[INTEREST CHECK]: YOU - a game about you!

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Apr 13, 2020 2:58 pm
The following is a shameless plug of a post already made in the Game Development forum. We are still in need of 2 additional testers, so I thought I would try here.

(If you just want to learn about the game, check out the spoiler of the premise below.)
[ +- ] Premise
If you're not interested in testing, I'm also interested in the following:

- Feedback on the games page here on Gamers Plane. How does it look? Am I missing anything?
- Feedback on the "Quick Rules" found there. Is it too much? Is it not compelling in some way?

I would love to have anyone who is interested in testing, but if you're not, I'm just as interested in why that is? The kind of feedback I get explaining "what isn't working for you" is just as valuable as the testing itself.

For those of you reading all this who have checked out the game before and recognize some of my older posts, it would be interesting and valuable to hear a second opinion from you based on how I've altered everything.

Thanks for your time everybody!
Apr 13, 2020 10:00 pm
This sounds really intriguing. I'd be willing to give it a go.
Apr 14, 2020 2:05 pm
Love to have yah! If you have any questions about how to get started, just ask, otherwise get to Step 2 of character creation and join us in the Group Evaluation thread!
Apr 14, 2020 2:17 pm
This probably isn't useful to you, but having read your posts, but not the material, my interest lags at the very premise of "being me".
[ +- ] I Like Me
The appeal to play me in some kind of simulation just isn't there.
Last edited April 14, 2020 2:17 pm
Apr 14, 2020 2:53 pm
My position hasn't changed since the last time you asked.
[ +- ] My answer last time
Like Qralloq I'm also old enough to have a pretty good idea how I'd react in a crisis (although, unlike Qralloq, it wouldn't be well).

Q. What would you do if an asteroid was on a collision course with Earth?
A. Wait to see if an asteroid kills me and everyone I love.

Q. What would you do if you were investigated for a crime you didn’t commit?
A. Just investigated? Probably nothing as I have faith in the criminal justice system (as far as it applies to middle-aged white blokes).

Q. What would you do if you were stranded on a deserted island far out at sea?
A. Get sunburnt then die of dehydration.

None of those scenarios sound fun with ME in them.
I now know the answer to What would you do if there was a global pandemic? too.
It turns out the answer is: Post unhelpful messages on web forums.

Children very often play the "what would you do if..." game. Perhaps simplify the rules and aim it for a younger audience?

There again, maybe not. Apparently putting children on a deserted island is considered 'cruel' - even if you tell the authorities they're part of an art installation.

But that's just me. I sincerely hope you and your play-testers have an enjoyable time.
Apr 14, 2020 3:37 pm
Thanks for the feedback guys! I'd like to mention something to keep the conversation going if that's alright. It's likely something you were already aware of, but I'll say it anyway just in case you might of missed it.

Essentially, since the last time I posted about this, the game has adjusted its premise a bit. You can notice it in the current premise at certain points throughout:
Quote:
It’s the answers you’ll come up with in response to this question that drives the gameplay of YOU, and the Growth you’ll achieve that determines who you become by the end.
Quote:
Choosing to act "out of character" and against your proclivities will begin to impact your personality, with enough successful attempts permanently altering who you are, how you tend to behave, and ultimately your Fate as the Scenario comes to a close and the story ends.
Quote:
The Growth you make playing YOU, and the person you choose to become is up to you.
The main point I tried to get across with these specific examples here is that the game both rewards (with better Fates) and emphasizes playing "out of character". What that would mean for someone like you (@Adam) is not playing out how things would fair for you irl in the Scenarios you gave examples to, but playing out these Scenarios the way you would want to, which may be completely contrary to many of the major elements of your personality (which will begin to affect those elements as you take actions with them).

The game now has less to do with who you are right now and what you do and do not struggle with, and more to do with who you could be/want to be, specifically in scenarios where you are "sure of" what you would do (like die).

By the end of a scenario, you will become a different version of yourself based on the decisions you made and the outcomes of those decisions.

So yes, you are playing as you, but by the end of a session, you will not be the same person, and will have made choices that both affect the outcome of the story, as well as the type of person you became. In this way, I hope to put more emphasis on the game being about "personal growth". That's what I've always wanted it to be about since the beginning anyway.

Like I said, I'm sure you two already knew most of this just from reading into the premise. In either case, I'd love to hear what you guys think about all this.

