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What is *worldbuilding* for?
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7346173" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>One thing that should be reiterated here in this excellent essay is that there IS NO CAUSAL PROCESS WITHIN THE FICTION. The fact is no such person as Sherlock Holmes, no person with characteristics similar to him, can exist in the real world. This isn't even limited by just ordinary physical constraints (IE nobody can focus their attention well enough or remember things so reliably as to perform the feats attributed to him). It extends to LOGICAL POSSIBILITY as well, fiction need not even abide by the basic tenants of logic. Things can both exist and not exist, be in two places at once, have mutually exclusive characteristics, etc. within fiction. Not only that, but this HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. Mostly we don't notice. We suspend disbelief and we simply accept the fiction's conceits as given.</p><p></p><p>There's nothing remarkable about this when we're talking about a fixed passive form of story where the reader simply participates by reading and imagining what is told by the author. However, when we get into RPG THEORY then its VERY VERY IMPORTANT to understand this! What it means is that the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS is who, by rule/convention/whatever, is able to assert elements of the fiction. There is no 'fictional causation', it doesn't exist, it is, at best, a convention to pretend that it exists, and that only certain participants are bound by it. It is this convention, the practice of RPG game play, which is the subject of RPG game theory, which is what we are discussing here. </p><p></p><p>Every time people talk about what is 'in the fiction' except as it pertains to how they will relate it to play procedures, is just not significant. What is significant is 'what are those procedures and how do they work?' In particular how does pre-authoring content work, why is it done, and what effect does it have on play processes? (since that was the question of the OP).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7346173, member: 82106"] One thing that should be reiterated here in this excellent essay is that there IS NO CAUSAL PROCESS WITHIN THE FICTION. The fact is no such person as Sherlock Holmes, no person with characteristics similar to him, can exist in the real world. This isn't even limited by just ordinary physical constraints (IE nobody can focus their attention well enough or remember things so reliably as to perform the feats attributed to him). It extends to LOGICAL POSSIBILITY as well, fiction need not even abide by the basic tenants of logic. Things can both exist and not exist, be in two places at once, have mutually exclusive characteristics, etc. within fiction. Not only that, but this HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. Mostly we don't notice. We suspend disbelief and we simply accept the fiction's conceits as given. There's nothing remarkable about this when we're talking about a fixed passive form of story where the reader simply participates by reading and imagining what is told by the author. However, when we get into RPG THEORY then its VERY VERY IMPORTANT to understand this! What it means is that the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS is who, by rule/convention/whatever, is able to assert elements of the fiction. There is no 'fictional causation', it doesn't exist, it is, at best, a convention to pretend that it exists, and that only certain participants are bound by it. It is this convention, the practice of RPG game play, which is the subject of RPG game theory, which is what we are discussing here. Every time people talk about what is 'in the fiction' except as it pertains to how they will relate it to play procedures, is just not significant. What is significant is 'what are those procedures and how do they work?' In particular how does pre-authoring content work, why is it done, and what effect does it have on play processes? (since that was the question of the OP). [/QUOTE]
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