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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8935537" data-attributes="member: 71699">To quote myself from <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-theory-thread.695207/" target="_blank">another thread</a>, I think that an RPG is that which has at least<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">ongoing authorship of common fiction, through a continuous process of drafting and revising, that all participate in</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">regulatory and constitutive rules</li> </ol>1. is mediated through the technical feature of fictional positioning. Regarding your thoughts, like others I believe 1. is distinct to RPG... it is at the heart of RPG. The distinction you make with story in video games is a good one. What I would modify or add is that I think it is the ongoing authorship that all participate in, that is at the heart of all RPGs.To the extent that story may be pre-authored in some modes of RPG, we might envision that a draft is presented which is going to be subject to ongoing revision. But the more important point is that no RPG is only that (pre-authored.) My phrasing is consciously inclusive of any value for "all" (i.e. from 1 to N.) Otherwise one could be forced to exclude Ironsworn or Thousand Year Old Vampire from RPGs.My phrasing is silent on the distribution of authorial power. I believe that is a razor that cuts between different games, and it is not especially helpful (in fact, it is confounding) to suppose that all RPGs are one game. I lean here on a <a href="https://lumpley.games/2021/08/23/a-theory-point-rpg-essentialism-rpg-exceptionalism/" target="_blank">blog post by Vincent Baker</a>. The whiffs you speak of... those folk may well be playing the game they intend to play, and that game is an RPG, but to criticise it by the standards of a different game is going to run into problems. Most likely will be hostile to and disrupt the meaning of that play for that group.</blockquote>

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