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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7649640" data-attributes="member: 177">Yeah, fine.  But just note that the dictionary is the *start* of a definition, not the complete thing.  Sticking strictly to a dictionary skips past the cultural context your audience lives in, where connotations lives and breeds.  I'm pretty sure your readers aren't consulting the dictionary when they read - they are consulting their heads, and their own experience of the thing.  Ignore that, and you court miscommunication.  But, I digress...No, I am not some psychic projective empath, such hat I can create emotions and feelings in my fellow human beings.  I cannot generate their sense of achievement.  I can only create situations where there are few blocks to them finding it for themselves, if they wish.  I can make the in-game results of their efforts plain in the setting, so they can compare past to present in story form.  I can be consistent and rational in my XP awards, so again they can meaningfully compare past and present, and so on.  Both of these call for some work on my part.So, do I hope to help them find a sense of achievement?  Sure!  Do I do it for them?  Heck no!Ah, you see, I don't think they are generated by the author/director/etc.  This is at the crux of advice given to me by my writing teachers:  There are three texts - what the author intended, what the author actually wrote, and what the audience absorbs.  What the audience then feels about a thing is yet one more stage removed from the author.  My feelings about a book, movie, or game are generated by *me*.  They are a product of my interaction with the material.  Now, the author can present me with material that is easy to emotionally interact with, but the emotional reaction I have is mine, not his or hers.This is why truly great authors (directors, actors, etc) are rare - because generating material that many people will find easy to have emotional reactions to is *difficult*.  Tailoring for one person you know is easy, but reaching the masses much less so.</blockquote>

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