Reinventing Roleplaying Games

[d4]

Which is why I'm here. I've got ideas...

care to share them?

i don't think you've told us anything yet, other than the renaming scheme.

 

[hong]

Which is why I'm here. I've got ideas, but before they can become part on an hypotheses they must be vetted first. Where better than here? (Yes, I could've posted this to RPG.net or The Forge, but the posting paradigm on those boards seems to be more along the lines of 'win at all costs' and nothing like a fair evaluation of the merits of the case. With a few reactionary exceptions, when it comes to proposals such as mine the conversation tends to be more civil and more constructive here.)

Translation: "EN World is nicer to people who say stupid things"

 

[mythusmage]

I already told you what I think of when I hear the word game: an entertaining activity or pastime. It's something I sit down and play, by myself or with a bunch of friends, to have a good time. What do -you- think of when you hear the word game, and what do you consider to be the difference between a game and a hobby? I am not trying to psychoanalyze you so much as I'm trying to encourage you to be more clear in the expressing of ideas, especially if a pair of words central to your idea apparently mean something else to you than they do to most of the rest of us.

What do I think of when I hear the word, "game"? I think of an entertaining, competitive pastime, where the participants vie to see who wins. There are other ways of looking at games, but how many people know this?

BTW, thanks for clarifying your motives. The project is at the stage where feedback is needed, even (especially) the vague thoughts.

How to better express what I see as the difference between a hobby and a game. How about: A game is what you play. A hobby is what you make out of playing the game.

What I propose to do is to persuade people that when they play D&D® et al. they're not playing a game per se, but engaging in a different sort of activity, and one that can be as enjoyable (if not more so) than D&D® etc. as a game. And to persuade folks in the industry to produce material more conducive to roleplaying as a hobby instead of as a game.

Of course, here we're talking more of motivation than of means. Sorry, but the means will have to wait till I've had the time to compose them. When dealing with an RPH theorist such as myself you need to be like the successful physician and have lots of patients.

 

[mythusmage]

So, aren't you jumping the gun a little then? Why announce that there needs to be change if you don't even have a vaguew idea of what yet? I understand wanting to start a discussion, but as of now I haven't even seen good cause for said change.

'Tis not the need that bewilders me, it's how to bring the change about. You see no problem. Trouble is, I do. And I suspect that if you could get a non-gamer to express an opinion on the subject he might express the same concern I have.

 

[mythusmage]

Translation: "EN World is nicer to people who say stupid things"

Who better to point this out?

 

[Crothian]

'Tis not the need that bewilders me, it's how to bring the change about. You see no problem. Trouble is, I do. And I suspect that if you could get a non-gamer to express an opinion on the subject he might express the same concern I have.

And those concerns are? So far it seems that people aren't "laying the smackdown".

 

[hong]

Who better to point this out?

Al, come on back to rgfd. Burke has gone, and we need the sport.

 

[Crothian]

Translation: "EN World is nicer to people who say stupid things"

well, he hasn't really said anything yet.

 

[hong]

And those concerns are? So far it seems that people aren't "laying the smackdown".

Al needs someone to blame for not being able to find a game, you see.

 

[hong]

well, he hasn't really said anything yet.

Well, it's interesting how he's taken 47 posts (at this writing) spread over two threads to not say anything, isn't it?