In-Game... 'discoveries' and advancements--bad form?

[FiziKx]

All of the characters that I play try to do something revolutionary, be it through enhancing the culture of the world (writing, music, drama, etc.) or through creating or trying out new types of groups and organizations. My question now, is: Assuming that all studies and discoveries are based off of real-world, and not fictitious ones, is it bad form to Roleplay research and scientific discovery without established in-game lore/a set definition of 'what's what' in the Cantr world? It immensely expands the horizons of what can be roleplayed and makes the whole game world seem more intriguing and realistic, but the problem is that the in-game world does not have a strict description of what the world really is, thus making it possible for players to basically craft the whole biological, geological, and astronomical world without the in-game resources to back them up. So, if someone challenged their view outright and said that they saw something completely different, there would be nothing to back up either side of the argument, just creating conflict that couldn't be solved in game. (Or is it that, in this type of scenario, whatever the largest number of characters believe in becomes 'true', and everyone else is just viewed as being crazy/eccentric/blatantly having a vision problem because they somehow can't see the giant ball of fire in the daytime sky?)

So, what do you all think? Its something that's been bugging me, and I've never run into a conflict with anyone in game about anything that I've ever 'researched' or 'discovered', because I guess I roleplay it out well enough and always stick to 'real-world' scenarios when it comes to making those discoveries.

[Wolf]

It likely gets different responses from different players and in-world different responses from different characters.
Long ago, there was a girl named Wasi Caget who left behind some of her 'scientific' works, I had two chars near her at that time who had the fortune of seeing her at work (and even discussing things with her in the case of one of those chars) and personally, I liked the way that she saw her 'discoveries', even if they weren't taking a 'real world' approach... Wasi still managed to be very empirical and thorrough in her works.
But I remember seeing a few others who ridiculed her for it, and one or two even acted very hostile towards how she went about discovering things... so based on that example, I can say that the responses will differ from player to player, and even from character to character.

[Doug R.]

(pointed out that natural subjectivity is a pretty big flaw)

Sucks, doesn't it?

[curious]

I suppose, if you want to become a scientist in Cantr, that would be no different to any other system of belief... for instance, spirituality or metaphysics, as some of my owns chars uphold, although, they don't have a name for these things, so would be considered relatively 'heathen' by yours.

There are plenty of mechanistic/cause and effect tools used to drive the game, so just borrow from those?

[masterekat]

No...not bad form at all, in my opinion. After all, today's 'research' might very well become tomorrow's 'set definition of what's what' in Cantr. And the fact that there's so little to go off of is where the beauty of this lies. You said it yourself, it's possible for players to craft the whole biological, geological, and astronomical world...and so much more. You could basically take it wherever you wanted, and while there'd really be nothing to back up your argument except what you created yourself, at the same time there'd also be no set in stone reason for characters to refute your argument. But stick with something long enough and if its good enough, you'll eventually find people who'll go along with you and support your ideas.

Some of the most interesting notes I've found in game were records of philosophical debates between two characters dating back to 876. Now obviously these dealt more with the theoretical realm of things rather than the empirical, thus allowing for more room for amiable disagreement...which basically seemed like the point of the note in the first place. The substance of these notes were rather basic, but were presented in such a way that other characters could build on them and take them any number of ways. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very creative when it comes to my characters, but by simply having one of my characters read those notes, I saw so many new possibilities unfold for that specific character...I have a feeling those notes will get pulled out again eventually when there's a lull in activity and I'm sure I'm around several other characters who would be willing to play along.

Concerning conflict, I say let it happen. How many unresolvable conflicts are there in real life and how much do they add to the culture of humanity? It would be interesting if a certain piece of research slowly spread throughout an entire island. One side of the island could have a completely different take on that bit of information than the other side does. As a traveler, it would be pretty neat to observe those differences and maybe learn why different groups of people took things as differently as they did.