Have you ever noticed that bloggers have a tendency to take whatever thing that happened in their life lately and write all the post of the following days about that very thing… Well I’m no exception… 🙂
I got the idea for this post while my 5 year-old son was very enthusiastically beating my Mii senseless at Wii Sport’s Boxing. Up until that point I was still rather skeptical about all those stories of people losing weight while playing with this lovable infernal machine.
But as I was getting really into the boxing match, weaving and ducking and trying to survive my son’s merciless pounding, a clear comparison between the Wii phenomena and a good RPG session came to me.
One of the things about Wii Sports is that it could be argued that it is a rather weak mechanical simulation of sports (with the possible exception of Bowling… Which might not be construed as a sports, but I’m nitpicking…).
However what it lacks in reality, it makes up in cleverness and coolness (i.e: the Wii-mote’s simulation of sporty movements). I’m pretty sure that what drives people to lose weight is the sheer enthusiasm that the Wii’s clever coolness generates when people play in groups on that thing.
Do you see where I’m heading with this? Role playing games are a more or less realistic simulations of genre adventures/stories right? This is much like the Wii’s take on sports in that it’s not a perfect simulation. Therefore, I’m convinced that the enthusiasm that a RPG session generates, through the DM’s energy or the group’s inherent dynamic, plays a more significant role in it’s success than the actual mechanics of the game used.
Aside: Although I would argue that clever and cool use of the game’s mechanics and fluff contribute to make enthusiasm easier to achieve and maintain.
The way I see it, all GMs should have a gimmick, like the Wii-mote, that’s their own and that helps foster enthusiasm (either their own or the group’s).
Some example:
- Create Hype for the upcoming game
- Design adventures according to player tastes
- Blog about what you have planned for the next game
- Create the coolest plot hooks.
- Use Tropes!
When you are enthusiastic about your game in general, or at least a few key elements, chances are it will be infectious.
And having a gimmick that fosters enthusiasm is not a GM only thing, players too can have a few tricks up their sleeves. For example, Yan has this uncanny player super power to invoke the player’s Rule of Cool with such dynamism and chutzpa, you just want his crazy stunts to succeed…
Heck, he convinced me to disregard part of the rules and was able to jump from a tree, dodge a Blade barrier, strike a Celestial in midair and land in another tree. 🙂
Anyway, the take home message here is thus: We’re already geeks for playing RPGs, you might as well leave your stoicism and phlegm outside and geekout with your players.
What about you? What’s your ‘thing’ that makes you, as imperfect as your game engine might be, enthusiastic about it?
Excellent post.
I feel that rules and setting can, in addition to what you already mentioned, channel enthusiasm. I’m not sure, though. It does feel right.
My enthusiasm is almost always about the fiction. Rules are a tool to create more compelling fiction (or they are dead weight) and to keep everyone at the same page. I’m only enthusiastic about them when designing new ones.
There’s a reason some people enjoy Synnibarr, after all.
Thanks guys… now I have to inject some more enthusiasm in my game Friday…. It’s a 1/2 season finale after all…
Because you’re agreeing with me, I consider your post to be very insightful.
“the enthusiasm that a RPG session generates, through the DM’s energy or the group’s inherent dynamic, plays a more significant role in it’s success than the actual mechanics of the game used.”
This echoes several things I’ve said before. Firstly, that the success of a game session depends on, in order:
1. People
2. Snacks
3. Setting
4. System
This does not mean that (for example) the system is unimportant, merely that it’s the least important thing.
Secondly, I’ve written before about the importance of “sympathy” in a game group, by which I mean “sympathy” in its old sense, of sharing all emotions, not just feeling sorry for someone. When one player gets grumpy the whole group may get grumpy, when one is right into it so is the group, and so on.
Enthusiasm’s part of that.
I believe the word you’re looking for is empathy. I’ve worked customer service jobs too many times in my life to not have heard that word stressed over and over.
Interesting that you list snacks second. I would too, but likely not for the same reasons. I have found that while ample snack supply is important, more important is what kind of snacks you have.
High sugar snacks keep everyone energetic… for about an hour. After that, the snacks disappear, and players crash, which is bad. So my listing of snacks would be more having the right kinds of snacks. (Starchy or salty snacks, like chips, and fruit are best, in my experience.)
The really wasn’t any point to this babbling. Carry on. 😛
No, I mean sympathy in the older sense of the word, as used by Adam Smith in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, as I wrote in the link I gave.
Empathy is sensing the other person’s feelings, while sympathy (in the old sense) is sharing their feelings. A psychologist for example has empathy, but will be better off if they don’t have sympathy, or else the emotional drain would be staggering for them.
Sharing feelings isn’t the same as sensing them, which is what “empathy” is. In a game group, people share one another’s feelings. We cheer with one another’s triumphs and boo with one another’s balls-ups.
Snacks are important because sharing food is a very basic social thing for humans. The Qoran for example says that if you have shared bread and salt with a man, you may never again raise your hand against him. There’s a reason all festivals involve people eating a lot together. Sharing food binds a group – whether game, family, or whatever – together in a friendly way.
Kyle: Thanks for stopping by…. from the very little I’ve yet read of your ‘work’, it seems we have similar philosophies towards RPGs. I really like your stance on Cheetoism.
The sharing of Food and beverages is a very interesting insight. As a matter of fact, my group almost always shares a delivered meal before we start our games and we more or less pool our beer, Pop and chips.
Everyone, until I find the time to actually work on this, have a look at some of Kyle’s work here
I’ll add it right now to my favorite address also. He tackled the 4 stages model (and added a 5th one) before I did.
If Jeff Rient’s Awesome Up post defines what I want to be as a DM, Kyle’s Cheetoism defines the social aspects of what I aim at around the table…