[Gaming Esoterica] Canon, Metaplot, and Fandom

[jadasc]

or, I Don't Get Why You Don't Get It

This one's been kicking around my head for a little over three years now. I posted about it a little bit on Pyramid Online around then, when

Comments

Re: Hmmm...

[jadasc]

So...theoretically, you could build a "game" that was really nothing but fan base. There'd be sides to pick and stories to follow, but there wouldn't have to be much of a "game" to play. It could even be a really crappy game as long as it reached in and caught your imagination.

I suppose this sort of thing happens with licensed material all the time. I'm thinking Star Wars, Star Trek and Warcraft are the big ones here, but there are certainly others.

You're not wrong in the least. What you've got in these cases is a situation where "playing the roleplaying game" is one of a number of valid ways toward the goal of "interacting in and claiming identification with the setting." "Watching the t.v. show," "wearing the t-shirt/jewelry," "attending the convention," "buying the graphic novel," "playing the videogame/play-by-post," among others.

It's just a lot harder for things to go the other way from game to licensed stuff (and even Vampire didn't cross-over the way outside stuff comes in). Still, if you could harness it...it'd be a never-ending stream of revenue. You'd keep making stuff and fans would keep buying it. You could sell pure crap and people would buy it like those sports collectable shows on TV.

You could. But there's a certain point of diminishing returns -- if the primary material descends below a certain level of satisfactory content, it no longer makes the fan base feel important or valued for taking part in it. Then, they start to desert the setting. Once could argue that that's what's happening with Star Trek now.