How would you explain Cantr to a potential player?

[Solfius]

This is branching from the thread on Design Principles For Cantr

inspired by Tiamo's post:

The first question we should ask ourselves is what kind of game Cantr should be. Should it be an RPG? Should it be a life-simulation game? Should it be a society building game? Should it be an economic development game? Should it be a combination of those? Or should it be 'something completely different'?

To answer the question, What kind of game is Cantr, try to imagine describing the game to someone who may join the game, but has no idea what it is.

How would you describe it?
what features make is unique and distinct from other games?
What is the essence of the game, the concept?

My first suggestion from the original thread was

A roleplaying game set in a persistent world that models real life

[formerly known as hf]

"An experiment in social simulation. With much more freedom for roleplaying and dynamic interactions - where anything historical, social, religious, political etc. is only ever from the actions of players in game. Yet with much more focus on game mechanics such as production and world modelling than either other free-from RPGs or more traditional RPGs"

[Solfius]

Answering a post from the other thread:

Tiamo,

I think I understand what you're getting at. We're approaching this from different angles. My suggestions are focused towards making roleplaying an integral part of achieving any other goals you might set in the game (i.e., amassing wealth). But if the game explicitly exists to make roleplaying possible, then you can assume the opposite - people are playing the game in order to roleplay, and because the goal is to roleplay, there's no need to make roleplaying "necessary" in order to achieve ancillary goals.

I'm not sure that we can make that assumption - that everyone is here explicitly to roleplay - in a free, internet-based game that anyone can join. But whether we do make the assumption or not would radically affect the design of the game.

What exactly do we mean by roleplay?

I think the most basic definition is playing a role, but what does that entail?

In a role playing game set in a simulation of the real world, are you not playing the role of someone in that world?

So you give them a personality, ensure their basic needs are met. Beyond that you choose the specific role you wish to play within the overall role "someone within this virtual world". You can do that arbitrarily (determining personality and goals etc before spawning) or base it on their experiences and from spawning.

When you choose to interact with other characters socially, this is roleplaying. When you joke, laugh, argue, or fall in love with other characters, this is roleplaying. I'll call this social roleplaying - it doesn't depend on the environment, in fact it could just as easily happen in a chatroom or play-by-email.

What if your character dreams of owning a successful company? The role of a businessman? How about the role of an explorer? A politician or governor? a General, guard, or pirate? These are all roles as well. Although they may well focus on interacting with the environment rather than social interactions, it's still roleplay. I'll call this material roleplay as it relies on the material environment the game takes place in.

My point?

Roleplaying is about interaction with other players, or with the environment.

I believe we need to cater for both kinds of roleplay that I've described. By providing a physical world for material roleplayers to act out their ambitions within, and at the same time providing social roleplayers with an environment that supports their social roleplay

[Tiamo]

If i would have to explain Cantr to a newbie i would say Cantr is a slow paced life simulation game, focused on production (with a really big production tree) with roleplaying aspects and society building aspects, that allows you a free choice of in-game goals and which you can play it in your own language.

In fact it was the combination of the production tree and the society building aspect that got me in.

[girlygirl]

Love Tiamos description - good one!

[Cdls]

I would say that this game has no real genre, that it kind of has created its own take on what it can be.

Explaining Cantr to a newb would be like explaining sex to a virgin.


You can explain to them how great it is, how at times you just cant get enough. Then there are the moments where it just wears you out. The only thing you can do is force them into trying it and see how they like it*.


OOHHH!!
Idea for an ad

A camera pans across a crowded STD clinic. A boring male voice then speaks
"Cantr, all the feelings, none of the disease."



* Cantr, not sex....never force sex on a newb, there are laws against that....

[El_Skwidd]

Explaining Cantr to a newb would be like explaining sex to a virgin.

Welcome to my sig.

I usually tell people that Cantr is an RPG of sorts where you play the life of a character through an entirely player-created society. The actions of your character have a direct effect on the society and you can play any role you want. The laws are player-made, but they're easily broken with the click of a button. Interaction with other players is crucial to your success in any venture. The game is slow-paced, but you get used to it.

Or something like that.

[Solfius]

I like the acronym RPS for role playing simulation, I think that gives a good flavour of what Cantr is about