[Discuss] Roleplaying police, bust me first.

[Rick Cronan]

On 6/27/07, Jonathon Taylor <jonathon.its.never.enough at googlemail.com> wrote:

> if all of a sudden, role-play suddenly because more important than a
> game mechanic within BattleMaster, something has drastically gone
> wrong and something needs amending.

"We all roleplayed extremely well that we were undefeatable, but the
stupid game's battle code ruined that roleplay for all of us.  Tom
should fix it so we win all the battles, other wise our roleplay is
meaningless."

Well, quite.

Roleplaying is not just about making any old thing up... it's about
creating and playing a character within the context of the game world.
 The game world is defined by the rules, the social contract and the
game mechanics.

This is a slightly peculiar world, in which troops can only be
recruited at capitol cities, assassins just wound people, prisons have
teleportation devices for when they release inmates, and claims of
dominion over regions can be gained through forgery, bribery and
corruption.

The latter of those is hardly the one that breaks willing suspension
of disbelief.

I think this has blown up into a row for a couple of reasons.

Firstly - as sadly always seems to be the case on the d-list - people
can't help bringing their in-game grievances with them and taking the
opportunity to attack their in-game opponents.

Secondly, there's been a mixing of what is really two separate
discussions: how do you deal with situations where the game code makes
a mockery of your roleplay, and is the 'buy title' game mechanic a
valid one.

Personally my view is: 'deal with it', and 'yes, but 'buy claim' is
much, much better.

- rick


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