jeuderologie: draft/ritual_discourse_in_RPGs.html@bdef1afd1170 (annotated)

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bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	8	<title>The Forge :: Ritual Discourse in Role-Playing Games</title>
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bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	15	<td><a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/"><img src="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge_logo.jpg" alt="The Forge" border="0" vspace="1" /></a></td>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	16	<td valign="top" width="100%"><span class="maintitle">The Internet Home for Independent Role-Playing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	17	Games</span><br />
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	18	<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/about/">About the Forge</a> \| <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/donate.php">Support The Forge</a> \| <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/">Articles</a> \| <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/reviews/">Reviews</a> \| <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/resources/">Resource Library</a> \| <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/">Forums</a>
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bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	24	<div id="content">
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bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	26	<h1 id="doctitle">Ritual Discourse in Role-Playing Games</h1>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	27
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	28	<p id="attribution"><span id="author">by Christopher I.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	29	Lehrich</span> <tt><<a href="mailto:clehrich@bu.edu">clehrich@bu.edu</a>></tt><br /></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	30
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	31	<h2>Introduction</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	32
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	33	<p>Theoretical analysis of RPG's remains largely cut off from other
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	34	theoretical discourses, a situation that tends of itself toward
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	35	sterility. Two reasons for this isolation predominate. First, RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	36	theorists come from a wide range of educational backgrounds, and as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	37	such have no shared body of theoretical models or discourse on
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	38	which to draw. Second, RPG theory hopes to serve a constructive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	39	function, rather than a purely analytical one: where the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	40	anthropologist for example traditionally understands herself as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	41	necessarily exterior to the people and situations she analyzes, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	42	RPG theorist wishes to employ the results of his analysis to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	43	improve his own gaming.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	44
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	45	<p>The former difficulty need not concern us unduly. So long as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	46	theoretical models from outside current RPG discourse receive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	47	adequate formulation and explication in RPG terms, only an <i>a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	48	priori</i> hostility to other theoretical constructs would dismiss
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	49	them out of hand. It is worth considering that such hostility does
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	50	appear mutual -- that is, much RPG discourse formulates itself in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	51	opposition to academic theoretical discourse, while many academics
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	52	continue to express disdain and scorn if not outright hostility for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	53	role-playing games as an activity -- but resolution of this can
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	54	only come about in a historical situation as yet hard to imagine.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	55	Thus I shall set the issue aside, stating only that I intend to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	56	explain fully whatever theoretical constructs I deploy.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	57
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	58	<p>The second problem, however, inheres in the nature of RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	59	themselves. A purely theoretical analytical model of RPG's, i.e.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	60	one without any practical application whatever, will generally be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	61	received poorly, if at all, within RPG communities. Indeed, even
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	62	RPG theorists who go to considerable lengths to formulate the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	63	practical implications of their models are sometimes derided as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	64	airy pseudo-intellectuals. Fortunately, some recent RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	65	publications by members of the theoretical community have received
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	66	accolades,<a href="#note1">[1]</a> and this will presumably have
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	67	the long-term salutary effect of legitimizing theoretical work
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	68	within the hobby at large.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	69
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	70	<p>At the same time, analyses of RPG's have come to formulate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	71	practical, essential divisions and categories, and argued that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	72	these may be unbridgeable. For example, Ron Edwards's tripartite
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	73	GNS model rests upon the notion that the three categories must
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	74	remain discrete in order to avoid paradigmatic clash and attendant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	75	misunderstandings among players, leading in turn to poor play. That
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	76	is, a group of players with strongly Narrativist tendencies should
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	77	be wary of playing a strongly Gamist-structured game, or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	78	introducing into the group a player with such an approach. While
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	79	"hybrids" -- games that effectively serve more than one of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	80	three major play-types -- are conceived as possible, a central
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	81	point for Edwards is that Narrativist-oriented play is not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	82	well-suited to Gamist-oriented games, and that groups who attempt
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	83	such may need to revise the game extensively to fit their needs.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	84	Similarly, a single player who cannot conform to the paradigmatic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	85	norms of the group in which she plays will probably find herself
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	86	continually at odds with other players, leading to social conflict;
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	87	this player would be best advised to find another game.<a href="#note2">[2]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	88
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	89	<p>In his recent article "Story and Narrative Paradigms in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	90	Role-Playing Games,"<a href="#note3">[3]</a> John Kim argues that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	91	underlying such categories we find two approaches: "Collaborative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	92	Storytelling" and "Virtual Experience." These tend, like Edwards's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	93	categories, to remain divided. In what Kim calls "Paradigm Clash,"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	94	we find a naturally-occurring conflict between perspectives:</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	95	<div class="sidebarblock">To the storytelling point of view, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	96	experiential view seems to result in an unnecessarily limited set
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	97	of techniques. . . . Experiential play may also seem passive,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	98	letting events happen rather than actively controlling them. . . .
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	99	[Conversely,] To the experiential point of view, storytelling play
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	100	seems to be creating a product for a nonexistent reader. . . .
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	101	Experiential players faced with storytelling play may complain
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	102	about breaking suspension of disbelief, or lack of depth.</div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	103	<p>Conflict arising from disjuncture, narrative or otherwise, is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	104	not only theoretical. Most gamers have experienced it, and one
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	105	great strength of Edwards's model (derived from the earlier
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	106	Threefold Model developed in the Advocacy newsgroup<a href="#note4">[4]</a>) is to emphasize recognition and classification as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	107	means to avoiding the problem. In both his and Kim's models,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	108	players and groups who recognize their preferences in a categorical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	109	sense can select games to fit their desires, or revise them so,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	110	leading to enjoyable play with a minimum of fuss and trouble.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	111
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	112	<p>While I support this general constructive point, and do not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	113	presently wish to challenge the classification itself (a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	114	much-contested issue), I suggest that a hard-line division within
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	115	analysis leads toward weaknesses in a general understanding and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	116	formulation of how RPG's really function. By drawing on some
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	117	theoretical models outside of RPG's, I would like to propose a more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	118	unified model of RPG narrativity.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	119
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	120	<p>A word about practicality: I do not, in the present article,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	121	formulate the practical implications of this model for game design
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	122	or play. I do not see this as a weakness in itself: if the model
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	123	serves analytically, it can have synthetic value. But the two
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	124	operations have at least a notional distinction, and can operate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	125	well in isolation. If theory must face a practical proof-critique,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	126	then all analysis is already crypto-synthesis; logically speaking,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	127	there is thus insufficient distance postulated to ensure the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	128	validity of the analysis. In short, without the ability to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	129	distinguish at least heuristically between theory and practice,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	130	theoretical work can never have real logical force, lending weight
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	131	to the criticisms mentioned at the outset.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	132
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	133	<p>A further point: I intend to propose a ritual model for RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	134	play, based upon recent understandings of ritual within the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	135	academic discourses of anthropology, sociology, and history of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	136	religions. This model would appear to fall squarely into the common
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	137	discourse of analogy as theory, of proposing that RPG's are "like"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	138	something else in order to help emphasize a point otherwise
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	139	unclear. Such analogical reasoning is founded upon an essential
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	140	methodological principle: the analogy is not identity. Thus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	141	response to the proposal is constrained to two related moves. On
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	142	the one hand, one may move to expand the analogy, picking up
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	143	additional aspects of the metaphorized object or activity and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	144	further relating them to RPG's; on the other, one may move to limit
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	145	the analogy, demanding that the metaphor not be taken to the point
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	146	of absurdity.<a href="#note5">[5]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	147
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	148	<p>Some find this mode of analysis useful, primarily in a creative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	149	sense. If one "gets" the analogy, in its logical extension and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	150	intension, one thinks about the hobby in a somewhat new way,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	151	perhaps leading to new creative engagement with design or play. But
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	152	if one does not "get" the analogy, the tendency, naturally, is to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	153	dismiss it as unhelpful, or to reformulate it endlessly until one
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	154	does "get it." Either way, the reason to analyze such a metaphor is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	155	generally synthetic, to create new ways of engaging with the hobby.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	156	In other words, the proposal of yet another analogy serves no
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	157	<i>analytic</i> function.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	158
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	159	<p>In proposing a ritual model of RPG's, I do not wish to add
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	160	another analogy to the lists. I do not mean that RPG play is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	161	<i>like</i> ritual at all; I mean that it <i>is</i> ritual.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	162	Therefore classical and recent tools of ritual analysis apply fully
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	163	to RPG's, for <i>analytical</i> purposes, for making sense of RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	164	as something other than an entirely isolated hobby, indeed for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	165	seeing RPG's as a human cultural product not particularly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	166	distinctive to modern society. If to some this seems a claim that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	167	RPG's are not special and extraordinary, I suggest on the contrary
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	168	that this grants to RPG's a legitimacy and "specialness" attendant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	169	upon their roots in wider humanity and culture.<a href="#note6">[6]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	170
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	171	<h2>Ritual</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	172
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	173	<p>An obvious first step in proposing this model is the formulation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	174	of a definition of ritual. Unfortunately, perhaps, such definitions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	175	have been the focus of extensive debate for more than a century
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	176	now, with no clear end in sight. More models have been proposed of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	177	what ritual "is" than many readers might believe. I have no
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	178	intention of summarizing this whole history; I will instead simply
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	179	propose a starting-point.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	180
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	181	<p>The above-mentioned disjuncture between "Collaborative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	182	Storytelling" and "Virtual Experience" parallels, in a number of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	183	respects, two recent emphases in ritual theory.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	184
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	185	<p>Virtual Experience correlates well with Ronald Grimes's and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	186	Victor Turner's focus on "performance," which ultimately amounts to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	187	a notion of total involvement in ritual activity.<a href="#note7">[7]</a> In ritual, according to this perspective, humans
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	188	engage the totality of hearts, minds, and bodies, setting them to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	189	work creatively and dynamically to produce effects within the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	190	social and mental worlds of the participants. Thus in <i>zazen</i>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	191	(Sitting Zen), one does nothing but sit, generally in an approved
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	192	posture; one's mind and heart should be similarly focused on
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	193	nothing but sitting, not in the sense that one should think
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	194	continuously, "I'm sitting," but rather that one's mind should be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	195	in a state parallel to the body's state, thinking nothing, resting,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	196	yet remaining alert and awake, receptive to outside contact. In the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	197	Catholic Eucharist (Mass), to take a quite different sort of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	198	example, liturgical tradition emphasizes that the communicant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	199	should be fully involved in the process, such that when the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	200	miraculous transformation of the substance of wafer and wine
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	201	(Transubstantiation) occurs, and when in fact the communicant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	202	receives these into the mouth, it is not only one's body that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	203	receives the body and blood of Christ, but the totality of body,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	204	mind, and soul. Thus this understanding of ritual emphasizes what
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	205	in RPG terms is called "immersion," a total involvement in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	206	activity. Failure on this score would be seen as ineffective
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	207	(<i>zazen</i>), impious (Eucharist), or shallow (RPG).</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	208
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	209	<p>The Collaborative Storytelling model is less obviously
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	210	commensurate with a ritual model. Two directions, however, support
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	211	this formulation. First, there is Claude Lévi-Strauss's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	212	structuralist interpretation of mythic and ritual thought as <i>bricolage</i>, and second, there is the movement largely
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	213	associated with Pierre Bourdieu, Sherry Ortner, and Catherine Bell
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	214	toward understanding ritual as "practice" (or "praxis" in the more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	215	overtly Marxist formulations).<a href="#note8">[8]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	216
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	217	<p>Lévi-Strauss's idea, in simple terms, is that cultures think like oddly artistic hobbyists. <a href="#note9">[9]</a> Imagine
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	218	you have a basement full of stuff from which to build whatever you
