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draft/scatter-0.txt
branchecjdr
changeset 92 bdef1afd1170 
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/draft/scatter-0.txt	Wed Aug 30 21:32:44 2006 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,356 @@
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+Author 	Topic: Get Emotional!  (Read 942 times)
+
+*Le Joueur <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=73>*
+Member
+
+Posts: 1363
+
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+View Profile
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=73> WWW
+<http://www.scattershotgames.com>
+	
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4001#msg4001>
+*Get Emotional!
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4001#msg4001>*
+« * on:* August 10, 2001, 02:09:00 PM »
+	
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is what I understand.
+
+Context
+
+I think role-playing gaming is /thinking within the context of the
+narrative/; nothing more is necessary.  Anything that fails to have that
+does not appear to be gaming.  While some things outside of gaming
+elicit contextual thinking, nothing that /is/ gaming _fails_ to do so.
+
+Let me illustrate with what I call the ?behind the bar? effect; let?s
+say you?re playing a game set in a bar described with patrons, tables
+and their contents, and let?s also say a fight has broken out.  This
+could easily be a card game, a war game, /or even a role-playing game/,
+there?s no way to tell at this point.
+
+What makes it a role-playing game?  The instant you decide that a
+character goes /behind the bar/ and gets something.  It doesn?t matter
+what, as long as the player is thinking about what /ought/ to be back
+there, they are working within the context of the bar and the fight /and
+the role-playing game/.
+
+Emotional Investment
+
+If contextual thinking is the ?what? of gaming, then here is the ?why:?
+I believe that one plays role-playing games only for the emotional value
+they have for that player.  Not limited to simply enjoyment, gaming can
+evoke intrigue, curiosity, or virtually any other emotion, but I?ll just
+refer to the whole package as emotional investment.  This is a bit of a
+simplification, but I think not an unclear one.
+
+What is gained through this emotional involvement?  I think impact and
+payoff are some of the things that result from ?feeling? involved in the
+narrative.  This is not about good or bad narratives, only the dividends
+of the emotional investment.  I say that the problems with any game are
+those that impede the emotional payoff the way inconsistency or loss of
+engagement do (to list a couple of examples).
+
+For an example, all game settings I have seen have dynamic backgrounds
+or grand conflicts.  When involved, I believe they heighten the return
+on a player?s emotional investment.
+
+The Scattershot Model:
+
+Here are our two main frames of reference, personal (things that exist
+only at the character level) and the game (everything that includes the
+character in it).
+
+Personal Level
+
+The most basic ?contact point? of play involves what you are playing
+(even when not the traditional player character).  At this level the
+overall game is of reduced importance because it only serves as the
+vehicle for the personal identification substance within it.
+
+This is the reason character generation can be so important in many
+systems.  The player character is the entity in the game that you will
+have the most affinity with.  The sophistication and detail of the
+character creation mechanics of a game system reflect the degree and
+specificity of emotional investment in things created with them.  When
+you ?make them work for it,? the player is likely to care more about
+their character.
+
+The most basic component of the personal level of emotional investment
+is in its _intrinsic value_.  In this frame of reference, what matters
+is what goes on /for/ the character.
+
+This is ?where it all happens? at the most personal level and this can
+lead to varying levels of immersion, such as thinking or feeling /as/
+the character.  It can also be about watching what a game does to one?s
+character from a personal, yet external point of view.  The value stems
+from what goes on ?inside? the character or at their level.
+
+The game becomes a vehicle for the expression of value of the character
+to the player.  The focus is on how the game affects the character and
+by extension, the player.
+
+While still being personal, one can place more emotional investment in
+the extrinsic value of their character.  Finding value in the things the
+character can do or what the player can do with the character.
+ Measuring characters against one and another.  This can include a
+certain amount of self-consciousness in the activity too.
+
+The character can become a tool for the player, what they /do/ to the
+game is the source of value.  This is about first-person value based on
+what you can do as opposed to who you are.
+
+This is also about how the player affects the game, the rush of power
+over the game in the most immediate and visceral fashion.  Consistency
+can become an issue of high value because without it, the extrinsic
+personal value can appear illusory.
+
+Game Level
+
+What exactly is ?game level??  Not a just the setting, genre, or
+narrative ? it is a living entity consisting of this and more, it is the
+whole, shared experience ranging from (but not limited to) the game
+system all the way out to the retelling of the narrative and all points
+in between.
+
+Much like the personal frame, the most immediate form of gratification
+stems from a game?s intrinsic value, of what makes play so fun.  Whether
+it is the setting, play within the resolution system, or something else,
+the value is within the game itself.
+
+What the character does, as a part of the game, is where the emotional
+pay-off is.  Unusual situations, new experiences, discovery, these are
+reflected in the intrinsic value of a game.  The character becomes a
+window to what the game has to offer.
+
+This may seem to place central value in the experiential world of the
+game, but then that would mean that the world is all there is to the
+game.  It isn?t.  There?s the tone, flavor, and atmosphere; there?s the
+feeling of a game hard-played, the feeling of let down after the fact,
+and more; this all stems from finding the intrinsic value of the game.
+
+Above this is whatever the extrinsic value a game may have.  Usually
+this also includes a fair amount of self-awareness.  Not only does play
+?know that its just a game,? but it is also willing to ?work with it? on
+that level.
