05-01-2019, 07:06 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
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Roleplaying as a second person narrative
As wiki says:
"The second-person point of view is a point of view where the audience is made a character." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narration#Second-person I have become acutely aware, and slightly uncomfortable, of this while writing up an extended automated adventure. This is moving from just willing suspension of disbelief: "You are living in a world where magic exists and operates under the following self-consistent rules" ... to willing suspension of personal autonomy: "You are this specific goblin woman, cut off from Goblin society and living precariously under a human society in the company of humans who somewhat tolerate your existence while treating you like a plaything or possession." Have other authors of personal second person adventures encountered this and if so, how did it make you feel? Have you played such adventures yourself, and how did these make you feel? What as an author can I do to soften the blows, without diluting the entertainment? I have tried to imply much more than I state to leave the implications for the reader to decide for themselves.
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-HJC |
05-01-2019, 07:26 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Choose Your Own Adventure books and the like do this all the time, and I agree that being given details of my second-person self can be jarring. And as a white male child I was the target demographic of those books. I would guess that someone else would find them even more jarring.
The ones I found that worked best were the ones that kept details of my second-person self vague. I can be male, female, or something else, I can be tall or short, white or black, living or mechanical, young or old, and it doesn't change the story. The author has to sacrifice these sorts of details to do this, though. |
05-01-2019, 11:05 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Second Person Narrative isn't necessarily transgressive. Technically role playing as a hobby is narrated in the Second Person "You're all at the Inn for a drink on a Friday night when adventure takes hold of you..". It's a matter of narrating in a manner that leaves autonomy for the players.
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05-01-2019, 07:43 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Is hcobb's point even really about point of view ("second person")? His actual complaint seems to have more to do with supplanting player choice or creativity in creating a character. That's independent of the POV of the narrative. Both his "good" and "bad" examples are in second person. It seems it's all the extra detail ("goblin woman, cut off from goblin society...") that bothers him.
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05-01-2019, 08:57 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
How do you word choose your paragraph choices in the 1st or 3rd point of view?
I have a character driven story to tell because of certain factors mirrored between this specific player character and the setting background. Hence it is important that she follow a general path until she encounters a decision point reached by another before her.
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-HJC |
05-02-2019, 02:33 AM | #6 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Quote:
That being said, it's generally advisable to start giving meaningful choices early on to avoid looking like 'just' a book. |
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05-02-2019, 08:50 PM | #8 | |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Quote:
If you are an Dwarf, go to 143. Otherwise, go to 79. Roll Nature Lore. If you get a 12 or higher (or are a Dryad), go to 27. If you fail, go to 419.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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05-03-2019, 07:16 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Roleplaying as a second person narrative
Quote:
"If you choose to ignore the life of adventure and stay on the farm for the rest of your life, go to page 999..." CYOAs all railroad you to some degree. Any form of story does. The one adventure has finite resources and so isn't obliged to try and allow any choice by any character at any point. The author is inevitably pruning the tree before the reader starts, so you don't need to feel bad about the degree to which you have to prune that early stage. Last edited by Anaraxes; 05-03-2019 at 07:22 AM. |
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