Monday, March 28, 2011
Story Games, Not Problematic
Theo Dudek the Ultimate Gamemaster states that story games are problematic because real life isn't made up of stories. Well I don't think games are real life. The fantasy books that were the inspiration for role playing games are not real life. And many modern games that draw directly from TV and movies and are not real life. Personally I'd much rather adventure in a fantasy world than a real life one. He goes on to say that real life is essentially random. And the best games should attempt to capture the randomness of reality. He claims that DMs create adventures by merely stringing together a series of random events. And it is the players who create a story by looking for a pattern afterwards. From the sound of it I don't think I'd want to play in his campaign. A good game should combine both elements. Story creates a backdrop to which the players can feel they belong. And randomness in the outcome insures that players feel a sense of satisfaction in it. And we all know how unsatisfying real life can be. Role playing games souldn't be. And the story is not a problem.
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I agree with this. If I wanted to role-play real life, I'd cut out the middle man and stay at work. Also, stories are real life, even if they are anecdotes,
ReplyDeleteI Don't agree. I believe that there is a story that is me, and it includes all of my life experiences, triumphs, failures, sorrows and euphoria. This story will continue to write itself until I am gone. This story of my life is written for me, by me, and defines who I am. Its not a best seller, its not supposed to be, its there for me to help understand myself and live out my life to a successful conclusion. We all have our own personal stories that define who we are, and when each of our stories overlap its called life and that adds to our personal experiences and in turn our own personal stories.
ReplyDeleteI Can’t agree that life is just a random fate that you have no control over, I constantly make decisions in my life that are based on the sum of all my past experiences, both, good and bad, and every decision I make adds to my experience which effect my future decisions ( do you not see a pattern here).
The Unfortunate thing about Role Playing Games are that they have an artificial way of measuring success (levels, gold, weapons, experience, ultimate triumph) players often unfairly compare their fantasy world to their real life, and come up short. I try to enjoy the experience of the game and add it to my life story regardless of how the game turns out, this allows me to win every time.
I like my personal story, its filled with more drama than Shakespeare could possibly write, I try hard not to compare it with anyone else’s, as this is not fair to them, or to myself. I have to be me and judge myself with an open mind, RPG’s only adds to life’s experience they should never take the place of it.