thread: 2011-05-18 : Ben Lehman: Rules and their Functions
On 2011-05-23, Vincent wrote:
So this would mean, let's see.
A "mediating" rule is one that refers materially to fictional things. "Whichever player has the high card, that player's character wins" is a mediating rule, where "whichever player has the high card, that player says what happens" is a procedural rule. These both happen to be immediate rules (usually), but as Emily and I have talked about this, wanting your distinction, we've fallen sort of generally into a habit of mediating=immediate, continuous=procedural thinking. For mediating rules we've talked about resolution mechanics, which are usually immediate, where for procedural rules we've talked about things like "I'm the GM and you're a player," which are usually continuous.
But this doesn't really hold. Check me on this, next: in some versions of D&D and its like, your character's alignment is an example of a (usually) continuous mediating rule. My character's lawful neutral, for intance, so I'm supposed to have her do lawfully neutral things. It's continuous, not immediate (except in its violation, which is fine), but it still refers materially to a fictional fact, and maybe to a representational cue if we care about that. Make sense? Emily, make sense to you?
