Where should people refine their understanding of the Big Model?

[David Hallett]

If I have a question about my understanding of the Big Model, what should I do?

My guess is: come up with an example of Actual Play that illustrates my fuzziness, and post it in that forum.

Is that right? Or are enquiries of that sort simply no longer welcome here?

If so, I'll take it somewhere else. But this does seem to be the largest concentration of expertise in that area.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

You're right on the money with the guess about Actual Play.

The current goal is for people to use Actual Play to address practically any question or concern about role-playing, with the Big Model as one of any number of possible topics.

As I see it, the ideas will be refined more effectively and efficiently in that venue.

Best,
Ron

[David Hallett]

Thanks Ron, I'll do that.

Best,

Dave

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi Ron,

I'm not trying to be difficult, but...what do you do if you can't think of an actual play example that will help demonstrate what part of the Big Model you don't understand?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Clyde,

That's a pretty hard situation to imagine. If you're absolutely, absolutely sure you've got something like that in mind, then email or PM me.

However, first, I suggest considering the value of both positive and negative examples, not in the fun/not-fun sense, but rather in the analytical. You might say, "Hey, this point in this essay just isn't working for me. I don't know what this guy is saying." Then you say, "Because when I play, it seems to go like this and that doesn't seem to match." That's a negative example and very useful for discussion - you can post about playing and how it turns out, and then how that doesn't seem to connect with the point in the essay.

Or maybe your concern with an essay or point in the essays is more vague; it just isn't gelling for you at all. That's OK too. You can post about your experiences with play that make perfect sense to you, or match well with other points I've made, and then post, "So that part makes sense, but this part here in the essay doesn't work like that for me, for some reason," and we can discuss from there.

Having any kind of well-described actual-play touchpoint for discussion makes Big Model talk possible in the first place. Even if you emailed or PMed me, you can bet I'd start simply by asking about your experiences in play anyway.

Best,
Ron

edited to fix stupid name-mistake