Monday, January 08, 2007

Weekly Review Dec. 31st to Jan. 6th

This week has seen some revisiting of ideas from earlier developments, but with some new twists.

Designing System

Guy Shalev discusses different approaches to system design in RPGs. Specifically he delineates between mechanics and advice, suggesting that the former lend themselves to rigorous testing, and should not be made reliant on advice and context to make them work correctly.

RPG Media Revisited

Malcom Sheppard expands on a Story Games thread he initiated on table-top play as a specific medium for RPGs. He suggests that much table-top design does not exploit the medium, so much as treat table-top as an assumed place to play. He describes the distinctiveness of table-top as allowing "fuzzy judgments with complex systems" - namely subjective judgments as parts of a fairly complex system.

Cooperation and Private Creation

John Kim discusses the problems with creative commitment, stemming from the debate about accessible games. Moving away from that specific problem, however, he discusses the use of private and semi-private creative spaces for players, as a means to provide safety while enjoying the creative process.

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