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With Respect to the Door and Expectations....The REAL Reason 5e Can't Unite the Base
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<blockquote data-quote="Emerikol" data-source="post: 5989285" data-attributes="member: 6698278"><p>I'm glad I read this post because perhaps I understand the disconnect now for some of you.</p><p></p><p>Some guy wrote a blog post about a set of mechanics and called it dissociative mechanics. Why'd he use the word dissociative? Well dissociative X means X causes you to lose immersion. So now I get that people keep arguing that this or that is dissociative. I realize that for some people ANYTHING could in theory be dissociative. I am talking about the specific mechanical definition that was named "dissociative mechanics". You guys are just taking it to me generically - anything that breaks immersion. Even for me there are things beyond what I'm talking about here that cause me to lose immersion. I don't like martial healing but it doesn't qualify as a dissociative mechanic until it becomes a daily or encounter power.</p><p></p><p>So here is the confusion. I wrote my own blog on WOTC website called metagame dissonance. Maybe that would be a better title for specifically what I'm talking about. Other people have used the term plot coupon. None of these things are pejorative to me. They are an attempt to describe a mechanic that is disliked.</p><p></p><p>Here are some examples that perhaps will help...</p><p>1. Non-magical daily powers.</p><p>2. Non-magical encounter powers (stamina systems though could work)</p><p>3. Action Points (as defined in D&D 4e)</p><p>4. Fate Points</p><p>5. Luck Points</p><p>6. Hero Points</p><p></p><p>All of the above have things in common. They involve the Player choosing something for his character that the character would be unaware of. </p><p></p><p>These things are not plot coupons</p><p>1. Magical daily powers - because magic is defined as an inworld concept.</p><p>2. Magical encounter powers - ditto</p><p>3. Hit points - a character is aware of his overall well being which is the abstract concept of hit points. I agree though that this abstraction could dissociate some people but it would be the mechanic I'm talking about. It's not a plot coupon.</p><p>4. Armor Class - Again an abstraction. The armor probably is getting hit in some cases but no damage is done and that is counted as a miss. The character and the player though are both thinking the same things.</p><p></p><p></p><p>So maybe this will help our discussion. I just started using the dissociative mechanics term because that guy wrote his blog post long before I ever even started thinking about it. But if metagame dissonance or plot coupon is a better descriptor then I'm for it. I am definitely just wanting a name on this thing we discuss so I can refer to it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emerikol, post: 5989285, member: 6698278"] I'm glad I read this post because perhaps I understand the disconnect now for some of you. Some guy wrote a blog post about a set of mechanics and called it dissociative mechanics. Why'd he use the word dissociative? Well dissociative X means X causes you to lose immersion. So now I get that people keep arguing that this or that is dissociative. I realize that for some people ANYTHING could in theory be dissociative. I am talking about the specific mechanical definition that was named "dissociative mechanics". You guys are just taking it to me generically - anything that breaks immersion. Even for me there are things beyond what I'm talking about here that cause me to lose immersion. I don't like martial healing but it doesn't qualify as a dissociative mechanic until it becomes a daily or encounter power. So here is the confusion. I wrote my own blog on WOTC website called metagame dissonance. Maybe that would be a better title for specifically what I'm talking about. Other people have used the term plot coupon. None of these things are pejorative to me. They are an attempt to describe a mechanic that is disliked. Here are some examples that perhaps will help... 1. Non-magical daily powers. 2. Non-magical encounter powers (stamina systems though could work) 3. Action Points (as defined in D&D 4e) 4. Fate Points 5. Luck Points 6. Hero Points All of the above have things in common. They involve the Player choosing something for his character that the character would be unaware of. These things are not plot coupons 1. Magical daily powers - because magic is defined as an inworld concept. 2. Magical encounter powers - ditto 3. Hit points - a character is aware of his overall well being which is the abstract concept of hit points. I agree though that this abstraction could dissociate some people but it would be the mechanic I'm talking about. It's not a plot coupon. 4. Armor Class - Again an abstraction. The armor probably is getting hit in some cases but no damage is done and that is counted as a miss. The character and the player though are both thinking the same things. So maybe this will help our discussion. I just started using the dissociative mechanics term because that guy wrote his blog post long before I ever even started thinking about it. But if metagame dissonance or plot coupon is a better descriptor then I'm for it. I am definitely just wanting a name on this thing we discuss so I can refer to it. [/QUOTE]
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