- Was some of this not clear in the premise?
- Does this change how you feel about the game at all?
- Does this entice you to find out about specific mechanics?
- Is it more interesting now in some way?
Apr 14, 2020 4:11 pm
But I think the whole point of RPGs is that you already discover things about yourself by pretending to be someone else. I get what you're postulating here, but I don't think playing yourself in an RPG is as good a way to explore who you could become and who you want to be than pretending to be a different person and seeing how you feel as you respond to situations and choices in a different way that you normally might.
Apr 14, 2020 4:20 pm
The problem I have with your premise right now is that in the game I am supposed to act in a way I wouldn't actually act, in situations I wouldn't ever be in.
I don't really see how I am even playing myself there anymore, except that I am limited in what nationality/age/gender identity/appearance/social status/... I can play.
Apr 14, 2020 4:25 pm
Hootey_Games says:

- Was some of this not clear in the premise?
- Does this change how you feel about the game at all?
- Does this entice you to find out about specific mechanics?
- Is it more interesting now in some way?
Was some of this not clear in the premise?
I understood the idea.

Does this change how you feel about the game at all?
No. Sorry. I really hate being negative.

Does this entice you to find out about specific mechanics?
Learn more rules? God no! That doesn't sound fun at all.

Is it more interesting now in some way?
Not for someone kicking fifty. I'm probably already who I was going to be (and to a large extent, who I wanted to be).
It might be an "age" thing. I've think I've either achieved or given up on my ambitions by now.

What would I like to do if an asteroid was going to hit the earth? Be a super-clever mathematician who knows how to stop it. In short - not be ME. Although I'm not sure solving differential equations would make for a fun adventure either.
Hootey_Games says:
In this way, I hope to put more emphasis on the game being about "personal growth". That's what I've always wanted it to be about since the beginning anyway.
There might be some therapeutic, personal growth value in it. But it sounds like it could just be a way of inflicting psychological damage on somebody if THEY are subjected to horrific scenarios. I've wept when favourite NPCs have died through my character's failings - I really don't think it'd be healthy if those NPCs were my wife and children. Do counsellors ask clients to imagine awful scenarios? I thought visualization tended to be a little more uplifting. I don't know - I'm not a professional counsellor. There again, the GM probably wouldn't be a professional counsellor either.

But wouldn't the world be awful if we all like the same things? I'm sure that other people will really like it.
Apr 14, 2020 5:14 pm
Again everyone, thanks for the feedback. Please don't feel like you are ever being too harsh or negative. No worries! From my data, it seems like less than half the folks who talk to me about the game are interested in its premise. This is obviously not great. However, I am... so that's confusing! Like @Adam said, some people will like it, and I've found that small portion. I wonder though, is there a world in which the mechanics are so compelling that people who are indifferent about the premise give it a shot anyway??

Maybe not, I have had the premise described to me once by someone as being "anti-D&D", the antithesis of the typical RPG. This is something many of you are noticing in that you feel strongly about not enjoying playing as yourself/seeing the point.

Something I would like to touch on briefly though is @Spinach's point about "not really even playing as yourself". I guess the artsy fartsy point I'm trying to make here is that, throughout the process of making your character to ending a session, you are meant to be constantly reevaluating who you actually are or could be. The game is meant to prompt questions like:

- What really are your strong suits?
- Are the things you think you are "bad" at really impossible for you to act on?
- How do you see yourself vs how other people (especially close friends) see you?


I won't really go into the lengthy details, but I have had some really odd, really positive experiences with playtesters who either are surprised by their friends evaluation of their personality or surprise their friends by acting out something in relation to a Trait nobody expected them to use.

Its hard to convey in words, but I have experienced what something LIKE the game in its current form can allow for, and it's kinda awesome when moments like these do happen. Maybe this particular game, in its current form, is not going to be enough to invite people in, but those little moments are so cool that I'm hell bent on finding a way to make this premise seem compelling.

If anyone has thoughts, please throw em my way!
Apr 14, 2020 5:27 pm
Hootey_Games says:
Something I would like to touch on briefly though is @Spinach's point about "not really even playing as yourself". I guess the artsy fartsy point I'm trying to make here is that, throughout the process of making your character to ending a session, you are meant to be constantly reevaluating who you actually are or could be. The game is meant to prompt questions like:

- What really are your strong suits?
- Are the things you think you are "bad" at really impossible for you to act on?
- How do you see yourself vs how other people (especially close friends) see you?
Honestly, I don't think anyone is failing to grasp this. What most of us seem to be getting at is that your approach doesn't seem like a superior way to accomplish this than a regular RPG.
Apr 14, 2020 5:41 pm
@Moonbeam. Maybe it is my lack of experience that everyone is having in ordinary RPGs that is keeping me from seeing that. I don't really ever come away from a RPG and have reevaluated myself like this.
Apr 14, 2020 6:23 pm
Also, going to work now. I know that will most likely kill the thread, but I will get back to everyone who posts sometime tmrw. Your feedback has been super helpful today. Thanks guys.

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