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<blockquote data-quote="Guest&amp;nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8167100"><p>Personally I don't have an issue with the term, and I never had an issue with words like story being used to describe the stuff that happens. Where it came to be an issue for me was strictly in online conversation, where you would use it to mean 'stuff that happens' but someone arguing with you would use it to equivocate. I encountered this in a number of different instances. I think the one where I found it the most infuriating, was me using language or agreeing to language like RPGs are shared storytelling or about a form of storytelling, and then someone responding with a point like 'if RPGs are shared storytelling, then the mechanics should result in good stories' or 'you should run a game that tells a good story'. Neither of these are outcomes I am particularly interested in, and sort of pivots on the two or three meanings of storytelling to trick someone into agreeing with a mechanic they might not like, or rejecting a style of play they like. That said, this really is a strictly online thing. Among most people I play with, if they say 'plot' or 'story' they just mean stuff that happened in play. Online though I think this term gets wielded more forcefully. So as an example I have been in conversations about running adventures where the players fail to reach the 'final goal' or where the end result is anti-climactic (say they confront a big villain, and get lucky and cut off his head in the first round). In many of those conversations, people would use my use of 'story' and 'storytelling' to argue this isn't a good story, so therefore you should have run that scenario differently (either through making sure in the prep that your villain couldn't have his head cut off like that, or through fudging, etc).</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Guest 85555, post: 8167100"] Personally I don't have an issue with the term, and I never had an issue with words like story being used to describe the stuff that happens. Where it came to be an issue for me was strictly in online conversation, where you would use it to mean 'stuff that happens' but someone arguing with you would use it to equivocate. I encountered this in a number of different instances. I think the one where I found it the most infuriating, was me using language or agreeing to language like RPGs are shared storytelling or about a form of storytelling, and then someone responding with a point like 'if RPGs are shared storytelling, then the mechanics should result in good stories' or 'you should run a game that tells a good story'. Neither of these are outcomes I am particularly interested in, and sort of pivots on the two or three meanings of storytelling to trick someone into agreeing with a mechanic they might not like, or rejecting a style of play they like. That said, this really is a strictly online thing. Among most people I play with, if they say 'plot' or 'story' they just mean stuff that happened in play. Online though I think this term gets wielded more forcefully. So as an example I have been in conversations about running adventures where the players fail to reach the 'final goal' or where the end result is anti-climactic (say they confront a big villain, and get lucky and cut off his head in the first round). In many of those conversations, people would use my use of 'story' and 'storytelling' to argue this isn't a good story, so therefore you should have run that scenario differently (either through making sure in the prep that your villain couldn't have his head cut off like that, or through fudging, etc). [/QUOTE]

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