Saturday 28 June 2014

~Fun, Risk, Failure & Reward~

~Fun, Risk, Failure & Reward~


Not to long ago (volume/edition) I spoke about character death and retiring characters who've had a lengthy play time.


This is some what of a follow up to that article in a side step fandango kind of way..


There comes a time when the character we're playing takes on a life of their own, and you become heavily invested in them, emotionally and very possibly financially as well if you've bought a lot of kit for them which wouldn't suit another character.


This is great, it means you managed to reach that rare roleplay spiritual plateau where you have become one with what you have created.
And then some big monster comes along and snuffles them up with out even bothering to season or add some gravy. How inconsiderate of that monster right?
Don't they know you scoured the internet for The Perfect Weapon, don't they know that you spent weeks sorting through charity shops, jumble sales and bootfairs for that perfect bit of clothing every one associates with your character?


It's enough to make you cry! You died! Oh no! So unfair!


~Wind your neck in buddy.~
You want to play a game where there's no risk of failure or death?
Go play some computer game in god mode then, go on, shoo, get out of here..
I hear that quite a few MMO have lots of grey critters you can spend all day spam killing for fun!


Roleplaying & Larp are all about risk!


What good is it if you're never challenged?
What do you learn about yourself if you don't have to examine those grey areas you always ignore?
That comfort zone you spend all your time in is all well and good but as a person and a character you don't grow in any way at all other than notching up some XP and adding some more skills to your character sheet!


~Rule 1: It's all about having fun!~
Yes but who's fun?
Yours most certainly, but what about everyone else in the game, aren't they allowed to have fun as well?
What about the fine folks that run the games for you? Are they doing it just to provide a service for you and not allowed to have any fun of their own?


Never forget you're not the only one playing the game.
Don't try and bully other players in allowing you to “win” all the time, you're there to play with and against them.
No one likes bullies, and you can soon find yourself being ostracised or even being asked to leave the system by the folks that run it.


~Failure can be more fun than Success~
What better opportunity to prove your (and your characters) sense of worth than by winning against all odds. That moment when you can fist pump the air after some how managing to survive a session despite being low on health, mana & arrows (or other system specific measurements) is truly a wonderful thing.
It lends you an air of bragging rights, you get to have a bit of an in game Rep, a legend in your own lifetime!
Until of course some one else comes along and does a similar sort of thing and you're forgotten just like last fridays newspaper which doesn't even make it in to the chippy to wrap up a nice bit of cod & chips..


Playing a character who doesn't go out of their way to risk themselves and the things they hold dear is a bit of a lame duck. After all, why are you playing the game if there's no chance of losing something, be it your life, your fathers sword or the multinational corporation you built up from scratch?


~I Win!?~
What makes a Win situation in a game though?
Is it surviving week to week, month to month year to year?
Does your game have specific quests which are there to be done to gain bonus XP or other nifty rewards?
Do you set yourself some goals which are not related to the games main plot but follow a personal story arc instead?
Is your game all about co-operation or is there plenty of PvP risk involved with the things you might want to do?


Sometimes it's obvious what equates to a win in a game: the princess is saved, the evil warlord and his army are defeated, the wicked witch's curse has been broken.


What about the things which in the short term look like a win but turn out a few months later to actually be a lose?
The princess you saved is actually a doppelgänger who's now ruining the kingdom.. Yay! You helped destroy a kingdom!
The evil warlord was actually fighting to prove the King is a dragon in disguise who ate all of the royal family.. Well done, you just became a tasty dragon snack!
That wicked witch you dropped a house on had a sister who's a lot more powerful and you've just made it personal for her.. Better escape to some other plane of reality because there's nothing you can do to stop the witch, she's just to powerful and has no known weaknesses!


Do you feel a bit cheated, after all you worked so hard to “Win” before and that's been snatched away from under your nose!


In some games there are no clear Win situations, all you can do is hold back the Lose situations.
But what if the point of the game isn't to win, but to struggle, to lose friends and allies along the way, to come under suspicion from others?
Wouldn't that be fun!


~Turn that frown upside down~
So, you're battered, broken and you've lost all your friends and allies, you're a wanted person and the world is now against you.
Great!
Now its time to really start playing the game.


You have to beg, steal and borrow, do things that the previous shining knight you once were would have found despicable and killed people for. You're having to learn as a player and a character where the oh so very blurred lines are in society, what makes a man become a criminal or the underdog?
You're stepping outside your comfort zone, and you know what that's the best thing ever.
That's where you can learn the most, that's where you get to find out who your character really is and just what they'd do to win no matter the costs...


Sometimes it's easy to get attached to a character because everything they do is golden and smells of roses, they never fail a skill check, everyone loves them and they know all the best restaurants in town and all the best clubs where all the girls are pretty.
In all honesty that's not a game where you learn anything, it's just fantasy and wish fulfilment and that can be really boring for other people to interact with.


Make sure your games are fun for you and those you interact with.


Fun doesn't mean God Mode Easy...


Written by Nick Sands, ST of Camarilla Invictus, who's on a holy quest to find the sacred Battenburg of Perfection and the Ever Full Mug O Tea!




















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