@Ghost said in X-Cards:
These days we're seeing what feels like an increase in social control mechanisms. More defined rules as to who can say what, what can or cannot be said, and who has the right of way when it comes to a disagreement regarding said social rules. Sure, societies have always had these kinds of things, but I'm noticing now more than I ever have that the number of things that I apparently am not allowed to say or have no right to do seems...more in the forefront?
That's not what the X-Card is meant to address.
The X-Card is a message from a player to a storyteller regarding the content of the story being told. The storyteller has no real interest in "doing anything" on behalf of the NPCs in a campaign, and should not be afforded the same agency as a player. In my opinion, a tabletop game should be about the players' engagement and enjoyment thereof, not the storyteller's enjoyment in subjecting the players to certain situations. And I think it is highly inappropriate for a storyteller to put their enjoyment over that of a player when that player is objecting because the subject matter is making them feel extremely uncomfortable.
As I stated previously, I don't think the X-Card System works well on a MUSH because a MUSH is more like improv than a tabletop game. In improv, the performers must always be aware of others' comfort level. Some performers figure this out through practice and repetition with the same partners, but others ask prior to an act what the boundaries are. Regardless, a performer must give way to the comfort of their partners; that's part of the hobby.
Where a MUSH is different is how they generally have settings and systems to resolve conflict. Both are largely outside of the performers' control. In improv, you can set scenes or scenes are set for the performers that are generally benign; on a MUSH, and conflict is resolved by consent. This is not always so on a game: I believe the players implicitly consent to certain kinds of activities on a World of Darkness Vampire game, for example, like blood-drinking and the use of Conditions to affect your play. Using the X-Card to avoid the consequences of a social roll targeting your character is contrary to that implicit consent. But using that X-Card at the onset of certain kinds of activity could be a good reason to either switch the path of RP, fate to black, or otherwise work out a reasonable alternate result.
That said, a player coming to a game really should do some research regarding what they are getting into. World of Darkness games are not the same as Twilight games.