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	219	like. You have bits of old machines, things your neighbors threw
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	220	out, scraps of wood, and tail-ends of old projects, as well as the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	221	taken-apart bits of all your old projects. Now you decide to build
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	222	something, and you have some ideas -- aesthetic and practical --
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	223	about how that should be done; you are very skilled and talented,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	224	and can see possibilities in all sorts of things. But you do not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	225	have a Home Depot available, or you consider it "cheating" to go
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	226	buy things. At any rate, you have to build the thing you're going
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	227	to build from what you already have in your basement.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	228
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	229	<p>A nice example is a Rube Goldberg cartoon, though those are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	230	deliberately silly. You fly a kite, and the kite string pulls a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	231	lever, and this pushes an old boot, and that turns on your iron,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	232	and the iron burns some old pants, and smoke goes into a tree,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	233	and.... A brilliant example is the recent Honda advertisement
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	234	called "the cog," which can readily be found on the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	235	Internet.<a href="#note10">[10]</a> The point is that one
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	236	constructs an elaborate machine out of bits and pieces already
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	237	owned.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	238
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	239	<p>Lévi-Strauss's point is that each object used contains its own
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	240	history; that is, the iron <i>has already been used for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	241	something</i> and the <i>bricoleur</i> then <i>gives it a new
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	242	use</i>. The iron, to focus on the single example, is a local
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	243	source of heat; it can burn pants, or make a grilled-cheese
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	244	sandwich, and of course can press a shirt. But it cannot be a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	245	refrigerator. And if, clever person that you are, you pull the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	246	heating coil out of the iron for some project that requires a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	247	heating coil, your iron now contains the history of its usage: it
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	248	is now a heating coil and a heavy weight.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	249
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	250	<p>Every sign in myth and ritual, says Lévi-Strauss, is like this iron, and every living mythic culture is like this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	251	<i>bricoleur</i>. When faced with a (social) situation, an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	252	intellectual problem of whatever kind, the <i>bricoleur</i> begins
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	253	by running through his memory (the basement) to see what he already
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	254	has that can be used to solve the problem. He then builds the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	255	machine that solves the problem, in the process incorporating the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	256	entire history of every object in question, and furthermore
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	257	altering (however slightly) each object so used; when he goes to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	258	build something else, later on, the current project will be part of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	259	the history of each object.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	260
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	261	<p>Technically speaking, every sign is thus <i>constrained</i> and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	262	yet <i>free</i>. On the one hand, it is not constrained to the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	263	degree of a <i>percept</i>, a particular contingent mental
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	264	encounter with an actual object; this percept is what is called a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	265	"perception" in the formalist model to which Kim refers. A percept
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	266	is entirely constrained, because when a person looks at a given
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	267	object on two successive occasions, his or her mental equipment has
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	268	altered -- to use a cliché, one cannot enter the same river twice.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	269	At the same time, a sign is not fully liberated, as is a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	270	<i>concept</i>, an idea arising in reaction to a particular
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	271	person's connections to a percept: when I look at the lamp on the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	272	table, I may think of my grandmother (who perhaps owned a similar
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	273	lamp), and thus "grandmother" is a legitimate conceptual link, but
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	274	no such connection may arise for you, and even if it did, it would
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	275	be a different grandmother. So a <i>sign</i> (Lévi-Strauss means
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	276	the Saussurean version of the sign) is both constrained (the iron
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	277	cannot be a refrigerator) and free (it can do a whole range of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	278	things involving local intense heat). In Lévi-Strauss's linguistic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	279	analogy, this iron is a sign in the same way as a word is: the word
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	280	"iron" can mean a range of things (the metal, the instrument) but
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	281	it cannot mean <i>anything</i> at all. Furthermore, this word only
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	282	acquires meaning by its relations to other words: if I say "iron,"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	283	you do not know until I go on with "a pair of pants" what sort of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	284	meaning I intend, even whether it is a verb or a noun.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	285
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	286	<p>The other approach I want to bring up, "practice" theory, arises
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	287	from a number of rather technical difficulties with structuralism,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	288	and amounts to an attempt to understand manipulation of signs and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	289	symbols in strategic yet controlled ways. With respect to ritual,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	290	practice theory argues for a continuity among behaviors, as against
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	291	the disjuncture of ritual from other modes of action. The signs
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	292	used in ritual, that is, acquire meaning from their extra-ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	293	contexts, and furthermore the special meanings accorded to them in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	294	ritual carry over into other modes of life.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	295
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	296	<p>From a practice perspective, every ritual contains within itself
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	297	a number of structures, just as in structuralism; these structures
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	298	are in essence the Rube Goldberg machines constructed by the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	299	<i>bricoleur</i>. As we know from Lévi-Strauss, the iron can be replaced by any other source of local heat, since its only function in the machine in question was to create smoke by burning a pair of pants. Thus the machine has a structure, requiring a number of elements, but the specifics of which objects or signs are used to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	300	fill those element-slots are open. What interests practice theorists is strategic choice: how do people decide whether to use an iron or a space heater?</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	301
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	302	<p>Broadly, the question in practice theory is how people choose,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	303	from a limited range of culturally-available options, which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	304	techniques to apply at a given moment. This depends on strategy: we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	305	want to maximize rewards in a specific situation. But in order for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	306	strategy to work, we have to play the game; that is, one cannot go
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	307	outside the structure of the system to manipulate signs as one
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	308	likes, because to do so annuls the power of the strategy in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	309	first place. Thus every strategic use of signs is at once a free,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	310	liberated exercise of power by a situated person, and at the same
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	311	time a contribution to keeping the system stable and intact without
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	312	significant change. The possibility of real change is thus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	313	undermined by the very strategies which seek to change the system,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	314	because they depend for their efficacy upon the structures in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	315	question.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	316
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	317	<p>If the dichotomy between virtual experience and collaborative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	318	storytelling parallels that between performativity and what we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	319	might call the practice of <i>bricolage</i>, as yet this parallel
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	320	serves no analytical or synthetic function; it is once more an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	321	over-theorized and over-determined metaphor. In addition, it is as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	322	yet under-explained, in that the theories may be formulated but
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	323	their application to the specific situation of RPG's is not yet
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	324	clear. In short, while we can see a parallel division within both
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	325	the two discourses and the two modes of behavior, this does not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	326	answer the question: <i>why are RPG's ritual</i>?</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	327
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	328	<h2>Semiotic Modeling of Ritual and RPG</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	329
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	330	<p>I have noted that Kim's use of the formalist
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	331	perception-discourse-conception model parallels the semiotic or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	332	structural percept-sign-concept model. The difficulty with the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	333	formalist model for this purpose, however, is that it is focused
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	334	primarily on an <i>interpretive</i> perspective, in which the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	335	analyst stands in a perceptive relationship to a <i>given</i>discourse; like the circular model in hermeneutics,<a href="#note11">[11]</a> the central issue is how an interpreter can make sense of a discourse already present, how we approach meaning through interpretation of texts and signs already distant from their producers (authors). Thus a central preoccupation of both formalist analysis and of hermeneutics has been the analysis of ways in which the reading situation is <i>not</i> conversational, in which reading a text is not having a conversation with the author. But in RPG's, the situation is normally conversational in an obvious sense, and thus this mode of analysis focuses on problems seemingly distant from those in RPG's.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	336
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	337	<p>The structural model of signification, from which the practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	338	theory also arose, is by contrast primarily concerned with the use
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	339	of signs by a current producer, a situation more obviously
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	340	commensurable with RPG play. The question, in short, is not how
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	341	players read a text produced for them by a game-master, but rather
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	342	how the whole group in combination produces signs and texts that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	343	they themselves read. The structural model of signification fits
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	344	well here, as the primary issue is to understand ritual or mythic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	345	activity as a mode of discourse production.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	346
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	347	<p>In ritual, participants manipulate a range of signs within a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	348	constrained structure. That structure can change through such
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	349	manipulations, but only within narrow limits. Every Catholic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	350	Eucharist differs significantly, in that the place, people, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	351	physical environment of the ritual vary, but this variation is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	352	officially read by participants as within a fixed structure. The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	353	post-Vatican II use of the vernacular in the Mass, for example, was
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	354	at once a major transformation of the structure of the ritual, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	355	at the same time theorized as not radically transformative: even in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	356	the vernacular, according to the Vatican II council, the Eucharist
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	357	retains its sacramental efficacy. From a semiotic perspective, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	358	linguistic alteration represents a new negotiation of liturgical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	359	language as a discrete sign, where Vatican II agreed that the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	360	differences between Latin and the vernacular should not be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	361	understood as an essential structure of the ritual, but rather a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	362	relatively arbitrary sign amenable to conversion without
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	363	undermining ritual structure itself.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	364
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	365	<p>At this same level of semiotic manipulation, we can see in RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	366	reconstruction and revision a parallel analytical discourse. Taking
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	367	to its extreme the Edwards et al. formulation that "system
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	368	matters,"<a href="#note12">[12]</a> the claim is a clearly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	369	structuralist one: transformation of system elements in RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	370	effects concomitant transformation of gameplay and orientation. For
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	371	example, a combat system dominated by so-called "realism", usually
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	372	meaning a high prioritization of real-world simulation in modes of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	373	action and effects of violence, is not a discrete sign that may be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	374	removed from a given game and replaced with an entirely stylized,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	375	anti-"realist" combat system. Because such a system element is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	376	<i>structural</i>, it links to all other parts of the total game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	377	structure and its transformation thus strongly affects the whole.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	378	Mike Holmes has made this point well, arguing that a "realist"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	379	combat system colors the whole game, such that all activity occurs
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	380	with reference to such a preoccupation with violence;<a href="#note13">[13]</a> as Kim puts it,</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	381
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	382	<div class="sidebarblock">[E]ven if a gun is never fired during the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	383	game session, the mechanics for that [weapon] may influence the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	384	story -- because they shape how the player conceives of guns within
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	385	the fictional world. If the mechanics make all guns exceptionally
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	386	deadly, it increases the tension in a scene where a gun appears
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	387	even if the gun is never fired.</div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	388
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	389	<p>Thus the "system does matter" principle argues that system
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	390	elements are motivated signs, and thus contain structure; their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	391	transformation affects the totality of the structure.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	392
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	393	<p>Between the Vatican II approach to language and the Forge
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	394	approach to system, however, we must recognize that the difference
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	395	is not absolute; furthermore, the distinction drawn is ideological,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	396	not "factual." There can be no question, for example, that the use
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	397	of the vernacular in Catholic Mass has significantly changed the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	398	ways in which Catholics experience the ritual; indeed, were this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	399	not so, there would have been no reason to make the change in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	400	first place. Vatican II asserted a matter of aesthetic and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	401	theological priority: however far-reaching the effects of this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	402	transformation, they argued, the essential core of the ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	403	(transubstantiation in a broad sense) would not be affected, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	404	whatever aesthetic loss of force might be entailed by the loss of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	405	the affective qualities of Latin (as traditional, foreign, ancient,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	406	powerful) would be more than made up for by gains in broader
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	407	spiritual involvement (through understanding the liturgy
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	408	intellectually, thus affectively through content rather than
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	409	through an aura of ritualism). Indeed, Martin Luther's move to the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	410	vernacular was intended partly to <i>combat</i> the affective
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	411	dimension of Latin as itself powerful, arguing that this amounted
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	412	to a kind of fetishism or idolatry: the focus should be, he
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	413	thought, on the <i>content</i> of the words spoken, rather than on
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	414	their linguistic <i>medium</i>.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	415
