Gaming and Reader Development
Carl Cross
I've recently come across this interesting paper:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/43205830/From-Assassins-Creed-2-to-the-Five-Greatest-Warriors
Although it uses the concept of doorways and appeal characteristics:
http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/Doorways+or+appeal+charactertistics
it's essentially, if you like playing x you might like reading y.
Some of the connections seemed a little forced to me (“Darfur is
Dying” to “Black Hawk Down” for instance) but the author does warn
about simple correspondence; just because someone likes epic fantasy
doesn’t mean they will necessarily enjoy a RPG.
My question is can “doorways” derived from print or dramatic media
adequately or fully describe what’s going on in a participatory media
like games?
For instance I’m currently engrossed in the 3DS game Ghost Recon:
Shadow Wars but have almost no interest in the story, characters or
settings. I’m playing for the gameplay experience (in this case a turn
based strategy game) and would have been just as happy had the
characters been almost anything else.
Similarly there are boardgames that are great despite their frankly
dull themes. Le Havre springs to mind.
As always it’d be nice to hear what you think.
Thanks,
Carl.
Darth Phil
theme.
At my wargames club (The October Wargames Club in Birmingham) I have
just started running a Pathfinder RPG campaign using the Kingmaker
adventure path published by Paizo.
One of my players, my friends girlfriend Hannah, had never played a
role playing game before. She has played a bit of World of Warcraft
(WoW) and so when creating her character for a tabletop game she took
the concepts from WoW and was able to come up with a great Half-Elf
Druid called Vervain. When we played our first session Hannah was able
to quickly grasp the combat system and style of gaming we were doing.
For each campaign Paizo produce a free 'Players Guide' a free PDF
download which gives the players all the information they need to get
a feel for the campaign background and the world their characters
inhabit. My friend warned me that Hannah had not read a book ever. I
suspect he over exaggerates slightly as she has a degree in sciencey
things but even so lets just say she is not a big reader.
Consider my surprise however when I find that she not only enjoyed her
first session but has also read the Players Guide and was able to tell
me things in it which I didn't know like the speed of horses over open
terrain.
Next Tuesday is the second session. I fear Hannah may have read more
of the background than me.
I think what I'm saying is that Hannah does not enjoy reading X but
does enjoy playing Y.
Never played Le Havre but if you are looking for a game which has a
'dull' concept but fantastic game play I can highly recommend Canal
Mania.
Phil Saunders
Birmingham Public Libraries
Cross,Carl (Cultural & Community Services)
This sounds like utility reading to me. She's a scientist so she wants
all the facts at her fingertips.
The reader development challenge here I think would be to use the hook
of her enjoyment of the RPG to get her reading something, just like you
all used the hook of WoW to hook her into a tabletop RPG.
Does the book always have to be fiction or biography I wonder? I've met
geography students whose fantasy campaigns are played out in a
geographically and geologically feasible world - unlike mine which used
the ever reliable "squiggly shapes" method. What if she started reading
books on horse management?
I've never played Canal Mania but it is supposed to be very good.
Although personally I find the theme more engaging than Le Harve or
worse, Container (where I find neither the theme or game remotely
interesting - it's about industrial shipping and about as fun as that
sounds!)
A piece of advice I've never forgotten when gaming at the DM's house:
have a look at his book, DVD, comic collection before you play'cos he's
probably nicked most of his plot points from there.
Carl.
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