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Is RPGing a *literary* endeavour?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7605038" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Well tell me what you mean by <em>performance</em>, then.</p><p></p><p>What do you mean by the <em>performance</em> of a character revealing the character to be (say) a dwarf?</p><p></p><p></p><p>Who do you have conversations with?</p><p></p><p>In the conversations I have, only rarely is the purpose to convey information (in the way that eg a newspaper or an encyclopedia does that). Typically the purpose is to generate emotional responses - to affirm friendships, to support someone who's upset, to share in someone else's happiness, etc.</p><p></p><p>When I ask someone "How're you doing?" or when I say "It's rainy outside, isn't it!" I'm not looking for information.</p><p></p><p>Again, this is very strange to me. It seems a completely distorted account of human interaction.</p><p></p><p>One important reason I converse with people is because it is pleasant. But it's not pleasant because of any <em>performance</em>. I generally prefer sincerity to performance in conversation.</p><p></p><p>At this point I don't know what you mean by "presentation".</p><p></p><p>The most concrete examples you've given are of token design and map design - but those are exactly the sorts of things that I am denying are central to RPGing.</p><p></p><p>In the context of playing a PC, I don't know what you have in mind. I've referred to (what I regard as) the centrality of action declaration, but you've not engaged with that, nor said what you think is involved in presentation here. </p><p></p><p>What you're arguing here is that my claim is self-contradictory. I don't agree.</p><p></p><p>If you were correct, then <em>all conversation</em> must involve presentation/performance. But self-evidently it doesn't: there's a real difference between conversation as performance or artifice (the salon) and ordinary, sincere conversation.</p><p></p><p>So, in the end, the content isn't the only reason you enjoy the game. The presentation matters just as much.</p><p></p><p>Why should the GM be trying to evoke the player's feeling by virtue of intonation?</p><p></p><p>If I tell you - the real person - that I've discovered something about your ancestry, you're likely to be excited about it whether or not I have a drum-roll lead-up to my big reveal. It's exciting because <em>it's something you care about</em>, not because <em>it's something in respect of which I'm evoking feelings via my performance</em>.</p><p></p><p>If the only reason that RPG players care about a situation is because the GM has "sold" it to them like a film director, then I think that something is going wrong. As I said upthread, I would advise that GM to work on his/her situations, not on his/her soundtrack.</p><p></p><p>Well I think I might see a difference, but it may be a different one from what you're seeing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7605038, member: 42582"] Well tell me what you mean by [I]performance[/I], then. What do you mean by the [I]performance[/I] of a character revealing the character to be (say) a dwarf? Who do you have conversations with? In the conversations I have, only rarely is the purpose to convey information (in the way that eg a newspaper or an encyclopedia does that). Typically the purpose is to generate emotional responses - to affirm friendships, to support someone who's upset, to share in someone else's happiness, etc. When I ask someone "How're you doing?" or when I say "It's rainy outside, isn't it!" I'm not looking for information. Again, this is very strange to me. It seems a completely distorted account of human interaction. One important reason I converse with people is because it is pleasant. But it's not pleasant because of any [I]performance[/I]. I generally prefer sincerity to performance in conversation. At this point I don't know what you mean by "presentation". The most concrete examples you've given are of token design and map design - but those are exactly the sorts of things that I am denying are central to RPGing. In the context of playing a PC, I don't know what you have in mind. I've referred to (what I regard as) the centrality of action declaration, but you've not engaged with that, nor said what you think is involved in presentation here. What you're arguing here is that my claim is self-contradictory. I don't agree. If you were correct, then [I]all conversation[/I] must involve presentation/performance. But self-evidently it doesn't: there's a real difference between conversation as performance or artifice (the salon) and ordinary, sincere conversation. So, in the end, the content isn't the only reason you enjoy the game. The presentation matters just as much. Why should the GM be trying to evoke the player's feeling by virtue of intonation? If I tell you - the real person - that I've discovered something about your ancestry, you're likely to be excited about it whether or not I have a drum-roll lead-up to my big reveal. It's exciting because [I]it's something you care about[/I], not because [I]it's something in respect of which I'm evoking feelings via my performance[/I]. If the only reason that RPG players care about a situation is because the GM has "sold" it to them like a film director, then I think that something is going wrong. As I said upthread, I would advise that GM to work on his/her situations, not on his/her soundtrack. Well I think I might see a difference, but it may be a different one from what you're seeing. [/QUOTE]
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