Prompting Techniques

Prompts players can use while roleplaying to communicate intentions about changing scenes without breaking the diegesis.

In Live Action Roleplaying, gameplay is quite often divided into scenes. However, the time to change from one scene to another may not be obvious to all involved, especially if this is something players have influence over, and the players do in these cases need to communicate about this. Prompting Techniques are ways players can make other players aware of their preferences without having to break scenes or say things that are out of place for a game's diegesis.

Examples

Prompting Techniques have been developed for Live Action Roleplaying Games. Feather Play allows players to indicate in a discrete way to other players that one wishes to initiate a sexual encounter . The Liquor on the Table is allows players in a bar environment to show the other players that they should strive to set in motion the events they had planned for the scene.

Using the pattern

Prompting Techniques can be introduced both as ways to communicate that specific types of Scenes should start and as ways to communicate that ongoing Scenes should end. While the pattern can work for any type of Enactment it seems to be used more to modulate Physical Enactment, quite likely because it can allow Live Action Roleplaying to continue without any non-diegetic interruptions.

The primary concern when designing them is to find prompts that are easily noticed but maintain Diegetic Consistency or at least do not disrupt other activities (the feather play technique mentioned above is an example of the latter). This often means that it makes sense to have different Prompting Techniques for different types of Scenes.

Prompting Techniques are typically invitations or suggestions to change Scenes but may be demands when they come from Game Masters instead of players.

Diegetic Aspects

As mentioned above, Prompting Techniques is a way to avoid Non-Diegetic Communication and thereby support Diegetic Consistency.

Interface Aspects

As a way of letting players signal to each other how gameplay should be shaped, Prompting Techniques can be seen as an Interface Pattern.

Consequences

Prompting Techniques are one specific type of Meta-Techniques that can support players' Enactment or Physical Enactment. It does this through removing some reasons for introducing Non-Diegetic Communication, and thereby help players maintain Diegetic Consistency during their Enactment.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Diegetic Consistency, Meta-Techniques

Can Modulate

Enactment, Physical Enactment, Scenes

Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

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Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Non-Diegetic Communication

History

New pattern created in this wiki.

Acknowledgements

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