In this article I try to rank forms of entertainment, including tabletop games, in how much imagination is needed and why they don’t always translate across different types of media.
Tabletop RPGs rely heavily on imagination, and many video game genres derive from tabletop RPGs. Video games today are able to supply much of the look and feel that you can't do on the tabletop. I've ranked various forms of entertainment according to how much imagination is required to enjoy those forms, from least to most.
We’re defining imagination here in the context of how much mental power is expended to fill in the blanks of an experience. The less senses used to enjoy the experience, the more imagination is needed to enjoy it (see Media Richness Theory for another example of how media can be ranked). This is a generalized list, with which you can find individual exceptions. Remember “no generalization is always true, not even this one.”
Next are stage plays and any sort of interactive theater, which more media richness. This includes live action role-playing or LARPs where people with foam or rattan swords are fighting each other, and where there are other props. You do it live; you don’t just sit around a table. If a character can touch you or you can your sense of smell is engaged (like a musty smell of a room, or sitting on a chair that characters in the play use), that elevates the stage play beyond other visual mediums. Conversely, stage plays have little in the way of special effects, but it’s mostly there in front of you.
Then we get to visual-only mediums like comic strips and books, or as some people prefer “graphic novels.” You have individual panels, and you have to imagine everything that connects those panels together. The book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (by Scott McLoud) explains this immensely well and in comic book form. Conversely, audio presentations such as the original Hitchhikers Guide require even more imagination. You get dialogue and sound effects but nothing visual.
Tabletop board and card games provide visuals without much movement, without dialogue, without sound, so they require even more imagination in some respects than audio presentations, but could be ranked above rather than below the latter.
Next is RPGs and oral storytelling. Although related to audio presentations, RPGs and oral storytelling are more fluid than static presentations. When all you have is the spoken word (and perhaps some minor props for RPGs), both GM and players must use a lot of imagination. Being a good storyteller, as at the proverbial campfire, no props or rules at all, requires significant imaginative engagement from both the game master and the other participants.
Finally we get to novels (and shorter stories) where it's all text, and the author has no feedback the way an oral storyteller does. The author has to try to paint the scene in words. That takes a lot of imagination both from author and from reader, and maybe it's one reason why many people don't read much anymore. Look at the ubiquity of the acronym “tl;dr” (too long; didn’t read). Short stories I think take a little more imagination because the author doesn't use so many words to describe what's going on. Of course, some authors are very descriptive and some are not, that's just the author’s style.
The differences in these forms of media becomes apparent when we try to move from one to another; for example, turning a movie setting into a role-playing game, or writing a novel based on a tabletop campaign. It’s not as simple as just writing down what happened, or telling players to follow the exact path of a movie plot. The difference is choice: more restrictive mediums lead the participant, while more imaginative mediums leave it open. This is just one reason that making a proper D&D movie is so challenging.
In my opinion, entertainment that requires less imagination has become ascendant. This is problematic because imagination atrophies from lack of use. Is this atrophy of player imagination bad? I don't presume to judge, but I certainly think it’s unfortunate.
Your turn: How would you sort media by imagination?
Tabletop RPGs rely heavily on imagination, and many video game genres derive from tabletop RPGs. Video games today are able to supply much of the look and feel that you can't do on the tabletop. I've ranked various forms of entertainment according to how much imagination is required to enjoy those forms, from least to most.
We’re defining imagination here in the context of how much mental power is expended to fill in the blanks of an experience. The less senses used to enjoy the experience, the more imagination is needed to enjoy it (see Media Richness Theory for another example of how media can be ranked). This is a generalized list, with which you can find individual exceptions. Remember “no generalization is always true, not even this one.”
- Movies
- Video games
- Typical videos
- Stage plays
- LARPs
- Comics
- Audio presentation
- Tabletop board and card games
- Tabletop RPGs
- Oral storytelling
- Novels
Next are stage plays and any sort of interactive theater, which more media richness. This includes live action role-playing or LARPs where people with foam or rattan swords are fighting each other, and where there are other props. You do it live; you don’t just sit around a table. If a character can touch you or you can your sense of smell is engaged (like a musty smell of a room, or sitting on a chair that characters in the play use), that elevates the stage play beyond other visual mediums. Conversely, stage plays have little in the way of special effects, but it’s mostly there in front of you.
Then we get to visual-only mediums like comic strips and books, or as some people prefer “graphic novels.” You have individual panels, and you have to imagine everything that connects those panels together. The book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (by Scott McLoud) explains this immensely well and in comic book form. Conversely, audio presentations such as the original Hitchhikers Guide require even more imagination. You get dialogue and sound effects but nothing visual.
Tabletop board and card games provide visuals without much movement, without dialogue, without sound, so they require even more imagination in some respects than audio presentations, but could be ranked above rather than below the latter.
Next is RPGs and oral storytelling. Although related to audio presentations, RPGs and oral storytelling are more fluid than static presentations. When all you have is the spoken word (and perhaps some minor props for RPGs), both GM and players must use a lot of imagination. Being a good storyteller, as at the proverbial campfire, no props or rules at all, requires significant imaginative engagement from both the game master and the other participants.
Finally we get to novels (and shorter stories) where it's all text, and the author has no feedback the way an oral storyteller does. The author has to try to paint the scene in words. That takes a lot of imagination both from author and from reader, and maybe it's one reason why many people don't read much anymore. Look at the ubiquity of the acronym “tl;dr” (too long; didn’t read). Short stories I think take a little more imagination because the author doesn't use so many words to describe what's going on. Of course, some authors are very descriptive and some are not, that's just the author’s style.
The differences in these forms of media becomes apparent when we try to move from one to another; for example, turning a movie setting into a role-playing game, or writing a novel based on a tabletop campaign. It’s not as simple as just writing down what happened, or telling players to follow the exact path of a movie plot. The difference is choice: more restrictive mediums lead the participant, while more imaginative mediums leave it open. This is just one reason that making a proper D&D movie is so challenging.
In my opinion, entertainment that requires less imagination has become ascendant. This is problematic because imagination atrophies from lack of use. Is this atrophy of player imagination bad? I don't presume to judge, but I certainly think it’s unfortunate.
Your turn: How would you sort media by imagination?
