Design Games

Player/Designer Communication

Episode Summary

This time, we talk about communications between a game’s designer and its players—especially the GM—both implicit and explicit.

Episode Notes

This time, we talk about communications between a game’s designer and its players—especially the GM—both implicit and explicit.

We also refer again to our previous questions, written by Nathan and refined/revised through our conversations, about (but not just about) GM tasks, authority, and responsibility:

What need to be created (or established)?

• Why does it matter who does it?
• Who does the buck “stop with” in terms of content?
• Who maintains authority over it once play begins?

What’s the propellant?

• Who does what to make the (plot/action/story/situation/etc.) dynamic?
• Who does what to keep it going?

What makes things “interesting” (and what does "interesting” mean in your game)?

• Where does antagonism, challenge, or fictional friction come from?
• What makes things non-trivial or non-obvious?
• What makes the outcome of the game both unpredictable and inevitable?

Which personal visions for play do you prioritize (and why, and when)?

• How do you handle the conflict of personal visions?
• What structures in your game require or support the shift of emphasis in personal visions between different players in the game?

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Music is “Dances and Dames” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/