((OOC - Discussion tiems!))

[sharpestscalpel]

((OOC - So, this mirror game is an off-shoot of the very first online RP in which I've been involved. I've done a lot of table-top, some LARP, and some single-player computer-based RPG but using LJ this way kind of fascinates me. And I was thinking about that and thinking about the things that I love and the things that have been driving me crazy and I started to wonder:

What does your ideal online RP look like?

I'm posting this here because I'm interested in the thoughts of other players but also, if anyone wants to speak on it, the thoughts of readers. It's such an interesting performative way of playing and I'm pondering the back-end portion of it, the meta of it, the tendency of myself to forget that other people can read any of this, that sort of thing. Let's assume that all discussion is out of character - if, you know, there actually IS discussion and not just me rambling along in my little corner here.

To me, the best RP is a form of collaborative story telling. It becomes a tapestry of lots of different stories that all touch on and influence each other. I feel like there are some barriers to that in this format (LJ) - but that in other ways this format is ideal for games that result in a collaborative narrative.

And now we've started Twittering and I'm kind of in love with the idea of a game that works across social networking platforms. But the drawback is that then you have to put in the work to make it happen across social networking platforms and readers have a hard time following everything. I used to play a table-top game that involved a lot of websites and internets research, though, and it was phenomenally fascinating. I'm not sure where the trade-off is for that.

Anybody? Bueller?))

Comments

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how that would work for things like the memes where we all wind up talking to each other in character but without, necessarily, significant plot development. Except sometimes plot DOES develop - like the thing with TOS Uhura and Len. I guess the question is, with that sort of set-up, what counts as game and what counts as meta and is there a way to combine them without it making things unnecessarily difficult.

[behnd-blueyes.livejournal.com]

I guess I feel that it wouldn't be much different--I mean, I'd still work off my f-list, and so stuff that came up via individual journals would still get play. I don't know. The question of what counts as game and what counts as meta is open in this context, as well. So I'm not sure the question alters significantly.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

I guess a community would arrange things more easily for people who don't follow everyone on a friends list? I am trying to figure out the benefits of a community around which RP is organized but since I've never played that way, it's kind of like trying to figure out what elephant tastes like based on a couple of vague descriptions. I think it would be interesting? I'm just not sure why it is significantly different from play on a friends list since there would still be out of sequence entries.

[behnd-blueyes.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too. I haven't played that way either, and I'm not at all certain how it would be different, except that if you were following via a regular, non-RP journal, you could just go to the comm rather than wading through RP vs non-RP flisters.