D&D General Do you think video gamers experience existential crises over the nature of Hit Points?

[Retreater]

It isn't about the intensity of emotion. It's about the quality. Tabletop games require you to suspend disbelief in order to role-play; you have to actually believe that it could be real, in order to honestly pretend to be that person. Video games don't require you to suspend disbelief in order to appreciate their story; at least, not to anywhere near the same degree.

The exhilaration of playing through a fire-fight in third-person while you play Halo is not the same as the exhilaration of actually living through a fire-fight in first-person while you play Shadowrun. Not if you're doing it right, anyway.

I don't know how to separate the "quality" of emotion from "intensity" of emotion. A gamer experiences emotion. It can be looking at the breathtaking artistry of a lush world, getting drawn into labyrinthine plots, feeling sadness about the loss of a trusted companion. I don't see the difference.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I don't know how to separate the "quality" of emotion from "intensity" of emotion. A gamer experiences emotion. It can be looking at the breathtaking artistry of a lush world, getting drawn into labyrinthine plots, feeling sadness about the loss of a trusted companion. I don't see the difference.

If you don't understand the difference between feeling something as a player, and feeling it as the character, then that's on you.

Suffice it to say, plenty of people see the distinction, and that's why they hold their tabletop RPGs to higher standards of verisimilitude than they hold their video games.

 

[Leatherhead]

A bunch of people in this thread have never played Dwarf Fortress, and it shows.

That game would make a simulationist stare with mouth agape at the level of simulation it puts on display.

 

[darjr]

The day video games suffer from existential crisis is probably going to be a bad day.

 

[Retreater]

If you don't understand the difference between feeling something as a player, and feeling it as the character, then that's on you.

Suffice it to say, plenty of people see the distinction, and that's why they hold their tabletop RPGs to higher standards of verisimilitude than they hold their video games.

Really? This is the first time I've heard of the concept. I'd love if others could chime in and share this with me if they have this experience, cause I'm seriously feeling a little weird as a human right now.
I act in community theatre. I use what's called method acting. So I use my own real emotion by tapping into my past to make a realistic performance.
I go by what I feel, not what I think an imaginary character might feel.

 

[FrogReaver]

As a former designer in the video game industry, gamers will complain (loudly and often) about every possible aspect of a game, including far less important things than hit points.

I've never once seen them complain about what hit points are though.... They may complain about not enough hp or too few or something like that.

 

[happyhermit]

... I'd love if others could chime in and share this with me if they have this experience, cause I'm seriously feeling a little weird as a human right now.
...
I go by what I feel, not what I think an imaginary character might feel.

That would get weird for me as a GM playing evil characters, at the very least. As a player especially though, a large part of why I play is to make decisions based on what the PC feels, not me.

I disagree. I've felt more emotion in the plots of well-written video games, more fear from horror games, more exhilaration in intense firefights, more satisfaction from a difficult level won - than anything I've felt in 30+ years of tabletop RPGs.

Out of curiosity, what keeps you playing ttrpgs? Socializing, improvisation? I can't often bring myself to get into video games these days (very different story not too many years ago), but it seems like they give TTRPGs a run for there money in a lot of areas (except the ones I want most these days).

 

[FrogReaver]

Really? This is the first time I've heard of the concept. I'd love if others could chime in and share this with me if they have this experience, cause I'm seriously feeling a little weird as a human right now.
I act in community theatre. I use what's called method acting. So I use my own real emotion by tapping into my past to make a realistic performance.
I go by what I feel, not what I think an imaginary character might feel.

Maybe best to sum it up this way.

The emotions of playing a character in a ttrpg tends to be different than whatever emotions you experience playing a video game.

 

[Parmandur]

No.

 

[Coroc]

What is so hard to get, on HP? They are just an abstract endurance metastat, until they reach zero, then they show actual mechanical effect. Even then you still could say you just lost consciousness, no big injuries visible.

Hit points are a stat which reflects how long a character is likely to survive a combat.

Hit points (especially their loss) are not an indicator on your PCs current physical state. It is not that you even have to bleed from a single wound just because you only have 1 HP left.

Look at the good thing about it: you can make the game suitable for all ages.

I bet all those people who think otherwise (e.g. HP down to 10% the PC sure should miss a limb or two already) never argue when magical healing giving few HP, is applied, to interrupt the death saves and put the PC back into the game that the PC technically should not look much better than before.

Otoh roleplay it all you want, describe your grisly injuries etc. no problem with that, mortal combat can look like that, it just is not absolutely required to do that.