Lights, Camera, Action... and Dice?

Several years ago, I read what turned out to be a very entertaining biography, written by an actor, producer, and director movies.  The most curious thing about the book was how familiar some parts of it were.  I have never been involved in acting, theater, or movie making, so the familiarity of portions of the book took me quite by surprise.

The first instance of familiarity occurred, when the writer talked about the passion he felt as a child, while seeing his first theater presentation, a musical that captured his soul, and would impact the direction of the rest of his life.  He talked about this passion at some length, about what he felt in relation to the presentation, and his enjoyment of becoming involved in the process a little later in life.

It was curious, not in that I shared the experience related to theater or acting in any way, but that phrases he used to describe his feeling about the experience were nearly quotes of my own thoughts about my hobby.  What I was reading was so familiar to me, that it almost felt violating at times.  At the same time,  felt a particular joy in reading this, and at the thought of sharing these emotions and sensations with another person, even if it was with respect to interests that were so far apart.

As I continued through the book, and he went on about the experiences of his profession, there was a recurrence of this experience with respect to my hobby.  It was inviting, and comforting, and yet in some ways, still almost unnerving at times how familiar his emotional experience seemed to me.

Eventually, he talked about directing movies, about the joy of creating the sets, with attention to the lighting and sound, about trying to create the feel of a place and time, about injecting the sensations of "experiencing" the set, and how the character of the set, was so much a character in the movie.  And, again, I understood everything that he described.  It was sometimes like reading my own words with respect to creating the game.  His movie was my game.  At least in spirit.

When I create my games, create the settings for my game, there is a similar experience, starting with researching the setting, the period, the feel of being there.  I explore not just the military aspects of the environment, but the flora and fauna, the architecture, weather and seasonal patterns, the culture, the daily goings on, the psyche, what are the peoples daily experiences, what is their world view, etc.  And how the goings-on depicted in my games change, or might change, all of these things.

As I create the settings for my games, I try to immerse myself in the environment, feel and smell what it is like.  What are the sounds surrounding me in the environment.  I imagine the stories behind endless details, about the origins of equipment and buildings, or how the families came to be there.  I see the evolution of the land and buildings leading to the time of my game.

I feel the oppressive humidity of the triple canopy jungle, the ocean breeze sweeping into the coats of my island, the taste of the fine dust that permeates everything in the desert of Iraq and wastes of my post apocalypse. 

I feel the energy of the tanks engines rumble,  hear the car tires on the pavement, feel the rush of land racing by under the power of jet engines, and hear the call of the alien beast marking its territory.

There are of course limits to what I can present on my table top.  limits to finance, time, and skill, but in my mind, like in a movie, I see it all, action in living color, I feel the earth under my feet, smell the stink in my nose.  I experience the adventure of the game in every way that my mind permits.  Immersion.

At the same time, I realize that the entire experience is corrupted by my subjectivity.  I don't really know what it was like to live at the time of the Claudian conquest, or to be a native on the island before it was known as Ponape, or know what it is to be an Afghan resisting the Soviets.  

I can only speculate, try to understand, and hope that I don't insult the reality too much through my interpretation.  And while my games may have more similarity to a movie than I initially understood.  I understand too that they are the culmination of infinity less work and skill, than the movies that I now compare them too.

Afterall, as so many gamers say, " Its just a game."

But it feels like so much more.