Why Jargon is Bad, and Some Modern Resources for RPG Theory

[overgeeked]

Thing is, while there's some high-grade jargon that gets chucked around in places like this, there's also jargon and terms that have become so baked-in that we don't even think about them any more.

Like, if you'd never heard of the game what would "saving throw" mean to you? Or "hit dice*"? Or "dungeon master"?

* - never mind the definition of this one has morphed through the various editions.

See the various uses of “level”.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I understand scene framing. But not the rest. They’re all jargon. Some people will know what they mean but not others. Assuming everyone knows what they mean and not explaining them is gatekeeping. Which, again, is the problem with over use of jargon.

It’s not gatekeeping. It’s no more gatekeeping than railroad, hit dice, challenge rating, sandbox, and player agency are.

No one’s stopping you from learning these terms. In fact, if you asked what they meant, most folks would explain.

Honestly, “scene framing” was something that was used a lot and I wasn’t sure what it meant. I had an idea, but I wasn't sure. I didn’t know for sure what people meant until I asked.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Thing is, while there's some high-grade jargon that gets chucked around in places like this, there's also jargon and terms that have become so baked-in that we don't even think about them any more.

Like, if you'd never heard of the game what would "saving throw" mean to you? Or "hit dice*"? Or "dungeon master"?

* - never mind the definition of this one has morphed through the various editions.

That’s exactly right. It’s all jargon.

Imagine how much harder conversations would be around here if you were told you can’t use the terms “saving throw” or “hit dice” and the like.

Natural language only, please, or else you’re gatekeeping!

 

[overgeeked]

It’s not gatekeeping. It’s no more gatekeeping than railroad, hit dice, challenge rating, sandbox, and player agency are.

No one’s stopping you from learning these terms. In fact, if you asked what they meant, most folks would explain.

Honestly, “scene framing” was something that was used a lot and I wasn’t sure what it meant. I had an idea, but I wasn't sure. I didn’t know for sure what people meant until I asked.

There’s a whole thread for explaining all this jargon. Hit it up. Link in the OP. I'm sure a lot more than me would appreciate an explanation.

 

[niklinna]

I understand scene framing. But not the rest. They’re all jargon. Some people will know what they mean but not others. Assuming everyone knows what they mean and not explaining them is gatekeeping. Which, again, is the problem with over use of jargon.

They're jargon to you.

"Hit points", "class", and "level" are all jargon too. To somebody. Do you explain what they mean at the beginning of every post? Why not?

@Campbell was clearly throwing out those terms as examples, because we aren't actually talking about those things. But if he were actually talking about those things, based on my interactions with him, I'm pretty confident he would either establish the context (this discussion is about Game X and its terminology) or he would explain the terms as needed.

That some people do toss subculture or personal terms around, I do not dispute, but something else is going on here in the blanket objection to jargon as "any term I personally am not familiar with".

 

[Composer99]

If you're not familiar with those folklores, and someone just starts spinning a story, it's serving the same purpose that people are attributing to jargon. Jargon is jargon for "new vocabulary." Sometimes they catch on and enter wide usage and stop being jargon. But, for the purposes here, the argument that one thing that is liked is vocabulary and this other things than should be shunned is jargon is just special pleading.

Inventing a denotation for "jargon" is just persuasive definition. If you're inventing denotations of words out of whole cloth in order to win arguments, you're engaged in exactly the same behaviour you're attempting to call out - playing at linguistic rhetorical shenanigans.

I don't think anyone here is going to say that myocardial infarction as a term "should be shunned", but frankly, it's unquestionably jargon according to one standardised denotation of the term.

Edit to add: If, by your lights, it's hypocritical to privilege D&D-related jargon (as terms such as Armour Class, saving throw, or Hit Dice among others indubitably are) over jargon from other RPGs or conceptions of RPG theory, and therefore wish to call such behaviour out, that's well and good in and of itself - although one would think D&D-related jargon is only to be expected in a D&D-specific subforum, unlike jargon from other games (*). But there's no call to dilute the meaning of jargon to the point of insensibility.

(*) Here I have to say that this topic might have been better placed in the TTRPGs General subforum, and in fact might be best off moved there?

 

[overgeeked]

That’s exactly right. It’s all jargon.

Imagine how much harder conversations would be around here if you were told you can’t use the terms “saving throw” or “hit dice” and the like.

Natural language only, please, or else you’re gatekeeping!

Let’s see if we can find the substantive diiference between say “bang” and “saving throw”. Oh, right. One is explicitly defined in the single most popular RPG franchise of all time while the other is…from where? Defined how?

 

[hawkeyefan]

Let’s see if we can find the substantive diiference between say “bang” and “saving throw”. Oh, right. One is explicitly defined in the single most popular RPG franchise of all time while the other is…from where? Defined how?

Why does it matter?

You’re basically saying that one set of jargon is okay because it’s from D&D and another is bad because it’s from a game you don’t know.

And yet you’re concerned about gatekeeping? Come on, man.

 

[overgeeked]

They're jargon to you.

"Hit points", "class", and "level" are all jargon too. To somebody. Do you explain what they mean at the beginning of every post? Why not?

@Campbell was clearly throwing out those terms as examples, because we aren't actually talking about those things. But if he were actually talking about those things, based on my interactions with him, I'm pretty confident he would either establish the context (this discussion is about Game X and its terminology) or he would explain the terms as needed.

That some people do toss subculture or personal terms around, I do not dispute, but something else is going on here in the blanket objection to jargon as "any term I personally am not familiar with".

Terms from indie games or some indie designers blog that maybe a hundred people have ever even read compared to terms used fairly consistently for the last 50 years by the single most popular RPG franchise in history. It’s a wildly safer assumption that people here know what a saving throw is than a bang. Still no clue what that one means.

 

[niklinna]

Let’s see if we can find the substantive diiference between say “bang” and “saving throw”. Oh, right. One is explicitly defined in the single most popular RPG franchise of all time while the other is…from where? Defined how?

Could you maybe ask out a motivation of genuine curiosity instead of a clear motive to insult a niche game for not being popular?