thread: 2006-04-06 : I roleplay with my penis
On 2006-04-07, Vincent wrote:
Ooh, Ron.
Okay, check me on this.
In Dogs original I said "as a group, work out what counts as a legit raise." I watched people play for a while, and then in Dogs illod I said "as a group, work out what counts as a legit raise - and that means hold yourself to the highest standard, not the standard of whoever's talking at the moment." I always meant that, but few people read it that way.
When you or I or anyone says "the group does blah blah," you and I know that it's a process of criticism and judgement, it's the group holding the individual to its high standards. But that's not how most gamers read it, it's not how they can read it. They read it as "I get to do blah blah for myself, and the group accepts me uncritically for who I am and what I can contribute (if anything) or they aren't really my friends."
So in Sex and Sorcery you lead with the group's lines and veils, and how do people read it? Like this: "I get to set lines and veils for myself; I get veto power over others' participation, by establishing lines and veils; I don't have to deal with anything I don't want to. Or they aren't really my friends."
So instead of orienting us, you might be inadvertantly giving us a reassuring out.
It's pretty clear that people don't want to really talk about it, though - hell, I don't really want to talk about it either, at least not today. I mean, come up to me in the Forge Birthday forum and be like, "Vincent, just how sexy is it to roleplay with Meg and Emily all the time?" and watch me duck and dodge.
This makes RE go "Good point about the reading"
The capacity of readers to flip meaning 'round is pretty high. But not inevitable. I'd like that follow-up dialogue, though.
