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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
TTRPG Settings: A Canny Valley of Playability?
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<blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8098694" data-attributes="member: 7023840"><p>Great thesis!</p><p></p><p>I would start by saying that I don't think that it's the same psychological effect as the uncanny valley, but it's a useful analogy.</p><p></p><p>I would extend this; one thing we often ask is why (for example) "Sci-Fi" TTRPGs aren't very popular. There are a few that are based on well-known properties (Star Wars, Star Trek) and a few others here and there, but none that have broken through to the mainstream in the same way that the fantasy one do. I think it is for the same reasons; it is difficult to work with dissimilar settings (the truly alien).</p><p></p><p>An imagined space of "fantasy," which is usually kinda like an imagined medieval/early renaissance, except with fantasy races that are usually exaggerated caricatures of various human attributes*, is much more manageable.</p><p></p><p>People are drawn to the familiar ... with tweaks. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>*People argue about the complexity change between, say, "Orcs as always evil" or "Orcs as fantasy Klingons" or "Dwarves as dour miners" or "Dwarves as fighty drunk people with Scottish accents" but there is seldom effort put into a fully realized culture that is not dependent on defining itself as an exaggeration of human traits.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Snarf Zagyg, post: 8098694, member: 7023840"] Great thesis! I would start by saying that I don't think that it's the same psychological effect as the uncanny valley, but it's a useful analogy. I would extend this; one thing we often ask is why (for example) "Sci-Fi" TTRPGs aren't very popular. There are a few that are based on well-known properties (Star Wars, Star Trek) and a few others here and there, but none that have broken through to the mainstream in the same way that the fantasy one do. I think it is for the same reasons; it is difficult to work with dissimilar settings (the truly alien). An imagined space of "fantasy," which is usually kinda like an imagined medieval/early renaissance, except with fantasy races that are usually exaggerated caricatures of various human attributes*, is much more manageable. People are drawn to the familiar ... with tweaks. *People argue about the complexity change between, say, "Orcs as always evil" or "Orcs as fantasy Klingons" or "Dwarves as dour miners" or "Dwarves as fighty drunk people with Scottish accents" but there is seldom effort put into a fully realized culture that is not dependent on defining itself as an exaggeration of human traits. [/QUOTE]
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