Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6606228" data-attributes="member: 177">Problem:&nbsp; &quot;someone can always die&quot; is not necessarily what makes the situation high stakes. The problem here is that &quot;high stakes&quot; is a gambling term, where there's usually only one thing at stake:&nbsp; money.&nbsp; The only question is how much money is at stake.&nbsp; And there's this idea that the person who is willing to bet more of that one stake is somehow more badass a gambler.&nbsp; And, lastly, we get the idea that &quot;character life/death&quot; is the ultimate level of this stake, and has the same value for everybody.When, really, that's not the situation at all.The stake at hand is not Hit Points, necessarily.&nbsp; It is, &quot;what the player cares about,&quot; which may or may not be hit points.&nbsp; And, the character as a continuing thing may *not* have the same value for all people, making the risk of the character a much higher stake for some than for others.&nbsp; And, in the meantime, with all this focus on whether the character lives, we may miss the opportunity to make stakes out of other things the player cares about.And that is all assuming that &quot;threat to a stake&quot; is really the desired way to get a player to feel something.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6606228, member: 177"] Problem: "someone can always die" is not necessarily what makes the situation high stakes. The problem here is that "high stakes" is a gambling term, where there's usually only one thing at stake: money. The only question is how much money is at stake. And there's this idea that the person who is willing to bet more of that one stake is somehow more badass a gambler. And, lastly, we get the idea that "character life/death" is the ultimate level of this stake, and has the same value for everybody. When, really, that's not the situation at all. The stake at hand is not Hit Points, necessarily. It is, "what the player cares about," which may or may not be hit points. And, the character as a continuing thing may *not* have the same value for all people, making the risk of the character a much higher stake for some than for others. And, in the meantime, with all this focus on whether the character lives, we may miss the opportunity to make stakes out of other things the player cares about. And that is all assuming that "threat to a stake" is really the desired way to get a player to feel something. [/QUOTE]

Verification