Shared vision (was: Re: (TFT) Hanging Magic in TFT.)

["Tapley, Mark" <mtapley@swri.edu>]

On Apr 29, 2015, at 3:56 AM, Jay wrote:

>>  The impossible perfection that is the goal is for all the Players
>> to be imagining is such agreement that there would be no difference between
>> the mental images imagined by each if they were projected upon a screen in
>> the manner of a motion picture. See mirror neurons for a foundation of this
>> concept in Our physiological makeup.

	I’m thinking about this, but I’m inclined to disagree. 

	I have a friend who refuses to see the “Lord of the Rings” movies. His own imagining of Middle Earth is precious (um … valuable ...) to him and he doesn’t want the movies overlaying it. Whereas I don’t go that far, I did go so far as to read the series (aloud) to my family before letting them watch the movies. 

	The point is that each individual’s imagining of a situation is probably different, and certainly valuable. Some of the best moments of role-playing I’ve had have arisen because of inconsistencies between different players’ imaginings of what was going on. The contrast, and the revelation when the contrast was resolved, is wonderful in itself.

	So I’d say perfection is that each player imagines a situation, or world, which leaves that player with a valuable, preferably unforgettable, memory. It’s OK if the images each one takes away, or the messages or philosophical realizations, are different; indeed that seems unavoidable; I’ve had gaming sessions with parents and children playing together (and not just mine), and it’s impossible they were seeing the same things. But, if they come back for more, I know that whatever they did see was valuable to them.

	That said, I do agree whole-heartedly with your emphasis on world-wide consistency and “realism” (consistent with magic, etc.). A world in which each character (or player) imagines a different variance from reality and none of them will permit the resolution of his/her own image with the others, is not going to be a fun one to play in.
										- Mark


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