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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gardens &amp; Goblins" data-source="post: 7066209" data-attributes="member: 6846794">Emphasis is obviously mine.''..as long as kids have been playing cops and robbers or cowboys and indians, they've been playing roleplaying games.''We're all 'game designers' by and large. We've all had to entertain ourselves at some point during our lives. With practice, testing and development, we made some pretty great games - for an audience of one, that being ourselves.Approaching game design from a macro perspective leads us with generic experiences - we aim to capture as much of an audience as possible, which ultimately means lumping folks together under 'target groups' and other all-encompassing labels. We deal in trends, fads and popularity in order to generate appeal. Sure, there is a challenge to making a super popular game and it's certainly an area of research that I find fascinating, much akin to those folks that build and develop the latest boy/girl band pop sensation, or the latest Hollywood Summer Blockbuster.There seems to be a modern mentality that game design means, 'making a game for everyone', which is, much like any other form of entertainment, simply not possible. Especially with D&D, we're given the tools and advice to go forth and entertain ourselves. With time, others may join us in our play where upon we may have to modify our game design to their tastes. And if we can do this while keeping things fun for ourselves, great! If not, then we either have to go play a different game - perhaps they'll go on to make a game we find fun to play. After all, how many people are we playing with at a given time? How many people are we having fun with? When we step back from our current culture of game design that predominately focuses on 'mass appeal', where and when have we had the most fun? For me at least, its been with a small group of people doing something we enjoy - be it on the many MMOs I've been with or kicking a ball around.While academia is slowly catching up to game design as a formal field of research, I've always maintained that a good game designer is a good people person - they watch, study and try to understand people first and foremost. A game designer is, at the heart of it, an entertainer and without knowing their audience a prospective game designer will not get far. And they're making games for themselves - because heck, if we're not having fun, why should we expect anyone else to? This starts with learning about ourselves - what do we find fun. How do we find fun. Where do we find fun and so on. Then, we can compare our 'funning*' to that of others. At this stage, with our small audience of perhaps a single friend at the most, mistakes are made, rules and systems need to be checked and changed - testing, development - until everyone involved is having fun. I'm sure folks out there with siblings will be able to relate - you make a game for you, you make a game for your brother/sister(s). Sure, you might need to tweak the rules, modify the experience here and there but hey, you'll get to where you're both having fun. Likewise, if you've ever gamed with the same group/table for a good few years you'll learn what they love/like, hate, want and so forth. Sometimes we take this for granted, assuming how we play is, 'the norm'. Thankfully, this is challenged as soon as a newcomer unfamiliar with the group/table comes along, with an outsiders view and expectations, and all those little tweaks and adjustments, be it actual mechanical or something more ephemeral - come to light.Personally, this is why I love pen & paper rpgs. Compared to board games and computer games, the development cycles can by lightning fast, empowering us to really design, test and develop for our own fun and that of those we wish to consider. And all of this does help us teach ourselves how to design, how to to build for fun - for us and those with us, on a more personal level. I know I have, for myself and for my friends and folks that became my friends - and bless their manically hearts, they've done the same for me. We not looking to be famous or get rich - simply enjoy the medium of game design, the art of making fun[sblock]*Funning is totally a real word.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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