thread: 2009-06-22 : Secrets: the Smelly Chamberlain
On 2009-06-23, Bruce Curd wrote:
Hi Vincent
Awesome post! I hope I'm not drifting off topic here but I'm finding people's interpretation of "inside the game's fiction" really interesting.
As Marco wrote:
There really is no "sharing" of "Shared Imaginary Space"—I mean, that's a fine name for the idea of "What we all imagine together" but as his (Brand's) example points out it is not actually shared.
And yet the debate about when/whether something becomes "true inside the game's fiction" seems to hinge on people's perception of when that something became "shared"
In reality it became true in Player 1's fiction as soon as he decided it was true. It became part of player 2's fiction a bit later on. And it was never part of player 3 or 4's fiction. So what is "the fiction" we're all talking about? Where does it exist? And what if "the fiction"/shared consensus which we think we've agreed upon actually turns out to be inconsistent?
For example, what if all the players entirely agree on the fact that the Chamberlain smells, but then it subsequently comes to light that Player 1 had been imagining the Chamberlain reeked of rotting flesh, while Player 2 imagined that the Chamberlain smelled strongly of vanilla? The Chamberlain still smells (unless this fact gets retconned out) but the perception of what that means and how it impacts on the players' individual imaginings is suddenly thrown into doubt; perhaps changing the complexion of the "fact" entirely.