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	416	<p>In Forge RPG theory, conversely, there is an implicit
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	417	distinction between <i>system elements</i> and other elements. It
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	418	is certainly plausible that the radical transformation of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	419	combat system of <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i> from the AD&D
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	420	system to the recent d20 system considerably changes all elements
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	421	of gameplay, even those not overtly connected with combat; to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	422	replace the combat system with a more freeform model akin to <i>The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	423	Pool</i> would presumably effect further changes. But first of all,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	424	it seems clear that transforming other elements of the game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	425	(setting, background, character generation) would also entail
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	426	drastic concomitant changes in gameplay; for example, d20 games not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	427	based on <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i> genre and story conventions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	428	exist in considerable numbers, and certainly do not play exactly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	429	the same way as does <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i>. In short, it is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	430	unclear how one is to classify elements into arbitrary and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	431	motivated, into those which can be shifted without large-scale
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	432	structural effects and those which cannot.<a href="#note14">[14]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	433
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	434	<p>More interestingly, RPG theorists (taken in the broadest sense)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	435	generally make a series of divisions among elements in their games,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	436	and implicitly argue for relative arbitrariness. That is, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	437	notion that a "combat system" is in any sense a discrete element, a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	438	discrete structure, should not be accepted uncritically. If the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	439	Forge "system matters" principle argues that even apparently
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	440	discrete structures like this are motivated and not arbitrary, we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	441	must recognize that this presumes a tendency to see such systems as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	442	arbitrary, that they <i>are</i> apparently discrete. By emphasizing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	443	that "system" is motivated and structural, the Forge theorists
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	444	further suggest a prioritization of elements, where motivation is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	445	taken as superior to arbitrariness, so that theoretical analysis
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	446	and synthesis should focus on structure rather than sign. To put
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	447	this differently, it is implicit that RPG's consist of a vast group
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	448	of interrelated elements, falling into a <i>natural hierarchical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	449	order</i>; those nearest the trunk of the tree, as it were, are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	450	relatively motivated and theoretically important, while those
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	451	nearest the branch-tips are more arbitrary and of lesser
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	452	theoretical weight.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	453
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	454	<p>At the same time, few would argue that the arbitrary,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	455	non-structural signs are trivial or unimportant. Such arbitrary
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	456	elements as Color (essentially affective set-dressing in imagined
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	457	space) or snack choices by players are not irrelevant, and may in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	458	particular instances be elevated to structural elements: the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	459	game-concept <i>Long Pig The Role-Playing Game</i> made snack
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	460	choice and usage into a system element, while <i>Ars Magica</i>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	461	troupes interested in medieval history may make set-dressing a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	462	primary focus for play.<a href="#note15">[15]</a> But the claim is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	463	that it is by <i>shifting</i> such elements from arbitrary to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	464	motivated, from incidental to <i>system</i>, that they become
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	465	analytically important; in general, the analyst does not focus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	466	classification on such elements, but rather begins with system.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	467
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	468	<p>The important point here is that whether the issue is the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	469	relative weight of meaningful dimensions of liturgical language or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	470	the classification of structural elements in RPG's, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	471	understanding is in both cases <i>ideological</i>, intended not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	472	only to classify and analyze the ritual in question but also to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	473	emphasize and push for improvement in the activity, thus making
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	474	normative claims about what the ritual <i>should</i> be about.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	475	Precisely at this point, predictably, the ideological weapon of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	476	"practicality" often comes into play in RPG discourse: because a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	477	more purely analytic classificatory model (e.g. the polythetic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	478	comparative model proposed for the humanities by Jonathan Z.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	479	Smith<a href="#note16">[16]</a>) eschews normative claims in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	480	form of practical suggestions for game design or ritual construction, the RPG theorist codes such classification as impractical, thus valueless. This is equivalent to a Catholic liturgist saying of an academic theorist's analysis that it is irrelevant because it does not help formulate new dimensions in Mass. For the academic, however, this is precisely the point: she may be interested to see the results of her analyses serving a constructive use to the liturgist, she does not wish to impose her perspective upon those she studies. Ronald Grimes, for example, believes deeply that ritual theory can be of constructive value for people seeking to formulate or reformulate their rituals, but as a rule he does not tell them how to go about it.<a href="#note17">[17]</a> A ritualist who denounces Grimes for not proposing a "how-to" makes an entirely ideological -- and ultimately incoherent -- claim: if Grimes does not propose a "how-to," his work is useless; if on the other hand he <i
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	481	>does</i> tell ritualists how to "fix" their rituals, he will (and should!) be denounced for telling others what they ought to believe.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	482
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	483	<p>I have come a long way around, but the notion of RPG's as ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	484	can now be asserted directly. Between RPG theory and RPG practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	485	there exists a dynamic relationship structurally identical to that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	486	between the theory and practice of ritual within lived ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	487	communities. RPG theory, by this logic, is only commensurable to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	488	academic theory and analytical method through a deeper and more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	489	complex formulation; a relatively direct correlation links RPG's to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	490	rituals in their actuality.<a href="#note18">[18]</a> In order
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	491	to recognize this link, we must accept the duality of theory and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	492	practice as integral to ritual performance itself; in other words,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	493	rituals are not actions or activities performed in isolation from
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	494	their cultural worlds, but rather performances related to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	495	theoretical concerns in the same way as game-play relates to the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	496	theory and system-construction that surrounds it.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	497
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	498	<p>To put this differently, and more specifically, RPG play enacts
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	499	theory, in the sense that standing behind and prior to play is a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	500	series of theoretical constructs: system design, GM notes, pre-play
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	501	agreements and social contract, genre expectations, and other
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	502	theoretical tools. From this perspective, RPG play acts out this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	503	prior structure; this is equivalent to the old reading of ritual as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	504	acting out a liturgical text. At the same time, the prior structure
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	505	is to a degree open to challenge within game play, and furthermore
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	506	does not fully constrain particular game actions, determining a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	507	range and a set of priorities rather than laying out a script. As
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	508	has been recognized for some decades now, the same can be said of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	509	the most formal ritual: within apparent constraint there is scope
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	510	for contestation, not only of the various issues and questions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	511	related to a particular ritual's situation within the social
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	512	context, but also of the ritual itself with all its symbols.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	513
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	514	<p>Nevertheless, these two views are always in dynamic, creative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	515	tension: the available range of manipulations of ritual signs
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	516	stands within a structural context only slightly accessible to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	517	interior challenge. For example, radical transformation of Catholic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	518	liturgy cannot proceed from within ritual <i>performance</i>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	519	itself, while small-scale local transformation and contestation are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	520	fully expected. Radical transformation of liturgy, as we have seen
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	521	with Vatican II, must come from a theoretical discourse <i>exterior
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	522	to</i> performance. Conversely, such discourse acquires its ability
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	523	to challenge ritual structurally by sacrificing its analytical and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	524	normative force at the local level; that is, while Vatican II could
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	525	change liturgical language, a structural change not available to a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	526	given congregation at the moment of performance, the congregation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	527	can manipulate particular performances to effect social meanings
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	528	inaccessible to the Vatican. For example, a particular wedding
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	529	ritual may be used, at a given moment and in a particular
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	530	contingent historical situation, to enable deep consideration
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	531	within the congregation about the traditions of marriage, divorce,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	532	and childbirth; these same issues can be discussed by the College
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	533	of Cardinals, as indeed they are, but not at the level of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	534	particular people in particular time, since they can only formulate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	535	principles and cannot apply them individually.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	536
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	537	<p>Precisely the same dynamic obtains in RPG discourse. While a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	538	given structural situation of notes, game system, theoretical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	539	models, and so forth formulates a contextual model within which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	540	play occurs, such structures do not extend to the level of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	541	individual particularity that is central to play experience; that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	542	is, no game structure can be so logically intensive as to dictate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	543	every action and speech by every participant at all times, because
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	544	to do so (even were it possible) would annul the entire nature of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	545	the game <i>as</i> game. In fact, this limitation of theoretical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	546	efficacy is granted the status of a virtue in Forge theory, through
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	547	the double formulation of "practicality" as a rational anchor and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	548	the hierarchization of the relative motivation of system structures
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	549	as relative theoretical importance. Not surprisingly, we find that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	550	the usual model of RPG discourse has it that performance (play) is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	551	the "real" anchor of RPG's, and that theory is understood by its
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	552	proponents as a potentially liberating source of creativity and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	553	energy for "real" play.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	554
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	555	<h2>Liminality in Ritual and RPG: Preliminary Classification</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	556
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	557	<p>If we recognize in RPG's a dynamic interaction of theoretical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	558	and practical reason, between structure and event, it is not clear
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	559	how within the practical sphere the active, strategic manipulation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	560	of signs actually works. That is, we have seen that in religious
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	561	ritual, situated people deploy signs and structures within the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	562	context of larger, only partly flexible structures, and that RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	563	play stands within a similar context; we need now to understand how
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	564	RPG players manipulate signs and structures for strategic reasons,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	565	and how such strategies are both free and subject to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	566	constraint.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	567
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	568	<p>For this purpose, I would like to propose a specific analogy,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	569	that of RPG play to a particular mode of ritual behavior. At the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	570	outset, however, I should note that this is <i>analogy</i> and not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	571	identity; that is, while RPG is (and is not merely <i>like</i>)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	572	ritual, it is nevertheless a distinct and specific <i>kind</i> of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	573	ritual, one with no exact equivalent in other ritual spheres. Thus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	574	this analysis must be effected within a deliberately constrained
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	575	comparative model, in order to evade the methodological problems
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	576	attendant upon the loose metaphoricities described in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	577	introduction.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	578
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	579	<p>Every modern scholar of ritual is familiar with the liminal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	580	model of <i>rites de passage</i> (passage-rites), originally
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	581	proposed by Arnold van Gennep in the eponymous book, and elevated
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	582	to a critical analytical model in especially the earlier work of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	583	Victor Turner.<a href="#note19">[19]</a> In its classic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	584	formulation by van Gennep, such passage-rites as initiations
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	585	consist of three stages. First, the neophyte is <i>separated</i> from the symbolic and social structures which normally surround him; second, the neophyte passes through a <i>liminal</i> phase, in which a series of new and powerful symbols known as <i>sacra</i> are presented to the neophyte for consideration and reflection; and finally, the neophyte is <i>aggregated</i> back into the social structure, now in a new status.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	586
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	587	<p>For example, in boys' puberty initiations, the boy is removed
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	588	from boyhood and society in general, perhaps secluded in a special
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	589	initiation hut or otherwise physically removed; in addition, he is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	590	visibly marked as unclassified, e.g. having his head shaved, being
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	591	painted black or white, stripped of clothing, and so forth. Once
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	592	separation from boyhood has been effected, the neophyte is in a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	593	condition of liminality, "betwixt and between," neither this nor
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	594	that; neither boy nor man, he is unclassifiable, a condition
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	595	generally expressed through symbols marking status as not participating in even a larger range of classes: he may be dressed
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	596	as an androgyne, marking him as neither male nor female (and both);
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	597	he may be forced to lie on the ground in a posture normal for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	598	corpses, marking him as neither dead nor alive (and both); and so
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	599	forth.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	600
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	601	<p>In this liminal phase, various sacred symbols (<i>sacra</i>) are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	602	presented to the boy and his co-initiates (such initiations usually
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	603	involve several boys at once), in the form of monstrous and bizarre
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	604	masks, objects, or behaviors, presented to the neophytes by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	605	already-initiated men. All these signs serve as objects of thought,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	606	and are commonly distorted to emphasize reflection on particular
