Monday, August 14, 2006

Weekly Review Aug. 6th to Aug. 12th

Despite the other activities of this week, it has seen the rise of several theory topics, some new, others reprised from earlier discussions.

Creative Agendas

Over at the Forge Levi Kornelsen and Ron Edwards have begun a discussion of creative agenda. Of particular note, the discussion centers on clearly defining the concept of creative agenda, and separating it from frequent assumptions. Ron Edwards describes it as something of a shared aesthetic which emerges from play.

Social Interfaces

Thomas Robertson discusses his perspective on roleplaying. He describes games as social interfaces, with both constraints and flexibilities. The designed structure of these will tend to support some social interactions, while inhibiting others. From this perspective, the fitness of a game is related to how well it can fit into the existing social interfaces of the group that plays it.

Immersive Collapse

Brian Hollenbeck describes a different take on immersion based on his Art, Game, and Emulation (AGE) theory of RPGs. In particular he suggests that immersion is when the spaces of these different aspects begin to collapse together. Hence when the space of game becomes coincident with the space of emulation, there is no movement between the two to cause a break in immersion.

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