Play Is Paramount: Discuss

[Reynard]

Maybe instead of "Play is paramount" the thesis is more "Keeping play in mind will improve the ancillary stuff you do." That feels incomplete and unsatisfying.

 

[VashVet]

I agree.

If what you’re doing is working and everyone at the table is happy and having fun with the game, you’ve won.

 

[ART!]

Arguably relevant: for me, learning to play is part of the experience of playing the game. For some/many people, having to learn a game can be a deterrent to playing, or they kind of fight the learning process. I'm a slow learner of new games, but I like the process of learning - I guess because I don't see much separation between learning and playing? Does that make sense?

 

[soviet]

I'm pretty sure I agree with the OP, but it's so vague I'm not really sure what I agreeing with. What is this positioned against?

I imagine that people who do hundreds of hours of solo worldbuilding, for example, will say that it adds depth to the game and therefore adds to the experience of play.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

@SlyFlourish talked on an episode recently about how RPGs are actually multiple overlapping hobbies.

• Playing the game is one hobby
• Reading RPG books is a hobby
• Collecting RPG stuff is a hobby
• Painting miniatures is a hobby
• Creating RPG worlds is a hobby
• Creating and publishing RPG content is a hobby for most of the people who do it
• Arguing about RPGs online is a hobby
• Watching/listening to actual plays is a hobby

I'm with you, @Reynard, in that playing is the most important of those hobbies to me, but I also think that Mike's point -- which honestly hadn't occurred to me until I heard it phrased the way he did -- that those other parallel and overlapping hobbies have equal value to those who enjoy them is worth remembering.

A large part of that list isn't of any interest to me, but conversely, I'm sure the Warhammer and Reaper minis enthusiasts would find a lot of what I do to be a boring waste of time for them.

The play may be the thing, but it's not the only thing.

That said, it'd be great to have products labelled in some fashion as whether they're play-first or reader-first, etc. I find some of the wall of text books out there unmanageable at the table, but conversely, there are readers who prefer that to a more spare format, since the reading is the thing for them.

 

[Reynard]

Arguably relevant: for me, learning to play is part of the experience of playing the game. For some/many people, having to learn a game can be a deterrent to playing, or they kind of fight the learning process. I'm a slow learner of new games, but I like the process of learning - I guess because I don't see much separation between learning and playing? Does that make sense?

I am not sure how common an experience that is, but I will say that a well designed game can bring those things closer together. Or a really good quickstart/beginner box.

 

[Deset Gled]

"Keeping play in mind will improve the ancillary stuff you do."

What if we flip the question and ask things from the other side.

Assume "play is paramount". How does the game accommodate for all the things that aren't play? How much does the game accommodate for things that aren't play? How can a game encourage things that aren't play without detracting from play?

 

[soviet]

I am not sure how common an experience that is, but I will say that a well designed game can bring those things closer together. Or a really good quickstart/beginner box.

Yeah. A lot of RPGs do a very bad job of explaining how you play, why you play (what's fun about it?), and why the rules are the way they are (use this lever when you want to have X happen, use this one for Y).

 

[Fenris-77]

Yeah. A lot of RPGs do a very bad job of explaining how you play, why you play (what's fun about it?), and why the rules are the way they are (use this lever when you want to have X happen, use this one for Y).

When you say 'a lot' I assume you mean 'most'.

 

[soviet]

When you say 'a lot' I assume you mean 'most'.

Why would you assume I meant something I didn't say? Do you think my keyboard is missing some letters?