Surprisingly I don't have a pre-nupt....

[jeregenest]

In danger of being smacked when I get home this afternoon for that title here's some musing on game social contracts.



Social contract fascinates me in gaming. I especially like how the same game, with different gaming groups, even with overlapping participants, can end up being so darn different.

I tend to feel that my Nobilis or Ars Magica games (for example) are remarkably different from anyone else I’ve ever seen. One of the reasons I’d be hesitant to play in Nobilis and one of the several reasons I’ve never been in an Ars Magica game helmed by anyone else.

Of course my being a bad player may have something to do with that.

Some of the thrash we’re seeing in the Never-Ending Battle Lexicon is probably laid at this feet as we’re seeing stuff that can be taken for granted in lexicons (mine for example) cause hiccups in this one. Not in a bad way but in a way that requires folks to process through stuff. If head58 was to run another one after this I would guess it would run much smoother.

Its one of the things that frustrates me about game design. The social contract isn’t a new idea, yet even games that should know better still leave it in the unspoken area offering few tools to actually create and process through one. One of my many complaints about the Forge, which none of you really needs to hear.

I’m still waiting to see what will develop out of jeffwik's World on Fire concept. This sort of design in the open approach is one of my favorite ways to establish large chunks of the contract stuff.

Comments

[head58.livejournal.com]

If head58 was to run another one after this

GAH! Thanks. Now I'm gonna have nightmares about that :)

I think a lot of the turbulence in that lexicon is due to 1/3 or so of the players being not only new to lexicons but to the nouveau-gaming way of thinking about games as collaborative resource management. Also, me not explaining things well to these new folks, and not having a 100% firm grip on the thing myself.

I'm not actually sure I've ever played/participated in a game with a deliberately-set-out social contract (have I? maybe I was and didn't notice it). I'm really curious as to how it is approached. Explicit discussion of expectations and norms within play before the game even starts? Maybe I just need a good definition of what a social contract is/what it would cover in order to see it more clearly.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

tantanea has a very explicity set out contract, both from a what to expect in the game and on the what is expected from players side. It just never got labeled a contract as I tend to use words lik norms and frameworks.

[animated-max.livejournal.com]

I'm having fun with the lexicon, and I think everyone else is, too. As we do it, we learn, and things go more smoothly. Don't have nightmares -- it's fun!

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

one of the several reasons I’ve never been in an Ars Magica game helmed by anyone else.

I'm curious; what are the other reasons?

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Well these days it would be exhaustion.

Previous to that there was always the fact I was running one for a decade or so. The only times I wasn't running an Ars Magica game was those times I didn't have a gaming group for one reason or another (usually involving moving and starting over in a new city).

And one of the things I've never successfully done long-term since my very first Ars Magica saga (run back in 1989-1992) is troupe style.