thread: 2006-01-17 : Hurt and Abandonment
On 2006-01-19, C. Edwards wrote:
Thanks everyone for sharing.
Also, I think that even a well designed game can only offer minimal support for the hurt and those trying to support them. Handling your hurt and being productively supportive of the hurt are skills that, in my experience, are only improved by doing.
A game can build structures and offer guidelines but, unless the participants are already sufficiently skilled, that first experience of hurt probably stands a good chance of shutting down the hurt person's openness to any further deep play.
It all seems very sink or swim, and part of me thinks that's as it should be. The other part really wants to hear any ideas for making it not so.
-Chris
This makes TLB go "Say "You will get hurt""
Hurt is easy to get over. Betrayal is hard. When people feel betrayed they dont -want- to get over it. They nurse the anger. So tell people straight out "This pain? You're going to feel it. And when you feel it, it's not going to be something someone breaking their promise to keep you safe. It's what you signed on for."
This makes WMW go "Exactly. Informed consent"
is step one. Defined boundaries is another step. We're just beginning to grope towards an ethics of roleplaying.
