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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7649667" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I don't think I follow all this column.</p><p></p><p>Loss aversion, as studied by economists and psychologists, pertains to people's preferences. It is "irrational" insofar as people make choices that actually reduce expected utility (though it is questionable whether maximising exected utility, as opposed to - say - maximising the minimum outcome - is always rational).</p><p></p><p>It's not simple to explain how playing an RPG contributes to utility, but presumably that is via pleasurable experiences that combine emotion, intellect, sociality, etc.</p><p></p><p>Given that no one is <em>forced</em> to play RPGs, nor is the typical ENworlder being paid to play, I assume that all RPGers are acting on an expectation that playing will deliver more utility than not playing. An instance of "loss aversion" in this context might be, for instance, sticking to a known game with a known group, rather than trying a well-reviewed new game with a clearly dynamic and high-energy new group, on the "better the devil you know" principle.</p><p></p><p>But looking at features of mechanical design seem pretty orthogonal to this. Some people like character-centred, story-now play - and in that sort of play, "fail forward" is the norm in action resolution and typically PC death will not occur in an unforseeable, non-dramatic way. Others (eg [MENTION=6688858]Libramarian[/MENTION] on these boards as a particularly articlute advocate) prefer overtly gamist play in which the thrill of losing your PC, or all your treasure, and of outwitting the GM, is part of the pleasure of play.</p><p></p><p>I don't think the economic analysis of loss-aversion has much light to shed on the differences of preference, anymore than it will tell us why some people prefer Die Hard to Casablanca, and others vice versa.</p><p></p><p><em>Perhaps</em> the psychological analysis has more to say, if it can tell us something about the complex sorts of identification, projection and displacement that are involved in RPGing. But personally I'm not sure that general and abstract principles of psyhchology have much to tell us about why one person enjoys poker, another chess, another a cooperative game like Forbidden Island, and another doesn't like games at all but enjoys writing music or poetry. Likewise for RPGing preferences, in my view.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7649667, member: 42582"] I don't think I follow all this column. Loss aversion, as studied by economists and psychologists, pertains to people's preferences. It is "irrational" insofar as people make choices that actually reduce expected utility (though it is questionable whether maximising exected utility, as opposed to - say - maximising the minimum outcome - is always rational). It's not simple to explain how playing an RPG contributes to utility, but presumably that is via pleasurable experiences that combine emotion, intellect, sociality, etc. Given that no one is [I]forced[/I] to play RPGs, nor is the typical ENworlder being paid to play, I assume that all RPGers are acting on an expectation that playing will deliver more utility than not playing. An instance of "loss aversion" in this context might be, for instance, sticking to a known game with a known group, rather than trying a well-reviewed new game with a clearly dynamic and high-energy new group, on the "better the devil you know" principle. But looking at features of mechanical design seem pretty orthogonal to this. Some people like character-centred, story-now play - and in that sort of play, "fail forward" is the norm in action resolution and typically PC death will not occur in an unforseeable, non-dramatic way. Others (eg [MENTION=6688858]Libramarian[/MENTION] on these boards as a particularly articlute advocate) prefer overtly gamist play in which the thrill of losing your PC, or all your treasure, and of outwitting the GM, is part of the pleasure of play. I don't think the economic analysis of loss-aversion has much light to shed on the differences of preference, anymore than it will tell us why some people prefer Die Hard to Casablanca, and others vice versa. [I]Perhaps[/I] the psychological analysis has more to say, if it can tell us something about the complex sorts of identification, projection and displacement that are involved in RPGing. But personally I'm not sure that general and abstract principles of psyhchology have much to tell us about why one person enjoys poker, another chess, another a cooperative game like Forbidden Island, and another doesn't like games at all but enjoys writing music or poetry. Likewise for RPGing preferences, in my view. [/QUOTE]
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