+
+This often includes an external perspective of the game.  Many literary
+and theatrical devices are used but only for the effect of enhancing
+emotional impact of the narrative.  Many lofty things are often ascribed
+to this type of play and it can be a heady experience after spending a
+lot of time restricted to the personal extrinsic level by a strict
+division of powers.
+
+Many newer games invite the players to take a larger part in, if not
+partial ownership, of the game.  One hidden problem this poses is the
+loss of connection with primary point of contact, their character.  It
+scores well in terms of getting players to care for more than their
+character alone, but many times the value of the character can get lost
+in the new vistas.  And when the players cease to think in the context
+of their characters, in context of the game, it stops being role-playing
+and becomes ?writing.?
+
+Another thing this perspective includes is comparisons of systems and
+genres /between/ games.  When one game tries to ?out do? another in any
+fashion, this is the frame that is being applied.  Convention tournament
+games have a lot of this too, as do a lot of demos.
+
+Explaining All This in Terms of the GNS Model
+
+Allow me to draw some parallels to the GNS model.  Superficially, if you
+generalize this scheme it comes out very like the GNS model (provided
+immersion is split from Simulationism).
+
+The combination of immersion and Simulationism only works if the players
+find value in both the intrinsic value of their character and the
+intrinsic value of the game /simultaneously/.  Since I do not believe
+one can make a priority out of self and the world at the same time, I
+fail to see how they can be clearly lumped together, one must take a
+back seat.  This is not to confuse a Simulationist world with
+Simulationistic consistency, though.  Most losses in consistency result
+in failed emotional payoffs.
+
+From what I have read, I believe immersive players do not require as
+much Simulationist detail in the game, so long as it still creates a
+venue for their character in the absence.  I /do/ see how one could
+think of immersion as ?simulating? a character, but I do not think this
+is what most people idealize when they use the word Simulationism,
+especially when it does not seem like one can focus on simulating both
+character and world simultaneously.
+
+These frames of reference also suggest a problem with one of the other
+GNS comparisons.  It seems to me when comparing Gamism to Narrativism,
+it is like comparing oranges and IBMs.
+
+The comparison between Simulationism and Narrativism would be the
+difference between the intrinsic and extrinsic value of what the game
+evoked.  (I think this would be like comparing apples and oranges.)
+
+The comparison of Gamism and Simulationism shows relation by subject.
+ The extrinsic value of a personal frame of reference has value based on
+the game and the intrinsic value of a game obviously stems from itself,
+making these values relative to the same thing, the game, only from
+different perspectives, personal versus game.  (This might be like
+comparing Apples and IBMs.)
+
+Therefore comparing Gamism and Narrativism relates the extrinsic value
+of the personal frame and the extrinsic value of the game.  These, I
+think, are unrelated.  (This would therefore be like comparing oranges
+and IBMs.)
+
+(I include these references to the GNS model only as a convenience to
+those whose work is primarily with it.  Consider it a starting point to
+my explanation of the frames I use.)
+
+Fang Langford
+	Logged
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fang Langford is formerly the creator of the Scattershot Role-Playing
+Game System.  This project has been permanently suspended.  If you have
+any questions regarding the implementation of it or anything else, he
+can be reached at ripjack@mad.scientist.com
+<mailto:ripjack@mad.scientist.com>
+
+*Ron Edwards
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=9>*
+Global Moderator
+Member
+*
+Posts: 12610
+
+
+View Profile
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=9> WWW
+<http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com>
+	
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4003#msg4003>
+*Get Emotional!
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4003#msg4003>*
+« *Reply #1 on:* August 10, 2001, 02:32:00 PM »
+	
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fang,
+
+I think the emotional investment you describe is related, or even
+identical, to what I called "imaginative commitment" earlier, when
+discussing Exploration.
+
+To review: Exploration is the starting point or act for role-playing.
+GNS represents applications/foci/goals for the act.
+
+This is not to undercut or refute any of your post, but rather to agree
+with and reinforce it.
+
+Best,
+Ron
+	Logged
+
+*Le Joueur <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=73>*
+Member
+
+Posts: 1363
+
+
+View Profile
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=73> WWW
+<http://www.scattershotgames.com>
+	
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4007#msg4007>
+*Get Emotional!
+<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.msg4007#msg4007>*
+« *Reply #2 on:* August 10, 2001, 02:42:00 PM »
+	
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Quote
+Ron Edwards wrote:
+I think the emotional investment you describe is related, or even
+identical, to what I called "imaginative commitment" earlier, when
+discussing Exploration.
+Quote
+This is not to undercut or refute any of your post, but rather to agree
+with and reinforce it.
+
+
+Excellent, "imaginative commitment" was what go me started, thanks to
+you.  I just felt that a sense of ?committedness? was the emotion at the
+root of character identification and emotional investment.  And the
+"imaginative" part was too vague on the contextual scheme of things.
+
+Fang Langford
+
+[ This Message was edited by: Le Joueur on 2001-08-11 08:56 ]
+	Logged
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fang Langford is formerly the creator of the Scattershot Role-Playing
+Game System.  This project has been permanently suspended.  If you have
+any questions regarding the implementation of it or anything else, he
+can be reached at ripjack@mad.scientist.com
+<mailto:ripjack@mad.scientist.com>
+
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