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The Elusive Shift
How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity (Game Histories)
Author: Jon Peterson
Narrator: Chris Ciulla
Unabridged: 11 hr 14 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: G&D Media
Published: 07/03/2026
Categories: Nonfiction, Social Science, Anthropology, Games & Activities
Synopsis
How the early Dungeons & Dragons community grappled with the nature of role-playing games—and established a new genre!
When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s, followed shortly thereafter by other, similar tabletop games, it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games. D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game. But in the original rules, the term “role-playing” is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game.
In The Elusive Shift, Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games—and by doing so, established a new genre of games.
When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s, followed shortly thereafter by other, similar tabletop games, it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games. D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game. But in the original rules, the term “role-playing” is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game.
In The Elusive Shift, Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games—and by doing so, established a new genre of games.