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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8665524" data-attributes="member: 82106">I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so probably others have covered this but:So, 'authority over my character' in a basic core sense really doesn't need to be considered, if you don't have that as a player, then its hard to say its even an RPG (there may be exceptions to this, but I'd expect those are games that are pretty far 'out there' in terms of diverging a LOT from the more common structures of RPGs and may not even be relevant in this whole discussion, though I'm happy to be educated on that subject).Now, that last being said, some games give more or less authority surrounding 'the character', and that might include more or less background authority (which generally implies some authority over established prior fiction). It might also include more or less authority over the pre-established traits of the character, including ones that might be critical in terms of how the character thinks and acts. USUALLY most games give these to the player, as D&amp;D does, but some games are less generous, like say Paranoia (where players have authority over basically nothing except how they will provoke the computer into murdering them). So I think the main fruitful area of discussion is authority over contents of the fiction outside of the character itself, and authority over things like the consequences of actions. There could also be questions about the authority over the actual process of play (IE is there a referee-like GM who has authority over adjudication, etc.). I think your categories of things which can impact the allocation of authority is OK. I guess it might be interesting to look at different games and see which of these apply, and to what, and then we could talk about what that tells us about that particular game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8665524, member: 82106"] I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so probably others have covered this but: So, 'authority over my character' in a basic core sense really doesn't need to be considered, if you don't have that as a player, then its hard to say its even an RPG (there may be exceptions to this, but I'd expect those are games that are pretty far 'out there' in terms of diverging a LOT from the more common structures of RPGs and may not even be relevant in this whole discussion, though I'm happy to be educated on that subject). Now, that last being said, some games give more or less authority surrounding 'the character', and that might include more or less background authority (which generally implies some authority over established prior fiction). It might also include more or less authority over the pre-established traits of the character, including ones that might be critical in terms of how the character thinks and acts. USUALLY most games give these to the player, as D&D does, but some games are less generous, like say Paranoia (where players have authority over basically nothing except how they will provoke the computer into murdering them). So I think the main fruitful area of discussion is authority over contents of the fiction outside of the character itself, and authority over things like the consequences of actions. There could also be questions about the authority over the actual process of play (IE is there a referee-like GM who has authority over adjudication, etc.). I think your categories of things which can impact the allocation of authority is OK. I guess it might be interesting to look at different games and see which of these apply, and to what, and then we could talk about what that tells us about that particular game. [/QUOTE]

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