thread: 2012-02-11 : 3 Problems
On 2012-02-12, Jeff Russell wrote:
@Alex: while I personally agree that I would much rather play a years long campaign in a rich group created setting with complex but flavorful rules, that's because you and I are the people for whom current models of RPGs are already working. For any given one of the three colors above, we're in the white space of "people who would enjoy the game" on most RPGs. Not to speak for Vincent, but I think the idea with addressing these problems is to expand the potential design space of RPGs so that a) people who are not wired to enjoy all the intricacies of RPGs as we currently know them will want to play, and b) people like us who love roleplaying can do it more often with more people and still get the core of what makes it great without all the froofuraw and embellishments that some of us love so much.
Here's a sports metaphor, ironically enough: to play pro football you have to train for years, play successfully in a college program, get drafted, and practice constantly (pretty oppressive social footprint). You have to learn rules, plays, the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams, et cetera (narrow content). Oh, and also it's full contact, you have to wear pads, you might get injured, and you have to be abnormally big and strong to do well (difficult procedures). Now, to pro-football players, thay's "real football" and why would they play any other way? Well, maybe thanksgiving rolls around and they want to play a game with their friends and family. Or they want to teach their kids to play so that maybe one day they'll play "real football", but I'd not, at least they got to share in the enjoyment of something their dads loved.
