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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8937783" data-attributes="member: 71699">Something that interests me is the question of whether it is an RPG (as opposed to a G)?In another thread about the ontology of RPGs, is was suggested that &quot;at the heart of RPGing is shared imagination.&quot; That may be at the heart of RPG, but it is not uniquely distinctive of RPG as there are many possibilities for shared imagination. Contextual discussion provided that &quot;In an RPG, this [optionality and epiphenomenality of imagination] is not the case. The fiction matters.&quot; And &quot;players contribute to the fiction first-and-foremost by saying what it is that their characters do.&quot;Referring to the theory of fictional positioning, which places fictional positioning as the distinct technical feature seprating RPGs from Gs, I modified or expanded on that suggestion to say that RPGs are distinctly characterised by<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>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">a linkage from fictional position (and thus the fiction) to the regulatory and constitutive rules</li>
</ol>This says that the &quot;fiction&quot; at the heart of RPG must be understood as draft and revision (a game in play) rather than final product (e.g. a novel or film.) There must be fiction and system, and arrows between them. None of this is new or contentious so far as I know (although I am giving only a superficial picture.)In avoiding &quot;shared&quot;, I aimed for a definition that included &quot;Ironsworn&quot;, but then it struck me to ask &quot;must the drafting and revising be distributed in any particular way either spatially or temporally. And that is what led us here. Where this might lead could be to abolish &quot;shared&quot; from the picture, and to say something like &quot;at the heart of RPGing is a fiction that the players will continuously draft and revise.&quot;(Perhaps &quot;fiction&quot; needs to be &quot;fictional-state&quot; or &quot;fictional-position&quot;? Note that &quot;a&quot; implies &quot;one&quot;... but that too isn't quite right.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 8937783, member: 71699"] Something that interests me is the question of whether it is an RPG (as opposed to a G)? In another thread about the ontology of RPGs, is was suggested that "[I]at the heart of RPGing is shared imagination[/I]." That may be at the heart of RPG, but it is not uniquely distinctive of RPG as there are many possibilities for shared imagination. Contextual discussion provided that "[I]In an RPG, this [/I][optionality and epiphenomenality of imagination] [I]is not the case.[/I] [B]The fiction matters.[/B]" And "[I]players contribute to the fiction first-and-foremost by saying what it is that their characters do.[/I]" Referring to the theory of fictional positioning, which places fictional positioning as the distinct technical feature seprating RPGs from Gs, I modified or expanded on that suggestion to say that RPGs are distinctly characterised by [LIST=1] [*]ongoing authorship of common fiction, through a continuous process of drafting and revising, that all participate in [*]regulatory and constitutive rules [*]a linkage from fictional position (and thus the fiction) to the regulatory and constitutive rules [/LIST] This says that the "fiction" at the heart of RPG must be understood as draft and revision (a game in play) rather than final product (e.g. a novel or film.) There must be fiction and system, and arrows between them. None of this is new or contentious so far as I know (although I am giving only a superficial picture.) In avoiding "shared", I aimed for a definition that included "[I]Ironsworn[/I]", but then it struck me to ask "must the drafting and revising be distributed in any particular way either spatially or [I]temporally[/I]. And that is what led us here. Where this might lead could be to abolish "shared" from the picture, and to say something like "[I]at the heart of RPGing is a [B]fiction[/B] that the players will continuously draft and revise[/I]." (Perhaps "fiction" needs to be "fictional-state" or "fictional-position"? Note that "a" implies "one"... but that too isn't quite right.) [/QUOTE]

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