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	607	issues; for example, a figurine or dancing costume might be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	608	shrunken and blurred in all its parts, but bear a wildly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	609	exaggerated phallus, encouraging reflection on sexuality and male
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	610	sexual identity.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	611
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	612	<p>In an example discussed by Turner,<a href="#note20">[20]</a>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	613	Bemba girls are presented with an earthenware figurine of an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	614	exaggeratedly pregnant woman who carries four infants, two at her
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	615	equally exaggerated breasts and two on her back; other features of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	616	this figure (arms and legs, for example) are shrunken to stubs. The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	617	figurine in this case is accompanied by a riddling song about a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	618	mythical midwife, and initiated women say the riddle's point is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	619	straightforward: Bemba tradition demands that after giving birth
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	620	women abstain from sexual intercourse for a year. But a woman's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	621	husband may object to this, and one's mother or mother-in-law may
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	622	also demand that the young woman get pregnant again, as the older
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	623	woman wants grandchildren and the husband wants sexual satisfaction. The point of the <i>sacrum</i>, then, is that a wife who does not respect the tradition of abstention will become like the figurine, dominated to destruction by babies and their care. However much a woman may wish to give in to her husband or mother -- or her own desires -- she must abstain. Thus the use of exaggerated symbols in the liminal phase focuses attention on traditional culture, its reasons and purposes, and ultimately promotes conformity.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	624
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	625	<p>Once this instructional phase has concluded, aggregation usually
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	626	begins with more or less permanent markers of the new status,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	627	followed by social presentation of the neophyte to the relevant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	628	communities (initiates, then society at large). For example, a boy
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	629	may be circumcised, marking him permanently as an initiate (thus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	630	fully male), then dressed in men's clothing (not unlike the old
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	631	British practice of a boy's changing permanently from short to long
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	632	pants); the initiates are then presented to the men, who welcome
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	633	them into the men's longhouse or equivalent male structure from
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	634	which they were previously forbidden, and they depart this house to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	635	be greeted by the women of the community as men rather than
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	636	boys.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	637
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	638	<p>The emphasis in the current analysis is, as for Turner, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	639	liminal. There is no difficulty spotting separation and aggregation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	640	in RPG's. Depending on a particular group's habitual practices and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	641	preferences, separation may begin at the front door of the host's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	642	house or apartment; this is particularly apparent in more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	643	LARP-oriented play, where entry into the broadly-defined play space
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	644	is marked by a transformation of manner and affect, even of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	645	clothing. But the most limited table-top play generally marks a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	646	separation between game-play and out-of-game behavior. This is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	647	perhaps most obvious negatively, in objections to players who do
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	648	not focus on the game and continually introduce "irrelevant" topics
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	649	(television shows, video games, current events, etc.) into
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	650	play.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	651
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	652	<p>I have marked the term "irrelevant" with quotes for a reason:
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	653	these topics are only irrelevant if and to the degree that a given
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	654	group marks them so, a point generally negotiated through piecemeal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	655	social contract means. The LARP example, as an extreme of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	656	Virtual Experience model, may tend to object to any introduction of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	657	topics or behaviors not previously formulated as "in-game." A
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	658	smaller-scale variant of this general dynamic is the issue of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	659	"in-character" as distinct from "out-of-character": in some groups,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	660	speech should be performed in-character, in that anything said by a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	661	given player should be taken as the speech of that player's current
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	662	character; sometimes this takes the form of linguistic constraint,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	663	notably the demand that players speak of their characters in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	664	first person rather than the third.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	665
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	666	<p>At a more strategic level, groups may make a sharp distinction
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	667	between in-character and out-of-character knowledge, raising as a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	668	problem whether a player may act in-character upon knowledge
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	669	presumably not available to his character. That is, if Alan
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	670	(playing Thror the Barbarian) knows that Marler the Wizard (played
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	671	by Barbara) has been captured by an evil sorcerer and is held in a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	672	deep dungeon below the castle in which Thror now stands, and Alan
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	673	knows this because as a player he was present when Marler/Barbara
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	674	was captured, but Thror was not on the scene and thus has no
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	675	particular way to know what has occurred, a group must consider
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	676	whether Alan may have Thror head for the deep dungeon to rescue
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	677	Marler.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	678
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	679	<p>The question is complex, and may be handled strategically at any
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	680	number of levels. For example, some groups feel that, so long as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	681	Thror's rescue of Marler would make an exciting story, the fact
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	682	that Thror "knows" nothing about the capture is irrelevant. Even
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	683	within this perspective, however, we might note a distinction
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	684	between Alan having Thror "happen accidentally" to head downwards,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	685	postulating an in-game coincidence to cover the out-of-game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	686	implausibility, as against Alan having Thror declaim in ringing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	687	tones that somehow he knows what has occurred, postulating a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	688	backwards revision of plot and thus annulling disjuncture. Another
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	689	strategic choice, of course, would have Alan simply ignore what has
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	690	happened to Marler, since Thror is "actually" ignorant of it; Alan
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	691	and Barbara may hope that events will transpire such that Thror can
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	692	rescue Marler, but the interior logic of the game-world in this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	693	case does not permit Alan's use of out-of-character knowledge to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	694	alter events in this fashion.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	695
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	696	<p>At a theoretical level, the same issues obtain, particularly in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	697	the aesthetics of game design. Some groups prefer to keep rules and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	698	systems as far in the background as possible, because they see such
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	699	structures as irrelevant to the game-world; that is, since Thror
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	700	himself cannot be imagined thinking that he has a +7 to hit but a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	701	-2 to damage if he swings his fist, while he has a +3 to hit and a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	702	+6 to damage if he swings his sword, the strategic choices made by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	703	Alan in selecting the appropriate attack for the situation can be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	704	read as interfering with the interior game-logic. Other groups see
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	705	such activity on Alan's part as an essential aspect of gaming as an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	706	activity. For example, one can treat a <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	707	"dungeon-crawl" as a competition by the players, as strategic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	708	manipulators of an intricate mechanical system, against the Dungeon
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	709	Master who has similarly manipulated the system to construct a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	710	difficult challenge; in this case, Barbara's choice to cast Magic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	711	Missile rather than Fireball because she makes a trade-off between
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	712	damage inflicted upon a chosen target and the collateral damage
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	713	which comes from the fireball spell, not to mention the specifics
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	714	of range, casting-time, and material components, is anything but
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	715	irrelevant: indeed, at one extreme, this may constitute much of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	716	fun of play.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	717
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	718	<p>In any event, the problem of negotiating the bridge between
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	719	in-character and out-of-character is founded upon the structural
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	720	separation effected at the outset of ritual. The social aggregation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	721	at the close of play thus amounts to an undoing of this separation:
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	722	players step back from the in-character world (to whatever extent
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	723	they postulated themselves as in it) in order to receive rewards or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	724	accolades, rehash enjoyable events, and generally begin shifting
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	725	from a relatively discontinuous and separated game-time to an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	726	ordinary social event, itself marked eventually by the dispersal of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	727	the participants to their everyday lives.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	728	<p>We have already seen that within the liminal phase, the "game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	729	itself," classification, and identity are sites of considerable
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	730	contestation and difficulty. But it is when we take into account
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	731	the question of <i>sacra</i> and response that the parallel to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	732	initiation becomes particularly valuable. In particular, when we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	733	consider the interrelation of freedom and conformity, i.e. the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	734	<i>political</i> nature of liminality, we can begin to dig under
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	735	the surface of gaming to discern the social relations and contracts
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	736	which make play possible.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	737
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	738	<h2>Liminality in RPG's: The Social Rituals of Play</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	739
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	740	<p>One of Turner's great achievements in the study of ritual was
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	741	his explication of the socio-political implications of ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	742	activity; while he was hardly alone in formulating this general
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	743	perspective, Turner has the advantage for present purposes of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	744	having a relatively clear model that does not depend on extensive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	745	prior reading in the literature of anthropology or sociology.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	746
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	747	<p>As liminality theory shaded into the origins of "practice"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	748	theory, it gave rise to a stock type of analysis. The symbols of a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	749	given ritual, particularly its liminal phase, would be explicated
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	750	for purposes of situation, giving sufficient data for the reader to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	751	make sense of the further argument. The analyst would then attempt
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	752	to demonstrate the following dynamic at work: within the liminal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	753	phase, neophytes -- and by extension, the society as a whole --
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	754	employ symbols and structures to challenge, test, and even
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	755	undermine the structures and norms of authority; through the ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	756	process, however, particularly as the liminal phase moves towards
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	757	conclusion in aggregation, all this "testing" ends up serving the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	758	purposes of established authority. Thus the ritual gives the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	759	<i>illusion</i> of freedom and choice, but actually enforces
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	760	conformity; ritual is thus read as a technique of mystification by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	761	which cultural authority can be produced and reproduced by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	762	deceiving participants in all walks of society into accepting these
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	763	authority structures as natural, given, and ideal.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	764
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	765	<p>There is certainly truth in this reading. For example, numerous
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	766	carnivalesque rituals (Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnàval,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	767	Saturnalia, etc.) do indeed construct a special space and time in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	768	which to express discontent, disorder, radicalism, and challenge,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	769	all of which is then often deployed in a larger cultural context to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	770	emphasize the "rightness" of hegemonic discourses of authority. But
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	771	more recently scholars have begun to grant that this reading is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	772	simplistic: Mardi Gras has on numerous occasions been used
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	773	precisely to foment revolt, for example. Thus recent practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	774	theory, when it has focused on ritual and liminality, has tended to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	775	admit that ritual does produce conformity through the illusion of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	776	free choice, but at the same time to grant that particular agents
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	777	in particular historical situations have the ability to manipulate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	778	symbols to their own advantage, despite the apparent constraints
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	779	(and apparent freedoms) of ritual structures.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	780
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	781	<p>At present, I will not push the socio-political reading of RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	782	beyond the narrow, local community. It would be interesting to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	783	consider how RPG's as ritual necessarily participate in and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	784	reconstitute the structures of society at large, but the data-set
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	785	required to do such analysis meaningfully is prohibitively large.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	786	In addition, ethnography of game-sessions has barely begun, if
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	787	indeed it can be said to have begun at all, and thus we have only
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	788	the most dubious sort of anecdotal data. My concern, then, is with
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	789	the socio-political workings <i>within</i> a gaming group, which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	790	amounts to an analytic perspective on the social contract of such a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	791	group as it intersects with other structures of gaming.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	792
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	793	<p>It is worth noting here that the dominant Forge theory generally
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	794	takes social contract to be a maximally distanced structure,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	795	standing at the upper extreme of the hierarchy of RPG structure.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	796	While there has been discussion of social contract and means by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	797	which it can be negotiated in order to avoid paradigmatic or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	798	personal conflict, the emphasis fits squarely within Edwards's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	799	overall approach. That is, because social contract is seen as at a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	800	considerable remove from in-game play issues, the most efficient
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	801	way to deal with contractual problems is to discuss them outside of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	802	play, e.g. by confronting a problem player outside of game time, by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	803	formulating explicit social expectations before play, and so forth.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	804	But the fact remains that these problems generally arise
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	805	<i>within</i> game play, and prior constraint cannot fully predict
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	806	or forestall such difficulties. I suggest, in fact, that precisely
