FormerlyHemlock
Hero
There are RPGs where player authorship is built in; I think the Margaret Weis RPGs allow for this as. Mutants & Masterminds also has "Edit Scene" as a player use for hero points. It don't believe it reduces immersion at all, rather it increases it as players then interact with the game world more than they otherwise would.
I think you guys are using the word "immersion" differently. When you say it increases immersion, you're saying that it increases player engagement: he gets more excited, more invested in the scene. On the other hand, when Imaro/BryanD/et al. talk about "character immersion" I believe they are talking about what is often called "associated mechanics".
I'm going to quote from a well-known treatise on RPGs and dissociated mechanics (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17231/roleplaying-games/dissociated-mechanics-a-brief-primer):
TheAlexandrian said:If the player’s decision can be directly equated to a decision made by the character, then the mechanic is associated. If it cannot be directly equated, then it is dissociated.
For example, consider a football game in which a character has the One-Handed Catch ability: Once per game they can make an amazing one-handed catch, granting them a +4 bonus to that catch attempt.
The mechanic is dissociated because the decision made by the player cannot be equated to a decision made by the character. No player, after making an amazing one-handed catch, thinks to themselves, “Wow! I won’t be able to do that again until the next game!” Nor do they think to themselves, “I better not try to catch this ball one-handed, because if I do I won’t be able to make any more one-handed catches today.”
On the other hand, when a player decides to cast a fireball spell that decision is directly equated to the character’s decision to cast a fireball. (The character, like the player, knows that they have only prepared a single fireball spell. So the decision to expend that limited resource – and the consequences for doing so – are understood by both character and player.)
It is possible to roleplay in any game (you can play chess and tell yourself a story about white knights conquering black castles) but there's something special about associated mechanics:
It’s very tempting to see all of this in a purely negative light: As if to say, “Dissociated mechanics get in the way of roleplaying and associated mechanics don’t.” But it’s actually more meaningful than that: The act of using an associated mechanic is the act of playing a role.
Because the mechanic for a fireball spell is associated with the game world, when you make the decision to cast a fireball spell you are making that decision as if you were your character. In making the mechanical decision you are required to roleplay (because that mechanical decision is directly associated to the character’s decision). You may not do it well. You’re not going to win a Tony Award for it. But in using the mechanics of a roleplaying game, you are inherently playing a role.
Hopefully that's useful to illuminate the terms of the current debate.