Immersive Story Essay

[Callan S.]

*snip*
So you see this play as "selfish" because it's not the kind of play you like.  i.e. You would hate to be surprised in this way, and to re-interpret events.  But for players who like it, this sort of internal character development is feeding the game with added depth that goes beyond what is obvious on the surface.

For whom?

Just him, isn't it?

It'd be like a group buying some fish and chips to share together. One guy finds they've been giving some extra free potato cakes and decides to eat them on his own. Hey, why not, there's extra enjoyment for him and it wont take away anything they were expecting.

I'm reminded of Valamirs post on deep immersion being selfish.

And I'm reminded of Ron's usual mentions of that interplayer talk isn't just okay during a game but needed.

Sure you might not be able to trust them to seperate IC and OOC info, but everyone is still trusting you to share rather than enjoy something by yourself which is a product of the groups shared creation.

[Revontuli]

Sure you might not be able to trust them to seperate IC and OOC info, but everyone is still trusting you to share rather than enjoy something by yourself which is a product of the groups shared creation.

This is an argument that rises every now and then.

Consider this: If you are more immersed, and experience event XX in-game, this enhances your immersion. If you break your immersion to force your character to explain XX to other characters, you might enhance their immersion, but you will also hamper your own.
However, if you keep your in-character secrets, your immersion will stay strong. And this will reflect on those around you, enhancing their immersion even more than an artificially forced explanation of XX. And when their immersion gets stronger, it will in return enhance your immersion. And so we have a cycle that I call interimmersion.
(In larps, interimmersion also works when you're alone, since you can bounce your immersion from the environment, provided it's in-game. And in tabletops, you can bounce it off the GM.)


Mike