My feeling is yes, because all human beings have agendas. Only some RPGs have "soft" agendas, where the author's ideologies only passively affect the quality of a game, whereas others have "heavy" agendas, where the author is being quite open about his/her biases and pushing them in their game.

But yes, to me at least in the most general sense every RPG will be affected by the ideas of their authors.  That's one reason why the matter of who wrote an RPG is information worth knowing.

RPGPundit

Hearts & Souls agenda is in the book. It's "pretend to be superheroes to make a difference in the world." with  nods that the individual /can/ make a difference I guess.


While my FRPG, High Valor, is about heroism too, but not necessarily the "do gooder" sort--instead about the courage of facing epic evils, and even laying your life down in the fight against it.


Of course I like games about heroes--sure there are other options and choices for gaming, but I dream about heroism and like to encourage the thinking about such subjects. Of course I also have a game about Prejudice (Tribes of Mother Night) which suggest the foolishness of prejudice, and a horror game also on alienation and prejudice which will point out similar things in time.


I try and not make it too blatantly step on toes and  "You have to do it my way!" style gaming.

Of course they do. To play an RPG is to assume a possible stance towards a possible world.

I would just replace the term "agenda" with something that doesn't smack of boardroom meetings. Such as... well... it'll come to me eventually.

Politische Aussage is what you are searching for.
If I only knew what it was in english. Not the word by word tranlsation, but the real corresponding term.

EDIT: Oh yes Pundit, everything´s political, so are games and the players actions.

Combine that with the GM's own agenda, which again may be a soft agenda or hard agenda.

However, I don't think it's the agendas of the author has anything to do with why its worth knowing who the author is. As peoples beliefs change or become more refined as time goes on, so will an authors. The authors can be associated with their previous work (or not, if the don't have any previous work, but that also says something). People can make preclusions based on the authors previous work.

It read almost as if you're saying instead of an authors name we should put all the -isms the author perscribes to (or that, the authors name and hs list of -isms are pretty much the same thing), which would be both ridiculous and not actually let anyone know what kind of product they are getting or infer any ACTUAL qualities of it.

It like saying, "John Doe! He believes in Jesus, so I'm not going to read anything he's written for Exalted."

I agree that it will affect the way the material is presented but in implementation, it is FAR more pertinent what the agendas of the GM and individual players are. For example, a game may be "about" an evil land and is detailed as to what evil is, perhaps raping puppies and slaughtering babies. However, a group may take the stance of "Yeah, we like the maps in the book and the basic story of evil dominating the land but whoa! this definition of evil is far too tame" and they go on to play a far more extreme evil. Play always trumps design. A group's agenda and by direct application, their play style, will affect the "agenda" or moral statement or even feel of the game to a far greater extent.

If all you do is read a game, then yes, you will often have the feeling that a writer's views are represented. You will find this in most fiction, written or otherwise. Usually, technical writing will not have this sort of thing but it can creep in there also.

So, present yes. Terribly relevant to play, not so much IMO.

Bill

Quote from: SettembriniPolitische Aussage is what you are searching for.

Ultimately, yes... but not on some party-politics level but on a really fundamental one--Heidegger-grade fundamental (artwork essay). A political ontology. An ethics of being. And stuff.

IMHO, the GM's agenda is far more important for a group than the author's agenda.

Quote from: PunditDo all RPGs have agendas?

Only in your crazed, witch-hunt mindset.

Hmm... not sure that I agree, although I only tend to use the term 'agenda' when it fits Pundit's 'hard' definition.

Just out of interest, would people mind giving their interpretation of the agendas of systems like D&D, Exalted, WFRP, Paranoia, Star Wars, RuneQuest etc? I'd like to see how others think this notion applies to actual games.

Quote from: J ArcaneOnly in your crazed, witch-hunt mindset.

Note that I'm not using "agenda" in the negative-only, conspiratorial meaning.

Quote from: JongWKNote that I'm not using "agenda" in the negative-only, conspiratorial meaning.

I was referring to Pundit, not your post.  I knew I should've quoted.  

I think an agenda is goal oriented by definition, so I wouldn't think simple bias would qualify, especially not if we are to allow latent bias. Truth be told every game probably reflects a number of POVs on a range of topics, some of which may even be contrary to the ideological interests of the writers. Especially given the degree to which RPGs and Wargames draw from mythological themes with a great variety of implications, I suspect many of our game materials reflect interests and biases not consciously intended by those that produce them.

If the point is to think critically about the perspectives of a writer and how they might affect the way a game has been designed, then sure. But I would personally reserve the term "agenda" for games explicitely designed to serve a given purpose:

- Example, I forget the name but I remember a game that was all about Bush screwing up as president. Clear agenda there (promotion of alternative candidates, most likely Democrats).
- Educational games pretty clearly have an agenda (promote learning of this or that subject or skill set).
- Games designed as war propoganda (Promotion of war x, y, or z).
- Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron have a game about the debate between evolution and creationism. (promotion of YEC point of view ...and their particular ministry).
- My former boss wanted to make a game out of Navajo cosmology (promotion of native cultural nationalism)

All of these are goal oriented, and I think they would meet the standards for a hard agenda in the OP. I would rather make a distinction between those that have a specific goal such as the defeat of a specific presidential candidate and those that seek more open-ended consequences such as learning or promotion of tolerance, etc.

Quote from: RPGPunditMy feeling is yes, because all human beings have agendas. Only some RPGs have "soft" agendas, where the author's ideologies only passively affect the quality of a game, whereas others have "heavy" agendas, where the author is being quite open about his/her biases and pushing them in their game.

But yes, to me at least in the most general sense every RPG will be affected by the ideas of their authors.  That's one reason why the matter of who wrote an RPG is information worth knowing.

RPGPundit

Yes, RPGs have agendas - even if they are all relatively "soft". I think most of are more neutral. It's more to do with the designer's view on deadliness of weapons, impact of skill vs. natural ability, importance placed on versimilutude vs. genre emulation vs. game balance.

Then there are the games where the designer either lets their bias be known or incorporates it into the games. Paul Jaquays' stance on homosexuality in the Central Casting books, some elements in Palladium's mental health and alignment descriptions, and White Wolf's ponrifications on various political, environmental or philosophical issues that obviously impact the way that the game was designed and meant to be played. Despite these biases, these kinds of games can be very popular - probably because the agenda or viewpoint is already shared by the players or because they feel they can ignore it easily.

Finally, there are the games that have an overt agenda. DragonRaid, RAHOWA, and The Fifth World rank among them. They are never very popular, since the extreme prolysetizing done in the games tends to turn people off who are not already part of the choir.

Quote from: J ArcaneOnly in your crazed, witch-hunt mindset.

Tell me that this game does not have an agenda and that I'm crazy. The game explicitly states that its goal is to indoctrinate players into their ideology. EDIT: I realize you were speaking to Pundit. Still, it doesn't take someone on a witchhunt to see that the author will impart some agenda into anything they create. It's just a matter of degree.