RPG Response - Progression and Immediacy

A response to a question posed to tetsubo57. You can view the original video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTB7FUvr8r0

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[thespiritcoyote]

They cared, and that makes it easier to reciprocate caring about their work... and their own character... eh ... if the artist cares it shows, if the artist doesn't care it shows... and it matters.

I might enjoy Firefly's fiction immensely and be disappointed in Lexx's science frequently... but I would rather watch the one that was made for me... and not in spite of me, just to throw it at my face... ya'know.

[Webhead123]

@thespiritcoyote To clarify, I don't think Joss was being dismissive and I don't really recall the entirety of that quote either. I think he was being tongue-in-cheek to say that he didn't write Firefly stories around some form of invented logic that he forced himself to adhere to. Rather, he wrote the stories and trusted that the viewer would assume the necessary mechanisms to satisfy their suspension of disbelief.

In other words, I think his approach was a case of "reverse-engineering"...

[Webhead123]

...which is essentially the same as doing it the other way around except that you write the story first and then shape the behavioral model to fit rather than invent the behavioral model first and try to pinch and stretch the story to fit that logic.

Hyperspace travel in the Star Wars movies (especially obnoxiously-treated in the prequels) is pretty "wobbly" and not a particularly good model for use in the role playing game. The speed at which it is implied ships can travel in the films...

[Webhead123]

...gets pretty obscene from a "world-view" perspective but that's because it is another case of "poetic license". Travel takes only as long as is needed to transition the story from one scene to the next. Just look at how quickly it's implied that the Falcon travels from Tatooine to Alderaan. Exact timing is unclear due to the scene transitions but Han's dialogue at the opening of the "training" scene implies that he has only just confirmed their successful escape from the Star Destroyers...

[Webhead123]

...Then, by the end of the 3 or 4-minute scene, Han says, "Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan". Consulting the developed support materials for the setting and considering Luke's "planet that it's farthest from" and Tarkin's "too remote" comments, being able to cross half a galaxy in minutes creates some interesting problems. Not so concerned about the "science" but about the implications to the "world-view".

It's possible (even likely) that Luke and Tarkin where being somewhat poetic...

[Webhead123]

...in their choice of language, just as Piett was likely exaggerating when he suggested the Falcon could be "on the other side of the galaxy by now". The point remains that travel in the films is ultimately subject to the whims of writer over any consistent behavioral model.

From a fan point of view, it's fun and useful to see and apply behavioral models, especially when supported by the creators, as you say. That says that the creators care, even if they don't always follow their own rules.

[thespiritcoyote]

... In an rpg context, audience/artist is similar interaction is between the players and GM... and from industry level all the way to the individual tables it is just as rampant an issue in this medium as well...

but back to what I was saying,,,

I agree System Matters and so does Setting... they matter to each other, and they must be in balanced cooperation, as combined they are the vista of the window, and the yard outside the door... and the GM is the winds that give that visual place lifes.

[thespiritcoyote]

@Webhead123 ...BUT... just because it offends me both as an artist and an audience, doesn't mean I do not understand the other aspects involved in the artistic process... just that I do not appreciate promotion of such divisiveness in any form... I feel it bloats the artist ego unjustly, diminishes the value of audience feedback, and generally cripples the medium (whatever type) over all...

[thespiritcoyote]

@Webhead123 ...coupled to the tendency of Hollywood's 'social irresponsibilities' for audiences in general, where a common belief is held that the industry is only responsible for providing reduced standards for higher profits, that are then to be pumped into a propagandizing machine to 'inform the public' how to appreciate such trivial entertainment and diminish any 'assault on their rights of corporate interests' from those who 'are never satisfied' and therefor 'irrelevant as an audience' ..,

[thespiritcoyote]

@Webhead123 was not inteding to bring specific people into my stated 'passionate despisement' of remarks such as these... that [imho] stem from the attititudes and sentiments of 'elitist artsy shmucks' that claim they know better of the art than a particular audience of genre-fans... and audiences that do not conform to what such an 'awesome artist' says is proper, are somehow 'flawed' in the eyes of such elitist jerks...