Re: (TFT) Rules?

[catchy24528@mypacks.net]

Hi Jay,

I think you might be overlooking the social contract aspect of games that occurs even in as lowly a game as Tic-Tac-Toe, and becomes more and more important in games like RPGs where the competition aspect is (or should) be somewhat reduced. In TTT, there is the agreement about who goes first that needs to be agreed upon, a very simple social contract. Obviously in RPGs, the less that the rules define explicitly, the more the social contract comes into play.

Also, another key aspect of games is problem solving. I get mad at myself when I "lose" if I had figured something out and then made a mistake. Sometimes it's also easy to get frustrated if I never seem to "get" a game. Worlds of Darkness games were like that for me. The ability for the GM to select both the number of successes required AND the target number made for incredibly unpredictable odds, not to mention the "when you roll a 1 it cancels a success" rule which really wreaks havoc on gameplay. To date, it's the only RPG system I won't play.

So I think you have:

1) Problem Solving
2) Social Contract
3) Control 
4) Competition

The ratios of which depend on:

1) the game itself
2) the people that are playing
3) How I'm feeling at the time

Enjoy!

- Marc


-----Original Message-----
>From: Jay Carlisle <Jay_Carlisle@charter.net>
>Sent: Jan 2, 2011 9:17 PM
>To: tft@brainiac.com
>Subject: (TFT) Rules?
>
>I believe that human beings engage in the playing of games largely because 
>good games can satisfy two very strong urges that motivate a human life, 
>namely the drives for control and competition.
=====
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