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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7416520" data-attributes="member: 85555">This is a very weird definition of world building. I am happy to talk about world building just in terms of the obvious stuff: history, culture, cosmology, etc. But 'anything that is not needed for the plot' makes no sense to me as a working definition. It often can be stuff that isn't needed for the plot, but that definition also is going to include stuff that has nothing to do with world building. Either way, details that are not strictly necessary for the plot, but add to a sense of a larger world existing, I am fine with. I don't need pages of explanation anytime something like a stillsuit comes up, but if the color and texture are described, that kind of thing can definitely help pull me into the setting. Good world building can be very enjoyable. A lot of movies and books that I enjoy, I like because they create a world and I feel like I am in the world. That said, a lot of world building I don't need to see directly as a reader, but it can improve a story greatly if there is a real foundation lying underneath it that helps create a sense of a real world. World building can produce consistency. I don't think it is necessary, but I am certainly glad we have room for people who employ lots of world building and people who don't. I certainly wouldn't want the situation to be one where everyone aspires to avoiding unnecessary detail. That seems fanatically minimalist to me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7416520, member: 85555"] This is a very weird definition of world building. I am happy to talk about world building just in terms of the obvious stuff: history, culture, cosmology, etc. But 'anything that is not needed for the plot' makes no sense to me as a working definition. It often can be stuff that isn't needed for the plot, but that definition also is going to include stuff that has nothing to do with world building. Either way, details that are not strictly necessary for the plot, but add to a sense of a larger world existing, I am fine with. I don't need pages of explanation anytime something like a stillsuit comes up, but if the color and texture are described, that kind of thing can definitely help pull me into the setting. Good world building can be very enjoyable. A lot of movies and books that I enjoy, I like because they create a world and I feel like I am in the world. That said, a lot of world building I don't need to see directly as a reader, but it can improve a story greatly if there is a real foundation lying underneath it that helps create a sense of a real world. World building can produce consistency. I don't think it is necessary, but I am certainly glad we have room for people who employ lots of world building and people who don't. I certainly wouldn't want the situation to be one where everyone aspires to avoiding unnecessary detail. That seems fanatically minimalist to me. [/QUOTE]

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