The Art of Conversation

In our instant-gratification world of text-messaging, instant-messaging, email, palm pilots & blackberries, it's nice to just take time & talk, y'know?

While the old folks say conversation is a lost art -- sabotaged by video games and computers and tv and other pieces of our electronic lives -- I'm gonna disagree strongly with that sentiment. We know how to talk, know how to listen. We may not always display our expertise in these areas, but that doesn't mean we don't know how.

The art of conversation is doing well and being practiced skillfully in our game.

Actually that's what makes the text-format of our game satisfying at times. With post-n-response, our conversations can last for days. You have time to think ... about what you'll say, how you'll say it, about what the person you're talking to is saying and, maybe, what he or she really means.

A while back, our Game Master added some words to the game-site introduction. He added the phrase "for the reality of the game and the beauty of the writing." And that means something.

See, I'm the person who's been digesting our game seasons, summarizing events as a map through the game. It's not easy, boiling down thousands of posts into a few pages of text. One of the reasons it's so hard is "the beauty of the writing." Our players are beautiful writers. Their manipulation of language is strongly affected by background, age, circumstance ... a hundred small things that come together into beautiful communications. Especially the game's dialogue.

If for no other reason, I recommend KTDARPG to my friends even if all they do is read the posts. Because the story can be downright dramatic and fascinating at times -- active, intriguing, interesting, nail-biting. But the conversations? That's how you learn about our characters. What they say, how they express themselves.

Come and see.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"