Shelly Jones is a professor of English at the State University of New York at Delhi and an editor for Analog Game Studies. Their research examines analog, digital, and role-playing games through the lens of intersectional feminism and disability studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Shelly Jones

Introduction: From Actually Playing to Actual Play

Shelly Jones

What Is Actual Play?

Actual Play Reports: Forge Theory and the Forums

Evan Torner

Birth of a New Medium or Just Bad TV? Framing and Fractality of Actual Play

Julia J.C. Blau

Audience, Framing and Flow

Critical Role and Audience Impact on Tabletop Roleplay

Robyn Hope

Communal Narrative in Actual Play Environments: Roles of Participants, Observers and Their Intersections

Anthony David Franklin

"Your fun is wrong": Actual Play and Fans

Diversity and Audience Interaction in Critical Role and The Adventure Zone

G.L. van Os

Critical Fails: Fan Reactions to Player and Character Choices in Critical Role

Christine Dandrow

Actual Play Audience as Archive: Analyzing the Critical Role Fandom

Shelly Jones

Commodification and Pedagogy: Other Approaches and Uses of Actual Play

Consumable Play: A Performative Model of Actual Play Networks

Mariah E. Marsden and Kelsey Paige Mason

Actual Play as Actual Learning: What Gamers, Teachers and Designers Can Learn About Learning from Actual Play Videos

Alex Layne

Conclusion

Shelly Jones

About the Contributors

Index