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	807	because RPG's are ritual behaviors, social conflict is <i>inherent</i> in the form. At the same time, from a practical perspective, it is worth recognizing that because structural and sign-manipulation achieve their maximal expressions within liminality, with extra-ritual commentary discourse primarily functioning to <i>protect</i> ritual tradition against challenge, acting <i>disjunctively</i> to separate possible challenges from the fragile yet powerful matrix of ritual performance, play itself will necessary be the central locus of social contestation, and importantly it is only within its structures that <i>conjunctive</i> solutions are possible. In other words, while extra-gameplay discourse may try to protect a game against social contract problems arising within gameplay, such strategies cannot of themselves achieve consensus; the means by which a group can resolve such questions must be sought within play.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	808
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	809	<p>Extending from this point, we may note a common tensive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	810	relationship between extra-ritual assertions of hegemony over
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	811	performance on the one hand, and on the other a concomitant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	812	counter-balancing of the manipulation of ritual as a site for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	813	resistance. Simply put, it is often the case that as authoritative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	814	discourse tries to increase control over what happens within ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	815	performance externally, resistant elements become increasing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	816	empowered within performance and have greater efficacy without. In
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	817	an RPG context specifically, it seems not unlikely that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	818	increasingly emphatic assertions of hegemonic control of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	819	appropriate play and in-game discourse will tend to evoke
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	820	increasing resistance within play, which is to say that players
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	821	within the game will tend to challenge strong norms asserted by the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	822	game-master (or the game text, the received tradition of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	823	appropriate play, etc.) the more forcefully they are expressed. One
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	824	classic example returns us to <i>Advanced Dungeons and Dragons</i>:
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	825	the more Gary Gygax asserted his authority and authenticity in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	826	laying down constraints about "the right way to play," the more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	827	particular groups and players were drawn either to revise the game,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	828	to play other games, or to challenge Gygax's principles from within
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	829	play. With respect to more ordinary assertions of authority, e.g.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	830	"railroading,"<a href="#note21">[21]</a> the more overt the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	831	railroading the greater the tendency to resist; that is, if GM
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	832	railroading involves providing genuine incentives to follow the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	833	predetermined plot structure, resistance may be minimal, while if a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	834	GM simply blocks all choices but the "correct" one through <i>ad
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	835	hoc</i> and increasingly ridiculous means (<i>deus ex machina</i> maneuvers, etc.), players may find themselves led to beat their heads against the imposed limitations rather than find creative and enjoyable means by which to "play along."<a href="#note22">[22]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	836
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	837	<p>My point is not simply that strong formulations of norms in play
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	838	style and social interaction may produce the reverse of the desired
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	839	effect, though this is worth consideration. Rather, I wish to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	840	emphasize that semiotic manipulation within play reacts to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	841	functions in the given structural context, such that assertions of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	842	social or technical norms naturally constitute important objects of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	843	gameplay contestation. As in initiation ritual, the imposition of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	844	social structures through such means as <i>sacra</i> or rules
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	845	systems <i>demands</i> challenge and consideration within ritual;
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	846	attempts to eliminate such semiotic manipulation within ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	847	liminality, including gameplay, can only provoke two kinds of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	848	response: resistance to the norms or elimination of ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	849	effectiveness. Thus the nature of gameplay as ritual activity
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	850	necessarily determines its focus on manipulation and challenge of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	851	given structures.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	852
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	853	<p>If RPG play can be read as reactive, it is neither mechanical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	854	nor passive, and a great strength of both structural and practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	855	theories is the emphasis on dynamism in the relationship. If on the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	856	one hand ritual imposes upon its participants a series of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	857	interlinked structures and motivated signs, to which participants
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	858	are then forced to react by the normative view of ritual activity
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	859	and thought, at the same time those participants actually have
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	860	considerable flexibility in doing so. This is where some of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	861	earlier Marxist approaches overestimated the hegemony of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	862	authority-structures: they assumed that the imposition not only of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	863	signs but of structures through which to think them fully
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	864	constrained initiates (for example) to conform to a rigid status
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	865	quo; ritual could thus be read as a means of combating in advance
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	866	nonconformity, resistance, and the potential for revolution,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	867	because it mystified the arbitrary, cultural nature of authority
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	868	structures by transposing them into tradition, and then
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	869	constructing a notion of tradition as natural and "given" in nature
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	870	or meta-nature (the gods, the spirits, etc.). But as numerous
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	871	critics of such ritual theories noted, this implies a special
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	872	division in society: there are those who create
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	873	authority-structures, who to some degree know that these structures
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	874	are merely inventions, and then there are those who are simply
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	875	slates inscribed upon by such authority structures through ritual;
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	876	the only flexible part of this formulation would be the first part,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	877	in that it is possible that authorities too are entirely subject to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	878	what they take to be given structures and traditions, such that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	879	everyone is enslaved by ignorance of the functions and methods of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	880	their own society. Good Marxism this may be, but it does presume
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	881	that people are entirely controlled and dominated by what they are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	882	told, and never think flexibly.<a href="#note23">[23]</a> In fact,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	883	the approach deconstructs itself: if this is all true, how can the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	884	academic analyst spot the problem at all? Presumably, academia
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	885	would constitute a constrained discourse that recognizes itself as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	886	an object of critical analysis, in which case how did it become so?
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	887	The logical conclusion essentially would assert that the members of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	888	critical academic discursive circles are a different sort of people
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	889	than those constrained by discourse, such that radical elitism
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	890	becomes a naturalized and normative structure -- precisely that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	891	which the analysis desired to challenge in the first place.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	892	<p>In RPG's, flexibility is relatively obvious: few if any players
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	893	or observers would assert that gameplay is so constrained as to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	894	prevent flexibility in semiotic manipulation of any kind. At the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	895	same time, this creativity is still generally taken as a marker of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	896	the distinctive or even unique character of RPG's. Quite apart from
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	897	the fact that this entails RPG theorists' participation in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	898	reproduction of authoritarian notions of ritual behavior, a complex
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	899	logical circle inserts itself in this understanding, common it
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	900	seems from the inception of RPG's as a discrete ritual form. With
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	901	the explication of this circularity, it will become clear why I
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	902	emphasize an analogical parallel to liminality in religious
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	903	ritual.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	904
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	905	<h2>Creativity as Circularity</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	906
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	907	<p>Overt acceptance of creativity and flexibility within RPG play
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	908	is indeed unusual in ritual. Importantly, however, it is not the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	909	<i>existence</i> of such dynamism that marks a distinctive ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	910	mode, but the fact that participants of all levels <i>recognize and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	911	accept</i> this. By contrast, the modern Catholic Eucharist permits
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	912	considerable scope for flexibility and creativity in each and every
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	913	performance, by every participant at every level, but this is not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	914	commonly accepted as either present or desirable; we might note
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	915	that the common disdain for Neopagan ritual invention among
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	916	relatively knowledgeable mainstream religious Americans includes
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	917	(but is not limited to) a distinction between "real" or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	918	"traditional" ritual as opposed to those which Neopagans "make
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	919	up."<a href="#note24">[24]</a> In this context, we can read the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	920	ideological split as a claim against creativity within the special
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	921	context of ritual, importantly different from how RPG discourse
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	922	consciously constructs itself as creative and dynamic.<a href="#note25">[25]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	923
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	924	<p>To put this in terms of initiation, we find that the liminal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	925	phase involves flexibility and invention on the parts of not only
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	926	the neophytes but also the entire society; at the same time, such
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	927	flexibility is commonly denied by the hegemonic discourse, as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	928	already indicated by the tendency to conceive of neophyte
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	929	interaction with <i>sacra</i> as "instruction" rather than creative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	930	engagement. Similarly, we find numerous discourses about
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	931	carnivalesque ritual formulated in terms of what has been called a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	932	"hydraulic" theory: carnivals act as valves, allowing participants
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	933	to "blow off steam" rather than harness it to antisocial ends. By
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	934	permitting marginal elements of society to "act out" their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	935	frustrations, authorities retain control of real power and maintain
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	936	the stability of those they dominate. Real challenge or engagement
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	937	with social rules is annulled, because it "doesn't count" in ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	938	space.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	939
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	940	<p>Thus the demarcation of ritual space and time -- that formal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	941	construction of division between ritual and everything else central
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	942	to what Catherine Bell calls "ritualization" -- lends itself to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	943	protection of social norms. In RPG's, with their discourse of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	944	invention and creativity, such protection seems non-present or at
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	945	least marginal. But this accords with expectations: by asserting
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	946	that RPG gameplay constitutes a protected space in which to deal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	947	with the limited range of issues at stake in a given game, RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	948	naturally tend to assert not only that gameplay permits flexible
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	949	engagement with social norms but also that the effects of exterior
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	950	norms on players do not play a significant role in the game. For
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	951	example, the protection of RPG's allows a male player to play a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	952	female character, a heterosexual player to play a homosexual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	953	character, without its being read as relevant to the player's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	954	out-of-game identity; we do not, that is, assume that a male player
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	955	who chooses a female character is actually conflicted about his
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	956	sexual identity. At the same time, this entails that the female
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	957	character in question, if she appears as a chauvinist stereotype,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	958	cannot "officially" be read to imply chauvinism on the part of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	959	player.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	960
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	961	<p>While for majority players -- white, male, middle-class -- this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	962	freedom may not appear problematic, it entails real difficulties
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	963	when (especially) female players enter the game situation, most
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	964	especially if such players have a romantic and/or sexual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	965	affiliation with another player. Indeed, female players often find
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	966	themselves read as "not serious," "just the GM's girlfriend," and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	967	so forth. When such players experience events in game-time, whether
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	968	plot events effected by other players or overtly structural
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	969	elements constructed within the game rules, their responses may be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	970	read as problematic for in-game discourse. To take an extreme
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	971	example, if a female player reacts (in-character or out, in-game or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	972	out) negatively to a rape scene perpetrated upon her (or any)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	973	character, some groups will interpret this as a failure by the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	974	player to recognize the lines separating gameplay from ordinary
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	975	discourse; more insidiously, perhaps, the player may feel that she
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	976	<i>should</i> not overtly respond negatively, precisely because she
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	977	accepts that other players grant this absolute division of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	978	discursive spaces, de-legitimizing her own emotional response as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	979	confirmation that she is not a "serious" player.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	980
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	981	<p>The common RPG theoretical response to such a situation, at
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	982	least in recent times, is to grant the legitimacy of the player's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	983	response. But this is formulated as a special case: certain types
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	984	of in-game discourse "cross the lines" or "go overboard." By
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	985	implication, normative in-game activity does <i>not</i> require
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	986	such responses, and thus this theoretically symptomatic treatment
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	987	of the situation continues to emphasize that gameplay constitutes a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	988	protected space by constructing new social-contract rules to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	989	prevent specific problems. That is, theoretical criticism of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	990	rape situation proposed above amounts to this: RPG groups and games
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	991	ought to have rules that say that players' characters cannot be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	992	raped. But this misses the point. On the one hand, it constrains
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	993	RPG discourse to a limited range of social issues, making
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	994	commentary and criticism of rape (for example) simply a prohibited
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	995	discourse, undermining the very dynamic freedom which is supposed
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	996	to permit a player to deal with situations that he or she would or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	997	could not encounter in real life; on the other, it retains and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	998	protects the hegemony of RPG discourse as something within which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	999	players may not respond personally or emotionally by making those
