RPG Games and Spirituality

GAMES and SPIRITUALITY
I have been a pretty fanatic fantasy RPG game player all my life. This genre got me hooked and I hardly play anything else. However, I also consider myself rather spiritual. I study Astrology, Tarot, Psychology etc. I always knew that those two sides of me where somehow integrated, but I never quite understood how, until I had a flash of insight into the workings of (Jungian) "archetypes" through the Fantasy literature and game genre.
The picture is interesting enough to share it with you, as it might provide some basic insight into the fascinating world of virtual games and the rules that apply to them. It is written for entertainment purposes only (mostly for my own entertainment) because I needed to put these concepts into words. So please forgive me any redundancy when applicable.

FANTASY
When J.R.R. Tolkien conceptualized his Lord of the Rings in Middle Earth, he conceived the most influential and greatest story of the 20th century. This “fantasy” book is the Godfather of all other fantasy books, comics, movies and games. As I see it, Middle Earth is a reflection (from other dimensions) of the world we live in, expressed in terms of archetypes.
Which ever fantasy book or movie you grab, the story is always about two “factions”: the good guys versus the bad guys. There really isn’t much variation on that theme. Some good fantasy novels blur the lines, which makes it harder to pick a favorite faction, but the idea is the same. The “good” side expresses "Service to Others" (STO). STO can be interpreted as compassion, integrity, accountablility and altruism. The “evil” side expresses "Service to Self" (STS). STS can be interpreted as lack of empathy, manipulation, betrayal and selfishness.

RACES and FACTIONS
In the classical fantasy environment you will always find different species (races) that live in certain domains of the world. A race is usually automatically affiliated with a faction.
On the STO side you will find three main “beautiful” races: humans, dwarves and elves. These races are the basis for innumerable subraces such as gnomes, giants, hobbits, halflings, wood elves, half elves, high elves, pixies, drow, duergar etc etc. The dwarf races typically inhabit the mountains, the elves live in the forests, the humans in cities and towns.
On the STS side you find the three main “ugly” races which are the counterpart to the “beautiful” races: orcs (humans), trolls (elves) and goblins (dwarves). These races are the basis for creatures like undead, kobolds, gnolls, phantoms, uruk’hai etc. etc.
Some stories and game settings later also added “extraplanar” races like mephlings and elemental races like sylphs.
The beast races such as dragon, unicorn, gryphon etc. can belong to either the STS or the STO side, but most often the beasts are neutral. There are many beast hybrid races such as lizardfolk, hypogrif, satyr and minotaur. Usually the hybrids will serve the STS side, but sometimes a benevolent centaur will work for the good.

CLASSES
Regardless of the race or subrace, there is always something they “do for a living”, or rather, the type of person that they are in their world. What they do and how they do it, depends on their character and talents. Thus, their character is governed by a certain archetype. In the world of fantasy we find 4 main archetypes: The Fighter, The Healer, The Magician and The Rogue. As I see it, these 4 basic classes arise out of the 4 basic astrological elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. The governing archetypes are then subdivided into numerous subclasses, specializations and hybrid classes, which I will try to explain further.

The Fighter
Traits: strong, sturdy, good health, but usually not the smartest and cannot heal.
Skills: hand to hand combat, most weapons, heavy armor, can take incoming damage but deal less, persistent, enduring, focuses on confronting the enemy.
Subclasses: warrior, knight, barbarian, paladin, berserker.
I associate the Fighter class with the powers of the element of Earth.

The Healer
Traits: wise, patient, supportive, but cannot do damage and has only few defenses.
Skills: healing of others, enhancing traits of others, protection, shielding, focuses on negating damage done by the enemy.
Subclasses: priest, cleric, druid, bard, oracle.
I associate the Healer class with the powers of the element of Water

The Magician
Traits: intelligent, large damage output, but very fragile and cannot heal.
Skills: burst damage in elemental form, all forms of mind control such as fear, confusion etc, focuses on misleading the enemy.
Subclasses: wizard, conjurer, sorcerer, warlock, shaman, necromancer.
I associate the Mage class with the powers of the element of Air.

