Esperienze narrative tra letteratura e socializzazione. L'inusitato nella scrittura dei giocatori di ruolo

Textual Role-Playing Games represent a unique example of online collaborative writing, where the authors completely identify themselves with the characters due to a deep immersion in a virtual world. The paper aims to describe the distinctive variety of language used by role players, subsequently analyzing how the independence of cyberspace allows for the development of an extraordinary linguistic creativity. The first section of the article illustrates the reworking of traditional literary models made by role players, showing how authors’ ambitions often collide with their effective skill. It also touches upon the function of technical terminology and the importance of neologisms in the creation of a believable fictional world. The second part of the paper examines some of the linguistic expressions used by role players to detach themselves from the real world, which is a necessary premise to the impersonation of a fictional character. The analysis focuses specifically on the high frequency of archaisms and it addresses the anomalous employment of strategies such as figurative language, semantic shift, and the omission of articles and prepositions.