Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9002683" data-attributes="member: 42582">How can they?I don't think there is any such state of affairs as a group of people engaged in the social pastime of RPGing putting rule N in force for themselves.To begin with, N is a very improbable rule. So let me coin a new rule, P: We will stick to the rules of this game, as written.A group of people can agree to P, and it seems plausible that P entails N. In some context that agreement can be made binding (eg a tournament). In others it probably can't (eg social play). We might therefore say that, in the tournament, N has been put in force. But not by the participants without mediation - a tournament is a type of institution, and it is the institution that establishes the context for the agreement being binding.[USER=6801845]@Oofta[/USER]'s public/&quot;pick-up&quot; game also has an institutional dimension, which lends weight to the authority of the GM that he attests to being part of that game.At least as I have experienced RPGing with friends, there is no comparable institutional context as there is in a tournament or a pick-up game. The group can start playing by some rules, and they can keep doing so, but nothing stops them varying that at any time. And why should it? It's a group of friends playing a game together!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9002683, member: 42582"] How can they? I don't think there is any such state of affairs as [I]a group of people engaged in the social pastime of RPGing putting rule N in force for themselves[/I]. To begin with, N is a very improbable rule. So let me coin a new rule, P: We will stick to the rules of this game, as written. A group of people can agree to P, and it seems plausible that P entails N. In some context that agreement can be made binding (eg a tournament). In others it probably can't (eg social play). We might therefore say that, in the tournament, N has been put in force. But not by the participants without mediation - a tournament is a type of institution, and it is the institution that establishes the context for the agreement being binding. [USER=6801845]@Oofta[/USER]'s public/"pick-up" game also has an institutional dimension, which lends weight to the authority of the GM that he attests to being part of that game. At least as I have experienced RPGing with friends, there is no comparable institutional context as there is in a tournament or a pick-up game. The group can start playing by some rules, and they can keep doing so, but nothing stops them varying that at any time. And why should it? It's a group of friends playing a game together! [/QUOTE]

Verification