thread: 2005-03-15 : Definition: Engaged
On 2005-03-16, Chris wrote:
Hi Tom,
There's a two fold thing to it- first, as a player, do you know when and under what conditions your participation will get amended or overruled? And second, is there a way to get your participation back into the game?
Engaged play means that the group at the table all know what those two questions are about.
If I know that my input will get handed over to someone else under certain conditions("He rolled higher than you, so he narrates..."), then it's not "over-ruling" as much as it is me agreeing to hand over my input according to the rules (and Social Contract). I also know that there are ways for input to come back to me. If the group's not clear on when or how input gets passed around, then all kinds of problems can occur(which is Vincent's argument for formal rules over freeform).
The thing is, I don't have to be engaged in every single moment of play, I just have to be able to have the opportunity to become engaged on a regular basis.
An analogy to consider- boardgames assure engagement by giving each player "turns"- what would you say about a game that allows one player to choose how many turns anyone gets, in what order, and there's no guarantee that each player will even get one turn? That would be disengaged play, there's no guarantees of input, and input can be blocked at a whim.
