Play Is Paramount: Discuss

[soviet]

No one is arguing that the hobby is not being engaged in some way.

It’s about defining any and all engagement as “play”. Which seems to obfuscate more than anything.

Like, if I said I saw Stephen Hawking play baseball one time, I’d expect some confusion. If I clarified by saying “oh, well… he was talking about baseball, so that means he was playing” people would look at me like I was insane.

It’s just silly.

Too right it's silly. English people don't talk about baseball! Make it basketball and I'd believe you

 

[soviet]

The point of GURPS is to kill spiders.

 

[prabe]

If nobody eats the food you cooked then the whole exercise amounts to a waste of ingredients (which is one area where the cooking analogy fails; if nobody now plays the game you prepped you can always keep it and haul it out some other time).

I'd go a step further and say the point of cooking is to make food for people to eat. Exceptions such as cake-decoration competitions don't change that. (Your extended analogy isn't bad, GM prep is much less likely to go bad than prepared food is.)

 

[Maxperson]

This is why cooking probably isn’t the best metaphor. Because when we set out to cook, we’re almost always making something specific. You don’t start with beef and tortillas and rice and then somehow wind up with gnocchi.

I've not only heard many chefs say that they do this, but I, my wife, and just about everyone I know also do this. That is that we go to the fridge and look to see what is in it, including leftovers, and grab some stuff to cook with. We didn't have anything specific in mind when we started.

 

[Maxperson]

If nobody eats the food you cooked then the whole exercise amounts to a waste of ingredients (which is one area where the cooking analogy fails; if nobody now plays the game you prepped you can always keep it and haul it out some other time).

"The oldest known, well-documented fruitcake is over 145 years old, baked in 1878 by Fidelia Ford in Berkey, Ohio. Currently kept by descendants in Tecumseh, Michigan, this family heirloom was never eaten because Fidelia passed away shortly after baking it."

Not all food goes bad quickly.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I've not only heard many chefs say that they do this, but I, my wife, and just about everyone I know also do this. That is that we go to the fridge and look to see what is in it, including leftovers, and grab some stuff to cook with. We didn't have anything specific in mind when we started.

Yeah, this is why I said most of the time.

And what about the rest of my post? No thoughts about any of that?

 

[dragoner]

When people try to be "purists" it just comes off as gatekeepery

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, this is why I said most of the time.

And what about the rest of my post? No thoughts about any of that?

I also answered that in previous posts. Play is not like eating a meal, because a meal that is cooked is exactly one way and that's railroading, not play. Group play is like cooking the ingredients where the PCs are one of the ingredients, as is all the DM prep. DM prep is solo play where the DM is prepping according to the rules of the game.