Is it wrong for a game to have an agenda?

[Umbran]

The game is an entertainment. If, overall, the agenda gets in the way of the entertainment, then the agenda is bad. If the agenda supports entertainment, then it is good.

As an example - Paranoia is a game with an agenda. Not a real-world one, but it has many elements the GM is supposed to enforce, whether the players like it or not. Luckily for the game, on thew whole people find this fun and refreshing in this case.

I dunno how your ooze agenda would play out among gamers. Make it interesting enough, and it'll probably play well.

I want to use the setting to get people to understand and treat oozes better both in game and real life.

If aned when I meet a sentient being in the real world that is more than metaphorically ooze-like, I'll try to keep in mind how it should be treated.

 

[jerichothebard]

Is it wrong for a game to have an agenda? No, not in my opinion. But remember that that will limit your audience, which equals limiting your sales.

jtb


Out of curiousity, why do you ask?

 

[Crothian]

Alright, then. In all seriousness, if the agenda is in-game and makes sense for the game, then I certainly have no problem with it. Besides, it sounds like fun!

It will make perfect sense in game, but it also might mirror the real world plight that Oozes have in our own world. My goal would be to draw on parallels to prove to people that oozes need to be treated better.

 

[Crothian]

Is it wrong for a game to have an agenda? No, not in my opinion. But remember that that will limit your audience, which equals limiting your sales.

TRue, but in reality there is no such book or setting. It is an exericeis in discussing agendas in role playing.

Out of curiousity, why do you ask?

Because at times it comes up about specific RPGs with claimed agendas or actuall ones. So, I just wanted to see what peoples responses to agendas in gernal where. Also, I'm fairly certain that this topic has never actually come up in the many years of EN World so it is freash and different. Just like Oozes

 

[Faraer]

If you're interested in oozes, want to help oozes, and want people to experience them and form ideas about them, then allegory and propaganda are primitive, inefficient, possibly counterproductive methods.

If you love oozes, your game that exalts them will be more vivid and coherent than one which has no view on oozes or one opposed to yours.

All games and settings are full to bursting with just such implicit positions; they can't be avoided. You should make explicit your intent re oozes if you think it will make the game easier to run effectively for the GM, or if you think there's a chance your intentions could be mistaken.

Since I prefer to use existing settings or create my own, rather than heavily modify or mix 'n' match, I would tend to avoid your ooze-oriented game if it didn't complement my own thoughts on oozes, since there are more RPG settings I'm interested in than I have time and opportunities to play in.

If any of the actual or potential players are, know or possess oozes, these answers might vary.

 

[sfedi]

If I agree with the agenda, then it's ok with me.
Otherwise, I could range from tolerance to aberrate.

 

[Mallus]

Interesting question.

The agenda wouldn't bother me. So long as the system had components I considered worthwhile, I'd be happy.

I frequently enjoy literature/film that has an overt agenda that I disagree with. Recent example, the SF of John C. Wright (The Golden Age, The Phoenix Exultant). I think his super-duper hi-tech libertarianism is, well, stupid. But overall think those novels are the cats pajamas...

I don't need everything I encounter to agree with me, or re-affirm my belief set. Particularly something like an RPG, which I'm free to gut for the parts I think are groovy.

 

[Crothian]

If you're interested in oozes, want to help oozes, and want people to experience them and form ideas about them, then allegory and propaganda are primitive, inefficient, possibly counterproductive methods.

Ya, but disussing ooze reform in a non gaming aspect really defeats the purpose posting on a gaming board. THe topic is more about how people feel about agendas in the RPGs then what is the best way to make someone's agnda actually happen.

 

[Crothian]

Interesting question.

Thanks, every now and again I actually come up with something interesting.

 

[Doug McCrae]

It's all down to whether the reader agrees with the agenda. I doubt anyone here would think that a roleplaying game with the agenda 'blacks are inferior to whites'* is okay.

*This game actually exists btw. I think it's called RaHoWa.