Entertainment at all Costs

Exploring Experiences at the Peripheries of Traditional Game Design

Pellicone, Tony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9774-2953 and Wilbraham, Che ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6626-0672 (2026) Entertainment at all Costs. In: British DiGRA 2026 Annual Conference, 30 June - 01 July 2026, Cardiff.

Preview	Slideshow (Conference Presentation) Entertainment at all Costs.pdf - Presentation Download (4MB) | Preview
	Text (Abstract) Pellicone & Wilbraham BDiGRA Submission 26.docx - Accepted Version Download (43kB)

Abstract / Summary

In the proposed talk we will analyse professional wrestling as an activity that sits on the periphery of modern game design, but which serves as a potentially invaluable source of inspiration for game creators. We draw on previous work which considers wrestling as a real athletic performance with attendant rules, but also as a pre-determined scripted event that fits into a larger narrative (Oliva & Calleja 2009).

The balance between scripted narrative, improvisation, and productive interaction with the audience comprises the ‘kayfabe’ of a match. Kayfabe is the disposition of both performers and audience that acknowledges and negotiates the artifice of the performance. Laine (2018: 90) phrases this as, “the visible and observable theatrical presentation of a fictional or predetermined world and timeline.” To negotiate kayfabe the audience must imagine their way into the space where they can enjoy a performance knowing that it is staged, mediating across multiple modes of meaning-making (Ford 2007). Jones (2019) interprets the aesthetic qualities of wrestling as being interactive - putting the audience into a mindset of make-believe that must be sustained by both performers and spectators.

We draw on ongoing work that seeks to establish connections between wrestling and the existing game design practice of game mastering (GMing) in tabletop role playing games (TTRPGs). In a TTRPG the primary goal is entertainment through the live interpretation of a set of rules, scripted narrative, and improvised action (Laws 2002). We discuss a linkage between the role that the GM serves in TTRPGs (as they establish scenarios, voice NPCs, and interpret the written rules), and the similar function of the performers and writers in a wrestling match to animate action that invites their audience to give themselves over to an imagined world of the performance (Cover, 2010; Fine 2002; Laws 2002).

We approach this through a content analysis of texts around wrestling as a designed experience, comparing this to ongoing practice-based work to understand the role of the GM in TTRPG play (Author 2). Using this synthesis, we present findings about both similarities and conflicts between these experiences and point towards other under-researched domains that might similarly inform game design practice. Using both our work and the emerging framework of fake and fictional games in games studies (Gualeni & Fassone 2022; Van de Mosselaer 2025) we highlight two related fields that could be considered through a similar lens: stage magic and improv theatre. We argue that both feature scripted narrative and productive audience interaction, with stage magic leaning on the scripted outcomes and improv leaning on productive audience interaction.

With this talk we aim to present our ongoing work and receive feedback from the British DiGRA community. Additionally, we seek to animate a discussion among attendees to consider the implications of exploring experiences that are peripheral to traditional game design, and to collaboratively discuss other adjacent fields and domains that may share a similar linkage with more traditional game design theory.

Item Type:	Conference Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	game design, tabletop games, wrestling
Subjects:	Computing & Data Science > Game Design
Department:	Games Academy
Depositing User:	Che Wilbraham
Date Deposited:	17 Sep 2026 10:20
Last Modified:	17 Sep 2026 10:20
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/6573

View Record (staff only)