thread: 2011-05-11 : The Un-frickin-welcome
On 2011-05-04, David Berg wrote:
I think you've misunderstood me. I'm trying to get at what you mean when you talk about game rules producing unwelcome results. I think we've already agreed that this isn't just any type of negative response to any moment of fiction for any reason. It's something more specific than that.
In trying to pin down that negative response, I'm drawing heavily on context. My response to having my character put in a desperate, costly scenario will vary greatly depending on the group context of play. I'm talking here about context from the general ("we're playing to have fun") to the specific ("the MC shouldn't force lose-lose situations on players").
My second response about losing my followers was different from my first because of a change in context: "if this is a game where tough dilemmas are the norm."
In our actual game, that wasn't the norm at all. Everyone would have viewed "risk your followers or lose something else just as important!" as a dick move, and Matt never did that.
A constant across both contexts is that initial moment of "Crap! I lost my followers!" What I'm asking now is whether and when that counts as the "unwelcome" experience you're talking about.
Is it dependent on anything?
Does it matter if I'm going "Cool!" a second later because I see how losing my followers contributes to enjoyable play?
I've read your responses thus far to say that it does matter. But I'm having trouble seeing a viable alternative. If I stay upset because I'm not getting enjoyable play, that's a problem. So perhaps our only disconnect is over the process of getting over disappointment and enjoying play? Maybe I move on unusually quickly, so my descriptions sound weird or something?
