thread: 2005-06-02 : Immersion
On 2005-06-04, Jonas Barka wrote:
Vincent: "Well, I'm not going to seriously take on both the Scandinavian Scene and The Method on my dumb little blog.
I don't know anybody here in the US doing 7-day larps. It may well be that weird things happen during 7-day larps, real break with reality shit. Religious frenzy-level break with reality shit. I've got nothing to say about that."
Thats ok. But it's not ok for you to say that the style of play and techniques used in the Scandinavian Scene can't be applied to tabletop games. The fact is that most of the games focusing on character immersion as opposed to experiencing a fantasy world do not last more than an evening. Another fact is that many of the players of scandinavian immersion larps also play tabletop and expect to experience the same thing, but on another scale. This is quite possible but most type of game mechanics (like conflict resolution) do not work at all in this context.
It all boils down to that you cannot both say you do not consider this style of gaming and still claim that rules do not hinder immersion at all.
It is very much the same reasoning as:
Person A: Color always makes for a better move than b/w.
Person B: But there are many occations where b/w is considered better because the lack of color puts the focus on other things.
Person A: Don't talk about b/w movis, I don't consider them at all.
Do you really mean that lack of rules can never enhance the rest of the game? Regarless of what you trie to experience? Do you also think a movie must always have sound, a car always have a roof and sex must always be accompanied by love?
Is it impossible to imagine that some people find rules and dice distracting and that they *really* couldn't have a better experience with them? Just because you do not feel that way can't you imagine another person functioning like that?
/ Jonas
unrealitiesofmine.blogspot.com
