the question of intention. While much visual art starts out as a doodle or sketch, most doodling done in the margins of notes taken in a class or meeting are not art. Most doodling is just done for the joy or soothing nature of the process, not meant to convey anything to an audience. In the same way, roleplay is usually done just for the joy of the experience, with no real intent to inspire any real feeling or idea to any audience, other than perhaps the other collaborators. Also, much like doodles made by a group of friends, many roleplays will never be looked at by anyone but their creators.

To extend the doodling analogy though, where doodles can result in art is when the doodler is inspired by their own creation to go through the arduous task of creating art inspired by it to show to others, and inspire them. A doodle in the margins of notes may be perfected further into a sketch, then a pencil drawing, then be inked, and finally painted or otherwise finished into a polished final form. Where roleplaying results in art is when the roleplayers go through the same process. They are inspired by the rough doodle that is their roleplay, and use it as the rough draft for an outline. They put in the work to find what to take out because it does not contribute to the finished piece, and what to build up or add to strengthen it. They write, rewrite, rewrite again, and edit until they have taken the roleplay and forged it into literature.

There are many novels or otherwise polished stories that started out as tabletop role-playing game stories; for instance, the Diskworld novels by Terry Pratchett or many of the novels set in the Dungeons and Dragons games have their origins in a roleplay. Many such works have been very well received, and are acknowledged by many as literature.

The difference is in the intent to communicate to an audience, putting in the massive amount of work to make it polished well enough that it can be received by an audience, and whether it then inspires that audience. Whether or not something starts out as roleplay makes absolutely no more difference on if the finished work is literature than whether an initial doodle that becomes a painting was done in pencil or pen. The difference is the intent and hard work that it takes to bring it from the rough initial form into something that has become art.