Yay it's up! This is actually the first column in the series that I don't wince on re-reading. Every time I look at the first two articles the writing style makes me cringe and the disjointed sentences make me cry, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
I would still appreciate feedbacks from all you writer-types out there, of course.
Shannon: Column 6 is on the way to you soon, I promise. I didn't get much writing done in my week off work, but they should start turning up more frequently again now I'm back.
__________________ "I'm frankly disgusted. WFRP3 sandwich isn't even a sandwich, it's more like a food made up of slices of bread separated by filling. Calling WFRP3 sandwich a sandwich is practically fraud." - Ambrogino
I really enjoy this column. It gives me a lot of good information, both on the player and the GM sides. It helps me look at the medical side of games in a new way and my in-game descriptions have benefited. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your kind words, and thanks for reading!
Helping GMs and Players to rp in new and different ways is my only goal, and I'm glad you've managed to use some of this stuff...
__________________ "I'm frankly disgusted. WFRP3 sandwich isn't even a sandwich, it's more like a food made up of slices of bread separated by filling. Calling WFRP3 sandwich a sandwich is practically fraud." - Ambrogino
This is my first post here at rpg.net. I like this column very much and it was a very long wait for me till the second article appeared in Medical Musings.
About the part that the schysophrenia is only as much a gift as cancer: I think that those rpgs that handle such mental illnesses as gifts DO handle cancer as a gift. I'm thinking right now specifically about Kult, that is the most horroristic game I ever read in every aspect. (Or if you don't agrre, let's say: what I understand under Kult is the most horroristic game I could imagine.) And when an rpg "advertises" a mental illness or cancer for that matter, I think it is meant as a negative advertisement.
I agree that mental illness isn't much of a "gift". However, it does occur to me that psychically sensitive characters could easily be diagnosed with schizophrenia, particularly in a setting where the supernatural is well hidden. In fact, if the supernatural is present but not widely believed in, anyone who can sense it would probably be considered hallucinating and delusional. That might be part of where the cross-over comes from.
So, you're saying that insight is mistaken as madness instead of coming through madness? I would also say that having insight and never being believed could cause madness. How long could you hear people say you are crazy without starting to believe it? How long could you try to tell people a truth they do not want to hear before the strain starts to cause cracks?
I think that people with mystical insight being mistaken as mentally ill, or people being driven mad by their mystical insights is ok. What I dislike is the perception of mental illness as blessing in itself, which exists in just a couple of games.
Ultimately though even this is ok if handled maturely and responsibly. What <i>really</i> irks me is when mental illness is played for laughs.
__________________ "I'm frankly disgusted. WFRP3 sandwich isn't even a sandwich, it's more like a food made up of slices of bread separated by filling. Calling WFRP3 sandwich a sandwich is practically fraud." - Ambrogino
Yay it's up! This is actually the first column in the series that I don't wince on re-reading. Every time I look at the first two articles the writing style makes me cringe and the disjointed sentences make me cry, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
I would still appreciate feedbacks from all you writer-types out there, of course.
This is the first one that didn't make me wince the first time reading through--but not necessarily due to bad writing (I didn't read them for the quality of writing). Actually, I couldn't even finish the other two primarily because of a very high squick factor that I just can't explain adequately. I guess it's because, lacking a point of reference, I started imagining all those lacerations, cuts, and injuries on my own body, and it just made me feel ill... (Easier just not to read it, and continue using terminology and descriptions in games that dissassociates myself from bodily injuries, real or imagined )
OTOH, I feel your pain with regards to how mental illness is portrayed in games. I GMed a situation, once, in a world where killing a certain type of monster can inflict a temporary madness. Not having a whole lot of knowledge or experience, I didn't provide my players with much more information than that. I knew how I thought it should look but not how to describe it to the players. Nevertheless, I was still surprised when the players who had been thus afflicted began to behave in an erratic and random fashion. Not that I had forgotten that they were being mentally afflicted, but as there was no "method to the madness", I was totally confused as to what they were portraying or why they were acting the way they were.
What I gain from this article is the insight that such psychoses really produce very structured and predictable behavior--e.i. that it's not random at all--but that this behavior is out of synch with what would generally be considered normal, so that the lay-person perceives erratic, random, and irrational behavior, where in fact the behavior is indee irrational but not truly erratic. It looks like such a mental disorder needs a focus to be portrayed properly: whether it is a specific delusion that fuels hallucinations or anxieties, or a specific and distinct set of obssessive behaviors. Random and erratic behavior makes for light fare, but is silly for a serious take on mental illnesses.
At least I know now how better to discuss these issues with future players.
That's a good point. I'd never really thought of it in that way, but now you mention it most of what I've labelled as "bad depictions" of mental illness have actually been players just acting completely randomly. I'd never thought of mental illness as "structured" but I guess it really is.
Of course even with common threads of behaviour and thought between several patients with the same diagnosis, everybody is an individual and shaped by individual experiences. While a modern day soldier getting auditory hallucinations might think he can hear George Bush talking to him through the radio receivers in his teeth, a fantasy knight might think that it is Lord Arioch muttering in his head. Of course, he might be right.
Glad this has been useful to you.
__________________ "I'm frankly disgusted. WFRP3 sandwich isn't even a sandwich, it's more like a food made up of slices of bread separated by filling. Calling WFRP3 sandwich a sandwich is practically fraud." - Ambrogino
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