thread: 2005-09-02 : Meg on Ritual
On 2005-09-06, Vincent wrote:
Marco: yes, yes of course.
I think "safe" is not precise enough a word. Now, I'm talking only about provocative rpgs here; lots and lots of rpgs are safe on account of not being provocative. But among provocative games, within "safe" I see both "nobody gets hurt" and "nobody gets left behind" (or "I will not abandon you"). Two whole different kinds of safe, both awesome.
Polaris is a shining example of "nobody gets hurt." We have no shining examples of "nobody gets left behind."
As we get better and better at making provocative games, we need to sort this stuff out. It may be that "nobody gets left behind" isn't something we can design into our games, in the way that "nobody gets hurt" is. That would make me sad; I'm dedicated to a "people get hurt, but not abandoned" kind of safety.
Ron's likened it to sparring in a martial art. "I'll bloody your nose if I can, but we're in it together."
This makes MB go "Yes."
And while we're trying to bloody each other's noses, we're also totally committed to each other's saftey and our own.
This makes BL go "Huh?"
This makes MB go "Really Huh?"
Having Safty in place doesn't mean I go easy on you, it means we agree to the rules (No head shots, for example) and them we go full bore, encouraging each other to lay it on. We also respect a 'Hold', and never fight mad. Make sense?
This makes Nev go "Agreed"
Absolutely. Nobody wants to hurt an opponent, be it wrestling, rattan, or foamfighting- but you don't want any less than your opponent's best effort either.
