Open worlds: An examination of digital accounts of gender and sexual identity development through the use of tabletop role-playing games among LGBTQ2S+ youth and young adults

Gender and sexual identity development (GSID) are formative tasks of adolescence and young adulthood. For LGBTQ2S+ individuals, these processes may be complicated by issues of safety, support, and access to resources. A potential avenue for identity experimentation is tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs), cooperative narrative games wherein players adopt fictional personas and describe their actions within a fantasy setting arbitrated by a facilitator. Previous studies provide indications of the significance of TRPGs to GSID but have generally been limited to small sample sizes and/or specific demographic subgroups that lack a specific inclusion of LGBTQ2S+ youth within their samples. The current study sought to address these gaps and investigate the role of TRPGs to GSID among LGBTQ2S+ individuals during adolescence and young adulthood by generating and analyzing a digital ethnography composed of anonymous online public posts ( N = 211) across four social media platforms authored by current self-identified LGBTQ2S+ youth and young adults, or self-identified LGBTQ2S+ adults retroactively reflecting on their youth and/or young adulthood ( N = 199). Thematic analysis revealed a range of themes highlighting the significance of TRPGs to GSID organized under five overarching categories: (a) Identity Expression, Exploration, and Experimentation through Role-Play; (b) Navigating Safety and Visibility; (c) Enactment and Embodiment of Possibility through Fantasy; (d) Agency, Power, and Resistance; and (e) Personal Significance and Impact to Life and Well-Being.