thread: 2005-07-05 : Setting and Source Material
On 2005-07-06, Ian Charvill wrote:
Christian wrote"My guess why some people don't get along with PtA is that they have trouble being spontaneous. It can be creative trouble—i.e., they can't come up with something on the spot—or resistance from a "that's not the way to do things right" perspective."
My observation from non-roleplaying circles is that no one has a problem coming up with stuff ever. There are only variations on the theme of performance anxiety—and performance anxiety is a relationship problem. It's not a problem they have—it's a problem they and I share. Part of the reason why they're having a problem performing is the way I am acting around them. My insight, such as it is, is that I am not a therapist and furthermore I am not in a therapeutic relationship with them. The only thing I can have any reasonable ambition to change in that circumstance is me. It's the way I act in relationship to them.
So what I'd offer is that Vincent's "starting point of the creative process" needs to be some variation on a non-judgmental group environment.
(If roleplayers have any particular problems in that area it's the overarching geek trait of hypercriticality. It's not because of roleplayers or their texts in the strict sense, it's because of the subculture to which they belong.)