The Rogue
Traits: fast, clever, perceptive, agile, can take a moderate hit but cannot heal.
Skills: fast paced combat, ranged combat, tracking, stealth, focuses on surprising the enemy.
Subclasses: assassin, hunter, archer, ranger, thief, ninja, monk, pirate.
I associate the Rogue class with the powers of the element of Fire

The Hybrid Classes
These four main classes have numerous derivatives and hybrid forms such as paladin (can fight and heal, but is never as strong as a pure fighter, nor can ever heal as well as a pure healer), the shaman (can use magic and fight, but is never as damaging as a pure mage and never as strong as a pure fighter) etc. A class like "shadow priest" is actually not a priest but a mage, a dual wielding damage dealing "warrior" is not a fighter but a rogue. Hunters and Rangers are also classified as rogues for their agility, tracking ability, fast paced combat and ability to fade or feign death.
In game environments, there are many classes that borrow skills from other classes. A priest with the ability to "fade" is a priest with a rogue skill. A knight that can use a bow is a fighter with a rogue skill. In fantasy games there is almost never a class that doesn't "crossbreed" somewhere in their skill tree.

QUESTS
In the fantasy world there is work to do: items to acquire, errands to run, damsels to rescue. These missions usually meet with a lot of resistance from the opposing faction, because they have opposing interests. Thus, these missions automatically imply having to face and defeat a lot of enemies before the mission can be accomplished.
For a mission to have the highest rate of success, all four basic classes (elements) need to be present in the party who undertakes the adventure. If any of the four classes is missing, the party will lack certain critical skills. In a party of three, one place can be filled in by a hybrid class. The party will be less strong, but not severely handicapped. In a party of two, inevitably certain skills are going to be missing and one needs to be more creative. One-man missions are always the hardest.

Going back to Tolkien, you can see that the Fellowship of the Ring consists of all classes: Gimli and Boromir are the pure Fighter. Aragorn is a hybrid class: Ranger (he is both Fighter and Healer, but he also has Rogue tracking skills). Gandalf is the Mage. Legolas is the Rogue. The four hobbits actually develop their own class as they progress. Sam becomes a healer (always cooking and caretaking), Pippin becomes a rogue (always clever and stealing stuff), Merry becomes a rogue/fighter (organized and brave).
Frodo is a story in itself. He is hard to classify but if I had to pick a class for him it would be a defensive fighter, based on his persistence, endurance and strong will.

REAL LIFE
Overlaying these class archetypes onto our own lives, we usually identify with a class subconsciously. As with everything, we have traits from all the classes, but usually one or two classes are dominant.
My own dominant class archetype is the Magician. Of all elements and powers available, the powers of the mind are the most accessible to me. Of all things that go on in this world, the mental aspects always interest me most.
When I play games I do not always pick a mage, for I enjoy playing other characters too, but in WoW I did pick a mage indeed, and I played that character for over 4 years without getting bored. In a sense, she became my virtual alter ego.

Understanding the traits that belong to the elements and archetypes that govern the four basic classes, it is fun to try to classify one’s family members and friends.
This way I discovered that both my parents were mages! Of my three daughters the middle one is obviously a healer. She is never “in it for herself”, but always there to assist and help. The eldest and the youngest are both rogues, though the eldest does have some mage skills too. The youngest is very independent and likes to do things on her own. Then out of the blue she suddenly appears and steps into the limelight with a new achievement or accomplishment that no one knew she was working on, only to fade out again into the shadows afterwards.
Now that I understand that my husband is a Rogue, I appreciate him much more for our different approaches to problems. I now “understand where he’s coming from”.

Looking at life and people through these game archetypes is not only fun but quite enlightening as well. I discovered some overlap with the elements in astrological charts, mostly in the ascendant and/or moon. I am a Mage class (Air element), my ascendant is Gemini (Air element), moon in Aquarius (Air element). My middle daughter is Healer class (Water element), her ascendant is Cancer (Water element).

So what class are you? Do you have a dominant class or are you a typical hybrid? Whatever you classify yourself as, you are always part of the game...

WELL DONE!

I am studying for my masters in psychology this summer and I know alot about Jungian psychology. One of the things that fantasy does well is attack the concept of archetypes by saying "yes you can be the hero, villain, princess...whatever"

RPG and fantasty immersion is an incredible thing. I would liken it to the amazing job Vegas does with psychology

nice OP

I am the healer definately...I hate fighting

though honestly I always play a rogue or necromancer Drow in table top games...maybe because it is my polar opposite and I like to play something different...very Jungian and all...facing the shadow! :-p

-Kyo

[edit on 23-2-2010 by KyoZero]