thread: 2005-04-04 : Participant vs. Author?
On 2005-04-08, Vincent wrote:
Oh, and: "strong stuff indeed" is when the game design really does foster meaningful participation, with "meaningful" meaning "to the point of the theme."
Let's say that the moral line across which the characters are in conflict is violence. At the end of the game, the theme will be about violence: "to protect something with violence is to destroy its value," "violence without love is fruitless," "our souls are violent, try as we might," or some other concrete statement. (A theme is a judgement.) In the midst of play, we're busy saying this - we aren't enacting a known theme, we're creating one, we don't know what it will be. My character is caught up in these compelling questions about, like, can violence be fruitful without love? Can violence be fruitful with love? Can violence serve love or will violence always betray and destroy love? I mean this is serious stuff that I care about a lot, as a person; by playing my character I'm up to my elbows in honest human problems.
And I write on my character sheet: I've learned how to shoot people. Or Firearms ****.
That is strong stuff. It's the feedback between fiction and procedure. It changes everything that matters.
