thread: 2009-07-26 : Very Briefly about Authority
On 2009-07-27, Marco wrote:
I disagree that someone "ignoring a game's design" isn't "playing the same game" anymore. Really it depends on what you mean by "ignoring a game's design" and "not playing the same game"—for certain values of either I could agree to it—but I think this formulation creates a very negative one-drop rule where you have people arguing with a straight face that all those guys playing AD&D without weapon-AC modifiers weren't playing AD&D at al when, across the nation, they would almost universally be recognized as playing AD&D and, in fact, their play for vast stretches would be completely indistinguishable from a game where those modifiers were used (and very hard to distinguish as a whole).
Basically I don't disagree that "things change" when people house rule or make spot decisions or what have you—but I think it's damaging to hold an iconic value of "the game" when a large number of well meaning groups—fan boys—would find themselves "not playing it' (and I mean that for fans of indie RPGs as well as traditional ones)—or even situations where many or most players might not be able to say if they played the game or not.
-Marco