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1000	situations in which such responses are legitimate into abnormal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1001	cases.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1002
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1003	<p>Continuing the comparison to initiatory ritual in particular, we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1004	have here an extra-ritual response to contingent historical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1005	circumstance through limitation. In the case of the Bemba girls'
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1006	initiation mentioned above, let us suppose that a girl responds to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1007	the figurine by saying, "If I become like the figurine, the white
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1008	organizations that provide support and health services will give
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1009	extra assistance even outside of infant care; therefore for my
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1010	family in the current situation the appropriate answer to the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1011	riddle is that I should throw over tradition and use pregnancy to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1012	create a cargo-cult reciprocity with whites."<a href="#note26">[26]</a> Here we see a creative, dynamic response to the symbolic structures proposed, but with an ultimate response at odds with the hegemonic intent. An obvious counter-response would add additional symbols and instructions to prevent this response by future neophytes, and perhaps provide extra-ritual instruction of this particular neophyte so as to annul the validity of her solution.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1013
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1014	<p>In RPG ritual discourse, the same structure of constraint
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1015	through piecemeal placation consistently obtains. To the extent
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1016	that RPG players understand themselves as creative and dynamic, not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1017	controlled by encultured norms, they are enabled to reproduce
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1018	challenged norms within gameplay as protected space. That is, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1019	liberation and protection afforded players with respect to uneasy
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1020	social issues tends only to enable players who (often
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1021	unconsciously) represent majority discourses to reenact the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1022	violence of those social categories in a hegemonically protected
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1023	fashion, defended by the structure of the RPG as separated and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1024	distinct. If the white, male player's black, female character
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1025	enacts stereotypes, the notional freedom explored merely reproduces
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1026	dubious social norms, an effect seen overtly in fantasy and science
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1027	fiction book cover images (e.g. the work of Boris Vallejo), with
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1028	their manly men with weapons and voluptuous women in revealing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1029	clothing.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1030
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1031	<p>To shift the modalities of play from reproductive to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1032	transformational may be desirable, but it is unclear how this might
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1033	be effected. While RPG ritual liminality permits exploration, its
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1034	structured and constrained nature acts to defend stereotype
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1035	reproduction as "freedom" while blocking challenges thereto as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1036	failures of player technique or understanding. Logically, practical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1037	game-construction cannot merely strive to forestall deployment of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1038	stereotypes, but must work actively to undermine their function
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1039	within gameplay; it is here that critical formation of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1040	counter-hegemonic moves (e.g. feminist game design) must focus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1041	effort, at the same time recognizing that simply formulating a game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1042	that pre-determines the boundaries of appropriate and inappropriate
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1043	structure challenges cannot achieve anything.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1044
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1045	<h2>Disjuncture and Continuity</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1046
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1047	<p>As we have seen, the liminal phase of passage ritual, or more
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1048	broadly the "sacred space" effected by social disjunctures
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1049	outlining any ritual practice, affords a privileged site for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1050	examination and contestation of extra-ritual concerns; this sacred
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1051	space in RPG's is found in gameplay, often understood as a "safe"
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1052	place for exploration, and distinguished from other active spaces
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1053	by a number of explicit and more subtle formations. So far, I have
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1054	focused on how such privilege and safety becomes a double-edged
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1055	sword, permitting some forms of experimentation while denying
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1056	others legitimacy, and also undercutting the radicalism of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1057	experiment to render it harmless. But as with any ritual, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1058	protective structures that reproduce hegemonic discourse formations
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1059	are themselves genuinely threatened by in-ritual challenges. It is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1060	worth considering how such challenge may be formulated through
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1061	semiotic manipulation in gameplay.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1062
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1063	<p>In <i>The Savage Mind</i>, Claude Lévi-Strauss suggested that ritual tends to be conjunctive, as opposed to the disjunctive,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1064	classifying emphasis of myth. His meaning is best expressed,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1065	perhaps, in a discussion of the difference between game and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1066	rite:</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1067
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1068	<div class="sidebarblock">All games are defined by a set of rules
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1069	which in practice allow the playing of any number of matches.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1070	Ritual, which is also 'played', is on the other hand, like a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1071	favoured instance of a game, remembered from among the possible
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1072	ones because it is the only one which results in a particular type
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1073	of equilibrium between the two sides. The transposition is readily
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1074	seen in the case of the Gahuku-Gama of New Guinea who have learnt
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1075	football but who will play, several days running, as many matches
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1076	as are necessary for both sides to reach the same score. This is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1077	treating a game as a ritual.... Games thus appear to have a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1078	<i>disjunctive</i> effect: they end in the establishment of a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1079	difference between individual players or teams where originally
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1080	there was no indication of inequality. And at the end of the game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1081	they are distinguished into winners and losers. Ritual, on the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1082	other hand, is the exact inverse: it <i>conjoins</i>, for it brings
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1083	about a union ... or in any case an organic relation between two
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1084	initially separate groups....<a href="#note27">[27]</a></div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1085
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1086	<p>The point is that a game like soccer or Monopoly takes a group
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1087	of people not initially distinct in game terms and divides them
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1088	into at least two classes (winners and losers). By contrast, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1089	ritual performance of soccer described here does not conclude until
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1090	all players have been made equivalent; latent in Lévi-Strauss's formulation is that the natives <i>project</i> their preexisting social divisions upon the game by picking teams upon non-arbitrary given grounds. For example, they might decide that each team will be made up exclusively of initiated men of a given moiety, so that the teams represent moieties; through the ritual process, they then construct a situation in which this difference is asserted as non-absolute. This is arguably the point of the modern Olympic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1091	Games: national participation through representative athletes is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1092	supposed to assert that all men are brothers, that superiority is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1093	individual and not national, and so forth.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1094
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1095	<p>Setting aside the numerous quite serious problems with L
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1096	vi-Strauss's theory with respect to ritual as a broad range of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1097	behaviors -- indeed, I doubt he intended that it be taken as a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1098	general principle in the first place -- we can see this dynamic at
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1099	work in a major RPG discourse, particularly that which emphasizes
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1100	the collaborative nature of play. As we have already seen, in Kim's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1101	Collaborative Storytelling model "play is understood as multiple
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1102	authors producing a single discourse and a single story." The same
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1103	model discourages secrets among participants, and judges success
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1104	partly by whether "all of the participants significantly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1105	contributed to that discourse." Following up Lévi-Strauss's notion, we can see here a striving toward conjunction and unity, as against disjuncture in the form of "winning" or limited player dominance of the discourse. In other words, one of the distinctive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1106	characteristics of RPG's as opposed to more traditional games is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1107	precisely that they fit a ritual rather than a game model.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1108
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1109	<p>At the same time, a more serious deployment of structural and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1110	practice perspectives on the semiotic elements of both religious
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1111	and RPG ritual must recognize the oversimplification inherent in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1112	this conjunction/division split. First, that there are no winners
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1113	or losers cannot be accepted uncritically. Precisely because a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1114	dominant RPG discourse denies such divisions, we must consider the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1115	possibility that play <i>imposes</i> upon players a notional unity
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1116	by denying the option to seek or even accept division. After all,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1117	if we extend this rhetoric of unity, it can be taken as a claim
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1118	that in-game, all players are equal and in fact equivalent, which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1119	may be deployed strategically by situationally- or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1120	socially-dominant players to assert that complaints are anti-group
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1121	and thus mark bad players. In this context, the discourse of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1122	collaboration and unity can support the problematic use of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1123	hegemonic authoritarian or oppressive discourse, as discussed
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1124	previously in the context of chauvinism.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1125
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1126	<p>But not all such challenge necessarily supports authority or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1127	serves as an instrument of oppression. To take a simple example,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1128	the rhetoric of unity and conjunction may be deployed to block
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1129	favoritism or to identify problem players as those who either try
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1130	to dominate play or refuse to participate at all. Especially in the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1131	latter case, the unifying effect of ritual process may enable a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1132	group to draw out a timid player, emphasizing further the liminal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1133	"safety" of game space.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1134
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1135	<p>More interestingly, however, the conjunctive nature of ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1136	process may act together with the aggregation of ritual closure to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1137	effect genuine social alteration. A play group is often formed on
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1138	an <i>ad hoc</i> basis, where some players do not know each other
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1139	well outside of the game context, and indeed may not have met.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1140	Through successful ritual collaboration in a shared space
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1141	understood as distinct from other social spaces, a new social group
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1142	forms, enabling friendship and other forms of collaboration that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1143	refer to the constructed game-space rather than to other social
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1144	structures. That is, precisely because gameplay is at once divided
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1145	from other social spaces and nominally focused upon a limited set
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1146	of predetermined issues, and because such rituals do act
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1147	conjunctively by taking given divisions and annulling "winner and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1148	loser" categorizations, gameplay tends naturally to formulate an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1149	alternative social framework. Particularly for those who find
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1150	mainstream, dominant social frameworks problematic or dangerous,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1151	gameplay can constitute a controlled social space in which to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1152	succeed and seek liberation.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1153
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1154	<p>However psychologically supportive and validating such an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1155	alternative framework may be -- and it is worth noting that some
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1156	psychologists have pointed to RPG's as valuable for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1157	self-exploration and validation among (especially) teenagers --
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1158	from a broader social perspective we should recognize that this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1159	essentially entails a continuation of the initiation discourse.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1160	Turner notes that it is common that the neophytes, whatever their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1161	extra-ritual socio-economic status, are as part of the liminal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1162	leveling considered equivalent. While friendships among those
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1163	simultaneously initiated often extend beyond the ritual situation,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1164	social status, factored out within liminality, is not particularly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1165	affected by such friendships. That is, it could be argued that the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1166	shared space of ritual, although it permits and even demands
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1167	reflection upon social inequalities, ultimately acts not only to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1168	affirm these inequalities as natural and given, but also deludes
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1169	those in inferior positions into thinking that they achieve a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1170	measure of equality that is in fact nonexistent. From this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1171	perspective, we can see that RPG's may act simultaneously to affirm
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1172	and assist players psychologically, and at the same time discourage
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1173	them from acting upon or challenging the inequities of modern
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1174	social dynamics. Anecdotally, at least, we seem to see this in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1175	stereotypes of RPG players as "geeks" or "nerds" who, by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1176	participating in gaming, in conventions, and generally in a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1177	subculture, are thereby diverted or distracted from real social
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1178	action or mobilization. To formulate a rather overstated Marxist
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1179	reading, the recognition of RPG's as ritual is confirmed by its
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1180	ability to serve as an opiate for the oppressed.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1181
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1182	<h2>Conclusions: Toward an RPG of Practical Reason</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1183
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1184	<p>At present, RPG theory primarily acts as an exterior, supporting
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1185	discourse referred toward the "real thing" -- gameplay. Ironically,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1186	criticism of some RPG theory as irrelevant or trivial, on the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1187	ground that it is not practical for play goals, actually serves to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1188	grant power and hegemony to theoretical discourse: the very fact
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1189	that gameplay so strongly formulates the barriers between in-game
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1190	and out-of-game, play and system, in-character and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1191	out-of-character, reproduces the mystification of theory's active
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1192	role in discourse construction. As a way of concluding this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1193	somewhat dispersed series of analyses, then, I should like to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1194	propose some new directions in theory, directions which I think
