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<blockquote data-quote="deleuzian_kernel" data-source="post: 9504541" data-attributes="member: 7036985">This is a purposeful diversion.It strikes me as a bit of a funny linguistic misstep that we have decided to talk about 'blocking' in the improv sense to describe rejecting another player's input, especially in discussing RPG theory where we already have richer terms for the nuanced way players adapt and build on each other’s contributions and with robust and relevant literature behind these terms. Clinging to that usage of 'blocking' in the context of this post has felt very limiting and misleading to me personally, I think, because of the looming, more productive 'media' sense of the word, where 'blocking' refers to the purposeful orientation and positioning of actors and objects within a scene.When it comes to describing narrative-style RPGs, we’re far better served by thinking of 'blocking' as a term for orientation—guiding focus and interaction—rather than obstruction. Especially today, in 2024, players who find themselves struggling with this style of play might benefit from realizing that these games are not simply stage 'improv' around a table. Effective narrativist play requires communication and an awareness of orientation in relation to fellow players and their gameable objects with positioning, rather than mimicking the dynamics of improv. Embracing this approach brings out the collaborative depth essential to narrativist games, recognizing that yes and, no but, granting assent, withholding assent, saying &quot;maybe...let's roll&quot;, and all other possible arrangements of human creative collaboration collapse within as vectors of actionable play.Like I said, funny linguistics.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="deleuzian_kernel, post: 9504541, member: 7036985"] This is a purposeful diversion. It strikes me as a bit of a funny linguistic misstep that we have decided to talk about 'blocking' in the improv sense to describe rejecting another player's input, especially in discussing RPG theory where we already have richer terms for the nuanced way players adapt and build on each other’s contributions and with robust and relevant literature behind these terms. Clinging to that usage of 'blocking' in the context of this post has felt very limiting and misleading to me personally, I think, because of the looming, more productive 'media' sense of the word, where 'blocking' refers to [B]the purposeful orientation and positioning of actors and objects within a scene[/B]. When it comes to describing narrative-style RPGs, we’re far better served by thinking of 'blocking' as a term for orientation—guiding focus and interaction—rather than obstruction. Especially today, in 2024, players who find themselves struggling with this style of play might benefit from realizing that these games are not simply stage 'improv' around a table. Effective narrativist play requires communication and an awareness of orientation in relation to fellow players and their gameable objects with positioning, rather than mimicking the dynamics of improv. Embracing this approach brings out the collaborative depth essential to narrativist games, recognizing that yes and, no but, granting assent, withholding assent, saying "maybe...let's roll", and all other possible arrangements of human creative collaboration collapse within as vectors of actionable play. Like I said, funny linguistics. [/QUOTE]

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