Take the concept of Personal Vision. Each of us, as fans or players, has a personal vision--our view of the television show that inspired the game, and of the game itself. We come from different places, so of course our perspectives are going to differ. Differences are good. They make life interesting, exciting, fun!
Well...mostly they do. It depends on how we express our unique personal vision that sometimes causes a bit of conflict. Art mirrors life. Check it out.
Amber had a personal vision of a future worth fighting for. She believed very strongly in democracy, in not telling people how to live their lives, and in every kid having a right to a good life. (In some ways Danni was like her, except maybe Danni took it a bit too far at times insisting on a Bill of Rights and documents and "signing on the dotted line.")If Amber was the traditional politician, Zoot was the total opposite. The Emperor. The Dictator. With him it was definitely MY WAY. No "highway" option. He saw the New World coming and had his own ideas about how kids would take control & survive. His was a vision of strength that would force the future to be what he wanted. His methods were...well, painful.
Then there was the Guardian. His personal vision was Zoot-ist but he went even farther: he worshipped Zoot as a god. He taught and demanded that others bow down. Generally, those who didn't bow down were either thrown off a building or burned at the stake. Talk about throw-backs to the dark ages.A more all-encompassing personal vision was what Ram conceived. A world changed and forever controlled by technology. And he was capable of being more pervasive because hey! He had planes! He had trucks! He had dune buggies! He had a pretty large army with his Technos. He also restored electricity and television and then controlled them both! Now there was some power.
When it came right down to it, the show was about smaller personal visions too. Take Java. She had some relatively small but powerful visions for her future: Punish Ebony. Love Ram. The girl didn't need much more than that to be happy.Just like the tv show and its characters, our rpg & its players also have their personal visions about the game.
First we start with the owners & moderators. Their visions were merged and formed into the game-rules that direct our play and, ultimately, our game-world. Oh, those rules are fluid. Definitely. Over the course of the last 3 years, rules have come and gone and changed. Just like our concepts and our views of our game-world have changed and evolved.
Players also have their personal visions. Each and every one of them do. That's how they play. That's how they craft and give life to their characters. And that's how some players have almost come to blows!When one player thinks their way of player is the right way to play--and tries to coerce others into believing the same and acting the same...not exactly cool.
When the competition gets fierce, the off-game chatter can heat up exponentially. It's hurt some feelings a few times, too. Lots of damage control.
The key, of course, is to lighten up! To take people--and the game--as you find them and not insist people do things your way. Not insist that YOU know what's right and they should definitely listen to YOUR interpretations.Because that's when Owner-Chyna has to step in and mediate. And that kinda sucks! Zoot & Java & Ram and all the others were fine when they were in the tv show. But in KTDARPG? No way!
-Chyna
Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"