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1195	contain the possibility for real practical change.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1196
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1197	<p>First, theory must recognize a distinction between analysis and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1198	synthesis. While it is important that such a distinction not become
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1199	the object of fetishism, as it in a sense already has, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1200	mystification of the aspect of RPG's traditionally associated with
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1201	hierarchy and power can only lead to abuse on the one hand,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1202	analytic sterility on the other. As Kim points out for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1203	Collaborative Storytelling, "It considers the rules system to be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1204	outside of the meaningful product. Rules are judged on their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1205	results for shared play, not on how the participants view the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1206	process." This perspective sets aside the impact of system and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1207	theory upon gameplay, asserting player freedom and collaboration
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1208	instead. While such a view may seem liberating, and indeed may be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1209	so as against old-fashioned GM authoritarianism, it implicitly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1210	claims that RPG performance occurs outside of structure, not in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1211	reaction to it. But since social structures and presumptive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1212	traditions of play at the least are necessarily at work in RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1213	performance, there can be no doubt that gameplay has a structured
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1214	context; were this somehow not the case, and gameplay fully
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1215	liberated from exterior structures, there could be no possibility
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1216	of conflict or its resolution, as no player would have a context
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1217	within which to react conflictually. Thus while a particular group
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1218	or style may wish to formulate a liberated play modality as ideal,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1219	this has an ideological function and serves to replace one
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1220	authoritarian structure (GM authority, game-system authority, etc.)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1221	with yet another. In order for theory to advance the improvement of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1222	gameplay, then, it must work to distinguish between analytical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1223	activities and constructive or synthetic ones, and furthermore
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1224	strive to bring this to consciousness within actual play.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1225	<p>Second, RPG theory needs to take seriously the contributions and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1226	insights of other disciplines. Eventually this should be a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1227	reciprocal engagement, but this will require acceptance by academic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1228	and other mainstream intellectual theorists; insofar as RPG theory
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1229	can support such a move, it must do so by engaging actively and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1230	constructively with such theorists, in language acceptable to their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1231	traditions. In the meantime, RPG theory must set aside its tendency
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1232	to see its analytical object as unique and thus special. William
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1233	James reminds us forcefully,</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1234
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1235	<div class="sidebarblock">The first thing the intellect does with
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1236	an object is to class it along with something else. But any object
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1237	that is infinitely important to us and awakens our devotion feels
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1238	to us also as if it must be <i>sui generis</i> and unique. Probably
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1239	a crab would be filled with a sense of personal outrage if it could
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1240	hear us class it without ado or apology as a crustacean, and thus
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1241	dispose of it. "I am no such thing," it would say; "I am MYSELF,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1242	MYSELF alone." <a href="#note28">[28]</a></div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1243
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1244	<p>James's point is clear: while we are willing to make all sorts
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1245	of classifications <i>within</i> RPG's, we tend to think of RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1246	as unique and thus special. But "unique" is simply a logical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1247	category that can be applied to any object of analysis supporting
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1248	formulation <i>as</i> a categorical object. If RPG's are unique,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1249	that does not mean they are not ritual, or social behavior; it only
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1250	means that they can, from a particular perspective, be formulated
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1251	as having some distinctive characteristics. So long as RPG theory
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1252	continues to formulate itself otherwise, as unique in an illogical,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1253	strong sense with respect to other behaviors, such theory will
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1254	continue to be marked by two unfortunate properties: first, it will
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1255	be perpetually in the position of many religious discourses of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1256	having continually to defend its boundaries against the incursions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1257	of other discourses and analytical methods; and second, it will be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1258	incapable of real analytical force because it has built into its
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1259	very self-definition essentialist biases that again require
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1260	constant and vigilant defense. Arguably, the tendency of much RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1261	theory toward rigid hierarchization and toward discourse-circle
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1262	hegemony would thus constitute a parallel to more obviously
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1263	religious dogmatisms.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1264
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1265	<p>Third, RPG theory requires models founded upon a productive and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1266	reproductive, as opposed to interpretive and receptive, situation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1267	of narrativity. Two obvious examples, Kim's already-cited article
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1268	and Liz Henry's "Power, Information, and Play in Role Playing
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1269	Games,"<a href="#note29">[29]</a> are admirable moves toward
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1270	intelligent application of exterior models, but find themselves at
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1271	odds with the purposes of those models. Kim's awareness of this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1272	problem is clear:</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1273
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1274	<div class="sidebarblock">There are many differences between RPGs
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1275	and books [upon which the formalist model is built], but some are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1276	more subtle than others. It is clear that RPGs have no division
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1277	between author and reader. Each participant both expresses and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1278	interprets. Further, this calls into question what the story is.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1279	The answer depends in part on what we define as the discourse or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1280	"text" of RPG play.</div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1281
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1282	<p>These questions are essential, and require answers; indeed, even
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1283	cursory examination of recent RPG theory reveals a constant concern
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1284	to formulate authorship, textuality, and so forth with respect to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1285	RPG's. But these debates mostly run around in circles, die out, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1286	get revived with new energy but no really new formulations, with
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1287	endless repetitions of the cycle. The problem, in short, is that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1288	formalist and hermeutical models are founded on confronting the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1289	genuinely difficult problem that interpreting a text is not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1290	comparable to a conversational situation; intricate and elegant
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1291	strategies are deployed to make sense of how we make sense of text,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1292	if you will, <i>given that it is not conversation</i>. But RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1293	<i>are</i> conversational; the problem does not arise directly. By
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1294	attempting to read RPG's through such lenses, we are caught in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1295	circularity: conversations are like books (except that they are not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1296	face-to-face), and books are like RPG's (except that the latter are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1297	face-to-face). Why not drop out the sidetrack and recognize RPG's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1298	as active, dynamic, <i>conversational</i> forms of symbolic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1299	manipulation? I have attempted a beginning here, but a great deal
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1300	more needs to be done. <a href="#note30">[30]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1301
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1302	<p>Fourth, stemming from the last point, RPG theory must take into
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1303	account the social issues at stake and at work within the smallest,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1304	most apparently arbitrary activities of play. That so much
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1305	discussion of "problem games" focuses on social difficulties --
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1306	problem players or GM's, paradigmatic clashes, etc. -- reveals that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1307	the central issues in play are social. To the extent that RPG
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1308	theory tends to work hierarchically, from top-down (broad
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1309	categorical strokes before specific game issues), it mistakes the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1310	actual dynamics by incorporating its analytic framework into
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1311	problems needing resolution; this is another means by which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1312	theoretical discourse mystifies itself and its contributions, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1313	it can most effectively be challenged from within theory
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1314	itself.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1315
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1316	<p>Fifth, RPG theory must, through engagement with broader social
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1317	theory -- particularly the mode of anthropological theory labeled
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1318	"practice" -- become aware of symbolic and structural manipulation
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1319	as a strategic part of everyday life, a set of techniques also
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1320	employed (and refined) within the specifically RPG context. This
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1321	occurs at every level of play; there can be no absolute divisions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1322	between in-game and out-of-game, for the same reasons that the only
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1323	absolute division between a Catholic Eucharist and a Catholic's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1324	everyday life is an ideological one.</p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1325
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1326	<p>Finally, RPG theory must move beyond hierarchical classification
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1327	as a technique. There is no question that classification is a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1328	valid, even necessary goal for serious analytical work. But as in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1329	so many disciplines, most notably the study of religion, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1330	tendency is to use the scientific character of classification to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1331	construct an aura of objectivity; we see this in discourses that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1332	stress "correctness". The natural upshot of such an endeavor is to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1333	reify the categories as ontologically legitimate, mystify their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1334	constructed character, and thus naturalize the authority-claims
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1335	latent within such structures. Classification must recognize that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1336	the object does not exist outside of the construction of taxa;
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1337	"religion" or "ritual" do not exist, but are means by which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1338	historically situated and motivated people classify certain
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1339	behaviors. Similarly, "RPG" is not a thing, a singular object,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1340	unique and discrete from others, and Narrativist orientations do
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1341	not differ from Simulationist or Gamist ones except insofar as we
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1342	construct them so. Classification is the basis of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1343	<i>comparison</i>, not of truth or certainty. Until RPG theory
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1344	takes on board serious recognition of its comparative nature, it
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1345	will remain an ideology and not a science.<a href="#note31">[31]</a></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1346
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1347	<hr />
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1348	<!--==========================================================-->
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1349
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1350	<h2>Notes</h2>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1351
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1352	<ol>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1353
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1354	<li><a name="note1" id="note1"></a> E.g. Ron Edwards' game <i>Sorcerer</i> (Chicago: Adept Press, 2001; see <a href="http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com">www.sorcerer-rpg.com</a>).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1355
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1356	<li><a name="note2" id="note2"></a> Edward's views have been
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1357	formulated in several articles, all of which may be found at The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1358	Forge ( <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com">http://www.indie-rpgs.com</a>). Apart from the library articles, a useful recent discussion started by Edwards is "The whole model - this is it" (<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8655">http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8655</a>).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1359
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1360	<li><a name="note3" id="note3"></a> Stable URL: <a href="http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/narrative/paradigms.html">
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1361	http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/narrative/paradigms.html</a></li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1362
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1363	<li><a name="note4" id="note4"></a> Stable URL: <a href="news:rec.games.frp.advocacy">rec.games.frp.advocacy</a>.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1364
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1365	<li><a name="note5" id="note5"></a> The Forge has hosted lengthy
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1366	discussions of how RPG play is like playing in a band (with the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1367	gamemaster playing bass), how RPG play is like playing a pinball
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1368	machine, and so on. Examination of the range of such discussions
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1369	will show the two discursive thrusts: the drive for clarification
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1370	and precision in the metaphor, and the extension of the analogical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1371	range. As a rule, such discussions end when those who find the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1372	analogy helpful have formulated a version that is clear to them
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1373	personally, when those who do not find it so grow tired of trying,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1374	and when most become frustrated with those who try to extend the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1375	analogy to ludicrous, literalist extremes. These discussions are
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1376	not worthless -->analytical models, such metaphors must be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1377	formulated rigorously, with their boundaries precisely set. For
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1378	more casual discussion, on the other hand, one of the best
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1379	qualities of a forum like the Forge is that it permits this sort of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1380	open speculation and play; indeed, a close analysis of the ludic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1381	dimension in such RPG discourse would be valuable for understanding
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1382	the interrelations of RPG play and theory.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1383
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1384	<li><a name="note6" id="note6"></a> On the issue of the "unique" as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1385	special, and its problematic applications to serious analysis
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1386	within classificatory discourse, see Jonathan Z. Smith, "Fences and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1387	Neighbors." <i>Imagining Religion</i> (Chicago: University of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1388	Chicago Press, 1982), 1-18.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1389
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1390	<li><a name="note7" id="note7"></a> See Ronald L. Grimes,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1391	<i>Beginnings in Ritual Studies</i> (Washington, D.C.: University
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1392	Press of America, 1982); Victor W. Turner, <i>Dramas, Fields and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1393	Metaphors</i> (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1974); Turner, <i>From
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1394	Ritual to Theater: The Human Seriousness of Play</i> (New York:
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1395	Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982). Essentially all of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1396	Grimes' work work since the late 1970's fits the model am
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1397	describing here, as part of what he has dubbed "ritual studies".
