Devlog #2: Play To Fun
I've been roleplaying in one form or another for a long time. Tabletop, video chats, in games on dedicated servers. You pick things up. Some of it's about expressing your character in a way that's compelling and creates someone different from yourself. Some of it is creating NPCs that are interesting, either because you love or hate them. Or both.
The most important of it is etiquette and social mores. The best tables and communities I've been part of had a few unwritten rules that everyone understood. They sound obvious when you write them down. They aren't, apparently, because not everyone follows them and they can really ruin the fun quickly when they're not followed.
1. Play to fun, not to win.
Go for the interesting outcome, not the optimal one. A failed roll, a bad deal, a decision you knew was wrong-- these aren't failures. They're opportunities. A character who loses sometimes is more interesting than one who doesn't. It gives a story somewhere to go and others a chance to be a part of it. This sounds simple. It changes everything once you actually believe it.
2. Make room.
In multiplayer RP this means giving other people space to shine. In a single-player game it means giving NPCs enough of an inner life that they feel like people rather than furniture. Not every room needs the player to be the most interesting person in it. Not every scene should be about you in RP.
3. Consent matters.
Especially in anything that gets into difficult or adult territory. Nothing should happen to a character or especially a player without buy-in. This isn't a mood killer. It's what makes the difficult stuff actually work.
I didn't realize it, but as I worked away at systems and mechanics, these principles ended up being the entire design philosophy of Hard Neon.
No failure states-- only different paths. Reputation going negative isn't losing, it's running a different kind of bar. Stats represent who your character is, not how optimised they are. A character who's bad at asserting themselves isn't weak, they're telling a specific kind of story. The game doesn't have an opinion about who you should be.
I didn't set out to design a game about roleplay etiquette. I just kept making decisions that felt correct and interesting to me, and I eventually looked back and noticed the pattern.
The very interesting thing to me about all this is how much these rules extend outside of roleplaying, into the world as a whole. When I look around right now, there's a lot of people who are struggling to find meaning and happiness, or who lack the psychological safety to take risks for fear of making mistakes.
This is just a blog about a silly game I'm making, but I think there's a message here about creating spaces where people feel safe and supported. We can all push spotlight onto others and help them be part of our stories in return. Take a chance where you can to make room for other people to shine. Look at failure as part of a story that's not done yet. And treat other people as people first, 'cos it's what makes the difficult stuff work.
Play to fun. That's the whole thing. That's life.
If you like what you're reading, ko-fi.com/hardneon — Playable version coming soon!
Love the energy of a second devlog. Keep pushing the polish.
