Question: Exploration of System

[Lee Short]

What precisely is meant by "Exploration of System?"  I see at least two possibilities:
(1) given that reality is defined by the game system, what does this imply about how the world works?  what would the resulting social structures be like?  etc
(2) what are the properties of this game system?  how does this game system relate to other game systems, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?  

There are certainly other possibilities as well.  

thanks,
Lee

[jburneko]

I'm going to take a stab at this.  The first chapter of Ron's GNS essay contains this phrase when talking about Exploration: '"In this sense, saying “system” means “imagining events to be occurring.”'

From this I've concluded that a game which prioritzes Exploration of System as the purpose of play is very concerned with keeping things, "realistic" given the physics of the world and the actual in game events that transpire.  There is much ephasis on having the actual rules of the game consitently model the world the game is taking place in.  I think examples of games that include Exploration of System as priority of play would be GURPS and Hero.

This is different from a game that prioritizes Exploration of Character, which I think would include the White Wolf's Storyteller System.  White Wolf's Storyteller System doesn't model any kind of "reality" very well.  It's mostly just a quick and dirty method of getting a Yes or No answer to a given action with a scale tacked on to differentiate differing characters. Everything else, (Clans, Tribes, Other Setting stuff) is all focused on trying to "be" the character.  The emphasis is clearly on trying to get inside the head of the alien creatures in the World of Darkness and experience the world through their eyes.

Ron, will no doubt correct me if I'm off.

Jesse

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Lee, Jesse, it's a bit more focused than that. The first step to talking about this is to realize that there is no "game reality." People are always talking about the "physics of the game-world" and so on, and I think that is getting ahead of ourselves - such terms mean very little unless we are already talking about Simulationist priorities, and we're supposed to be talking about Exploration, which applies to any and all role-playing.

So back it way up. Four people sit at a gaming table, and it's a given that in the next few minutes, they will "Explore" something - specifically, an imaginary event. That means they are already Exploring (imagining) Character, Setting, and Situation to an appreciable extent; they have to be.

What do they do? Wait - before talking about "game reality." Never mind that. What they do is act upon various rules (overt and covert), which are the means by which imaginary events are agreed upon at the group level. Vincent Baker used to talk about this all the time, and he was spot on target.

That is Exploring System - using the rules/techniques of play to arrive at an imaginary event in the game-world. Using a Simulationist-oriented rules set to "model in-game reality" would be a subset of that. So would strategizing a resource mechanic against a damage mechanic against a movement mechanic in order to survive a Gamist challenge. So would deciding whether to use a metagame-screen-time mechanic in a Narrativist context (or similarly, to choose between luck and grit to explain a successful roll).

Even the most Drama-mechanic driven, totally "diceless" play (so-called) relies on Exploring System, which in that case would be the standards and practices for who gets to contribute and where the buck stops.

Best,
Ron

[Garbanzo]

Ron:

Your definition, as best I can condense it, seems to be "using the rules/techniques of play to arrive at an imaginary event in the game-world."

An example, presumably, would be cross-referencing tables to see where your thrown grenade actually lands (I'm thinking of the charts in the 1st Ed. DM's Guide).


It seems to me that a lot of exploration of system is before events actually occur, though:
Using the infinite rules in Aria to make a country.  Using GURPS to make that one-armed gladiator.  Although I haven't read it, I get the feeling that one of the great strengths of DnD 3Ed. is building a character over time, with feats upon levels upon whatever and whatever.


My feeling is that exploration of system is something more like "combining the given game rules to make an interesting game construct," where that construct could be a character, could be a stronghold, or could be a ferocious martial arts combo.  Looser definition: "having fun playing with all the dials."

Whaddya think?

-Matt

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Matt,

Yeah, you're right. All of what you describe - e.g. character creation and so on - is certainly part of the system, and using it is indeed Exploration of System as long as it really is expressed in actual play.

E.g., if one spends 80 minutes to spend points just right to get that one-armed gladiator, and then the one-armed-ness never gets mentioned or utilized in play, ever, then I wouldn't call that Exploration of anything, at the group level.

Looking over my essay, you'll see that System includes all sorts of things: character creation, event resolution, and character change (often overly-focused by calling it "character improvement"). Yes, Exploration of System includes all of these, as long as actual play is involved.

Best,
Ron