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1398	Turner's work, however, took a strictly performative and dramatic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1399	turn; his earliest works, while excellent, do not directly fit this
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1400	model, and can only be made to accord with the performative
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1401	perspective with considerable hindsight and, I think,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1402	distortion.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1403
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1404	<li><a name="note8" id="note8"></a> See Claude Lévi-Strauss, <i>The Savage Mind</i> (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966); Lévi-Strauss, <i>The Naked Man</i>, trans. John and Doreen Weightman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990); Pierre Bourdieu, <i>The Logic of Practice</i>, trans. Richard Nice (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1990); Sherry Ortner, "Theory in Antropology Since the Sixties", <i>Comparative Studies in Soiety and History</i> 26.1 (Jan. 1984), 126-66; Catherine Bell, <i>Ritual Theory, Ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1405	Practice</i> (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1406
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1407	<li><a name="note9" id="note9"></a> The French idea of <i>bricolage</i> is not directly translatable into English; we simply have no category quite like it. The <i>bricoleur</i> is a hobbyist of a sort, but elevated to a high artistic level. For the Lévi-Strauss formulation, see <i>The Savage Mind</i>, chapter 1, "The Science of the Concrete"; the translation is execrable, and those with a good command of French would be well advised to read <i>La pensée sauvage</i>, chapter 1, "La science du concret."</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1408
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1409	<li><a name="note10" id="note10"></a> Stable URL: <a href="http://194.29.64.17/thecog/movie.html">http://194.29.64.17/thecog/movie.html</a></li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1410
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1411	<li><a name="note11" id="note11"></a> I shall not go into detail on
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1412	hermeneutics, as it is founded primarily on philosophical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1413	negotiation of the problems of interpretive reception, problems
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1414	relevant but not central to the analysis of RPG's. On this model,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1415	see Paul Ricoeur, <i>Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences</i> (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981). See also Umberto Eco, <i>Interpretation and Overinterpretation</i> (Cambridge: Cambridge
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1416	UP, 1992); and Hans Georg Gadamer, <i>Philosophical Hermeneutics</i> (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977). Also useful, though less approachable, are Eco's <i>The Limits of Interpretation</i> (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1994) and <i>A Theory of Semiotics</i> (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1979).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1417
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1418	<li><a name="note12" id="note12"></a> A central tenet of hegemonic
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1419	Forge theory.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1420
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1421	<li><a name="note13" id="note13"></a> See Mike Holmes, "Mike's
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1422	Standard Rant #3: Combat System" (<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=2024">http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=2024</a>). Holmes' essential point is this: "If you don't want combat to be the focus of a game, do not include special rules for it. Especially if you don't include special rules about anything else." This "standard rant" has been discussed periodically on the Forge.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1423
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1424	<li><a name="note14" id="note14"></a> It should be pointed out that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1425	the Forge "system matters" principle does not claim that other
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1426	elements do not matter; the question is one of emphasis, and is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1427	here an analytical distinction rather than a polemical one.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1428
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1429	<li><a name="note15" id="note15"></a> See iago [Fred Hicks], "Long
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1430	Pig the RPG: Would You Play It?" (<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=6091">http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=6091</a>).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1431
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1432	<li><a name="note16" id="note16"></a> Jonathan Z. Smith, "Fences
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1433	and Neighbors," <i>Imagining Religion: From Babylon to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1434	Jonestown</i> (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 1-18.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1435	The polythetic system is hardly perfectly objective, but as Smith
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1436	argues persuasively, it is less inherently inclined toward
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1437	normative claims and slippages than the monothetic, taxonomic sorts
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1438	of systems founded on hierarchy.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1439
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1440	<li><a name="note17" id="note17"></a> Although see his <i>Deeply
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1441	Into the Bone: Reinventing Rites of Passage</i> (Berkeley and Los
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1442	Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), the purpose of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1443	which is explicitly to formulate ritual theory as a constructive
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1444	discourse for people wishing to invent or reinvent their own rites
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1445	of passage.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1446
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1447	<li><a name="note18" id="note18"></a> The commensuration of ritual
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1448	discourses and discourses about ritual, between ritual in fact as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1449	analytical discourse and academic analysis as in fact ritual, is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1450	outside the scope of the present paper. The argument, founded upon
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1451	a grammatological engagement with practice, performance, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1452	structural analysis, juxtaposed to early modern magical practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1453	and the theoretical dramaturgy of Zeami's Nö, will be part of the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1454	core of my book <i>Magic in Theory and Practice</i>, where I do not
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1455	connect it with RPG's per se.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1456
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1457	<li><a name="note19" id="note19"></a> Arnold van Gennep, <i>The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1458	Rites of Passage</i>, trans. Monika B. Vizedon and Gabrielle L.
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1459	Caffee (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961); Victor Turner,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1460	"Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Phase in <i>Rites de
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1461	Passage</i>," <i>Proceedings of the American Ethnological
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1462	Society</i>, Symposium on New Approaches to the Study of Religion,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1463	1964:4-20; Turner, <i>The Ritual Process: Structure and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1464	Anti-Structure</i> (Aldine de Gruyter, 1969); Turner, <i>The Forest
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1465	of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual</i> (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1466	1970).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1467
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1468
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1469	<li><a name="note20" id="note20"></a> "Betwixt and Between," 13,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1470	citing Audrey I. Richards, <i>Chisungu</i> (London: Faber and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1471	Faber, 1956), 209-10; the new edition is Richards, <i>Chisungu: A
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1472	Girl's Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia</i> (London:
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1473	Routledge, 1982).</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1474
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1475	<li><a name="note21" id="note21"></a> "Railroading," for which
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1476	there are numerous more or less equivalent terms, is the practice
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1477	of a GM essentially scripting the majority of plot events and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1478	structures within a given play session or series of such. For
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1479	example, the GM may decide, prior to play, that he wants the PC
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1480	characters, all cowboys, to engage in an OK Corral-style gunfight
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1481	as the climax of play; when the PC's choose (via their players, of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1482	course) to ride out of town to investigate a lost silver mine, the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1483	GM uses various strategies to prevent them from doing this, because
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1484	he needs them in town in order for the gunfight to take place. Such
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1485	strategies range from subtle hints to overt assertions of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1486	authority; a possible example would be to inform the players that
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1487	several of their horses are lame and cannot be ridden, then to have
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1488	no horses available at the town stable, then to ensure that nobody
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1489	in town will sell his or her own horse. By the time the players
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1490	have negotiated this many options, it is generally clear to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1491	everyone (though very often not stated) that no matter what they
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1492	do, the PC's will be prevented from riding out of town.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1493
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1494	<li><a name="note22" id="note22"></a> This point has been
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1495	emphasized in various RPG discussions. One common suggestion is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1496	that if, for some reason, the GM actually <i>needs</i> her players
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1497	to follow a set of railroad tracks, the GM should react to repeated
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1498	attempts to jump the rails out-of-game, by saying something like,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1499	"Okay, guys. I'm really not that prepared, actually, and I kind of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1500	need you to go and do X. Is that okay?" While this may act
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1501	practically to achieve the desired effect, it depends upon the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1502	rigidity of in-game/out-of-game divisions to acquire efficacy, and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1503	cannot in itself be deemed a resolution of a more fundamental
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1504	difficulty.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1505
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1506	<li><a name="note23" id="note23"></a> I would agree with these
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1507	thinkers that people never think truly independently, that is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1508	unconstrained in any manner by encultured structures; the point
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1509	here is that even constrained thought and action has tremendous
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1510	flexibility and ranges of possibility, and is not simply scripted
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1511	or railroaded in the RPG sense.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1512
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1513	<li><a name="note24" id="note24"></a> This division is reproduced
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1514	in strictly academic contexts not only with reference to ritual but
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1515	also to myth: myths are not "really" myths if they are invented for
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1516	that purpose (whatever such a purpose might be), just as rituals as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1517	not "really" rituals if they are consciously invented so. The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1518	intrusion of dubious ideas of consciousness, ontology, and category
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1519	only deflect from the central point: academics by formulating
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1520	critique in this fashion reproduce the ideology of authenticity
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1521	that authorizes and legitimates certain religious behaviors as
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1522	stable and non-inventive, as against the "wannabe" inventions of
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1523	recent "flakes" and "crazies". In a sense, we might see the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1524	division here as between those who are creative within an
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1525	authorized framework and those who create their own framework. The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1526	critique thus becomes reflexive, as indeed we should have suspected
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1527	it always was: the academic is really saying that she herself, by
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1528	being creative (doing new analytical work) within an authorized or
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1529	traditional framework (academic and disciplinary traditional
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1530	discourse) is legitimate and critical, while "crazies" (those
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1531	proposing unexpected critiques) fall outside the authorized
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1532	framework (do not have Ph.D.s, for example) and thus need not be
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1533	taken seriously.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1534
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1535	<li><a name="note25" id="note25"></a> It would be interesting to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1536	consider whether the apparent (though entirely anecdotal) overlap
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1537	between RPG communities and Neopagan ones might be at least partly
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1538	rooted here. In the absence of serious sociological data, I suspect
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1539	that an effective technique here would be close analysis of White
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1540	Wolf's various Neopagan-oriented games (especially <i>Werewolf: The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1541	Apocalypse</i> and several of the <i>Ars Magica</i> supplements)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1542	with respect to ritual/magical creativity, criticism of religion,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1543	and criticism of what the authors refer to as "traditional" games
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1544	in their explanations of how their games are special and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1545	different.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1546
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1547	<li><a name="note26" id="note26"></a> This is a purely hypothetical
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1548	construct; I know of no such actual response among Bemba, and the
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1549	example is deliberately over-simplified for heuristic reasons.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1550
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1551	<li><a name="note27" id="note27"></a> Lévi-Strauss, <i>The Savage Mind</i>, 30-32; the reference on the Gahuku-Gama is to K. E. Read, "Leadership and Consensus in a New Guinea Society." <i>American
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1552	Anthropologist</i> 61.3 (1959): 429.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1553
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1554	<li><a name="note28" id="note28"></a> William James, <i>The
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1555	Varieties of Religious Experience</i> (New York: Longmans, Green,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1556	and Co., 1902), 9. See also Jonathan Z. Smith, "Fences and
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1557	Neighbors" for a penetrating discussion of the "unique" in
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1558	theoretical discourses.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1559
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1560	<li><a name="note29" id="note29"></a> <a href="http://www.darkshire.net/%7Ejhkim/rpg/theory/liz-paper-2003/">http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/liz-paper-2003/</a></li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1561
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1562	<li><a name="note30" id="note30"></a> The same point might be made
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1563	about Edwards's dependence upon Lajos Egri's constructive models
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1564	for creative writing, models poorly suited to <i>analytical</i>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1565	purposes. In essence, Edwards asserts that Egri's models fit RPG's,
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1566	except that the product is entirely different, authorship is
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1567	shared, and really the Threefold Model is analytic rather than
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1568	constructive. More recently, Edwards has noted that Egri's model
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1569	(especially with regard to "premise") only applies properly to
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1570	Narrativist play.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1571
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1572	<li><a name="note31" id="note31"></a> Here I take science to be a
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1573	reflexive and self-critical attempt to differentiate and understand
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1574	its analytical objects. There can be no question that modern
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1575	science, in the usual sense, does not always fulfill these
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1576	criteria, in particular because it tends to claim objectivity
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1577	instead of constructed reflexivity. But given the need for such
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1578	reflexive awareness, the goals and ideals of science remain worthy
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1579	of theoretical discourse; see the introduction and first chapters
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1580	of Bourdieu's <i>The Logic of Practice</i> for a brilliant (if dense)
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1581	formulation of scientific analysis that recognizes and takes
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1582	seriously its own constructed nature. For comparison as a discourse
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1583	and a method, Jonathan Z. Smith's <i>Imagining Religion</i> should be the starting-point of any attempt at theoretical construction.</li>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1584
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1585	</ol>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1586
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1587	</div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1588
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1589
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1590	<hr />
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1591
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1592	<div id="footer" >
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1593	<address><small>Christopher I. Lehrich <clehrich@bu.edu></small></address>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1594	<address><small>Converted to HTML by John H. Kim <jhkim@darkshire.org></small></address>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1595
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1596	<!-- hhmts start -->
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1597	<small>Last modified: 19:13 AM 10/01/2005</small>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1598	<!-- hhmts end -->
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1599
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1600	<p><small><i>The Forge</i> created and administrated by <a href="mailto:webmaster@indie-rpgs.com">Clinton R. Nixon</a> and <a href="mailto:sorcerer@sorcerer-rpg.com">Ron Edwards</a>.<br />
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1601	All articles, reviews, and posts on this site are copyright their
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1602	designated author.</small></p>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1603
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1604	</div>
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1605
bdef1afd1170 [svn] r2271@freebird: fabien \| 2006-08-30 21:33:34 -0400 fabien parents: diff changeset	1606	</body>
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author	fabien
	Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:32:44 -0400
branch	ecjdr
changeset 92	bdef1afd1170
permissions	-rw-r--r--