Gaming on the Right Side of the Brain
I’ve been spending some time thinking about why I don’t enjoy doing double-digit addition during tabletop games like 4th Edition D&D or calculating the winner in Fire and Axe. It’s not that I can’t do 3rd grade math, rather that I seem to find it much more of a chore than some of the other people who I’ve mentioned this to (although some have agreed with me). When I suggested alternatives, including comparing levels between attacker and defender, those people said they found that more difficult.
On a hunch I decided to look up some more information on lateralization of brain function, which I first studied in University and in art classes through the book “ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain“. I found the additional info on Wikipedia very interesting and depending on the makeup of your gaming group, or whether you’re designing a game for the general public, you might find it useful as well.
The human brain is separated into two distinct halves, or cerebral hemispheres, which tend to process information in slightly different ways. While almost everyone uses both hemispheres of the brain, people may have a greater preference or aptitude for processing information using brain functions that are generalized to one hemisphere or the other.
Additionally, some people find that if they are engaged in certain activities that strongly rely on one hemisphere, then the functions of the other hemisphere may be more difficult. For example, when drawing or painting (right brain), some art instructors find it difficult to continue talking to their class (left brain).
Left hemisphere functions include verbal language, vocabulary, direct fact retrieval, and exact numerical calculations. Right hemisphere functions include processing of visual and audio information, pattern recognition, and approximate numerical calculations.
Many gamers are certainly from computer science or math backgrounds, or enjoy memorizing extensive facts about narrowly focused topics (eg. Canon from their favorite TV Show or Movie). These all tend to be examples of “left brain” type activities.
Other gamers (and potential gamers) like myself have more “right brain” backgrounds and hobbies. I’m terrible with learning languages (French, German, etc) or memorizing names and dates. I’m much better (and much prefer) doing graphic design, drawing & painting or similar activities.
It makes sense then that people who favored “left brain” type careers and past-times might tolerate (or even enjoy!) more math in their games than someone from a more “right brain” background. It would also make sense that unless someone had done a bit of reading on lateralization of brain function that they would assume everyone’s approach was more or less the same as theirs (I certainly did) and design or run their games accordingly.
What’s even more interesting is that the processes of numerical comparisons and estimations are shared between both the left and right hemispheres of the brain! This wasn’t something I expected, and suggests an area that game designers should perhaps focus more attention on.
There’s probably a lot more to consider here, such as the affect different types of numerical computation have on different styles of gaming – but I’ll leave that for another day. 
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
This line of thought highlights a lot about why the introduction of Vampire, warts and all, was such a huge deal. In the broadest of terms, it entered a left brain dominated product with a right brain oriented product, and in doing so, grew the market.
That said, the issue of how people _process_ is only part of the equation – of equal importance is where they find satisfaction. At they playing for an intellectual or an emotional reward? Or perhaps something else entirely?
So that said, tread carefully. This is a fruitful starting point of thought, but it’s also a bit of a trap – it becomes very easy to start seeing things too much through this lens, and that leads to really dangerous places.
-Rob D.
Left brain dominated *market* of course.
I was hoping someone would bring up the example of Vampire!
I was thinking that a dice pool systems where you roll a set number of dice and count up the number of dice that exceed a certain number is a different type of “math” than games where you roll a single dice an do more arithmetic. After looking into this topic it seems like a good fit for the audience they were aiming for. A D20 system style Vampire wouldn’t have caught on to the same degree.
I also agree with you about not taking this *too* far. Just because someone enjoys “left brain” or “right brain” activities doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy the other types as well. Although if your goal is to appeal to people outside the “left brain dominated market” for RPGs – then you might want to consider how much emphasis your game puts on different styles of math.
This actually got curiously tested by GURPS versions of Vampire and Mage which, if I recall, were not exactly embraced.
That said, I think the market is far less left brain dominated than it was when it grew out of wargames, but I’d still say it leans that way. That said, it’s exactly because of this that you get some interesting departures from math towards other systems like language. Fudge was a first swing at this, and Polaris, which resolves almost everything through ritual phrases, are great illustrations that the boundaries of what be do can be more fluid than we think.
-Rob D.
That’s interesting – I don’t think I’d heard about GURPS Vampire. I just remembered that Monte Cook brought out a d20 version – and it didn’t get that much traction either.
I’m not sure that wargames are really all that left brain an activity. They often have more streamlined math, involve a lot of spatial maneuvering, painting, and model making which are more right brain things. Chainmail certainly doesn’t seem to have that strong a math element to it – - at least not when you compare it to the math in 3.x/d20/Pathfinder or 4e.
A lot of boardgames also have strong math elements, but it’s in the system – and not something players are usually asked to do as part of the gameplay. Games like Settlers of Catan are hugely popular with “non-traditional gamers” so there’s definitely reason to keep exploring outside the current style of “popular” RPGs.
Notably, games like settlers do a great job of keeping the math really well hidden. It’s there if you look for it, but to the average person, it’s less math-ey than something like Monopoly. This has also been the trend in making more commercially viable wargames, but the hardcore wargamers (who have cheerfully continued on despite this RPG spinoff play games where you can have hour long arguments about the precise angle of a tanks armor plating and exactly how that would interact with a certain caliber projectile going a certain speed (actual example, and a few hours of my life I’d like back). For these guys, warhammer 40k (and of course, D&D) is barely a step above chutes and ladders. It is MathTastic.
If I sound like I’m calling it pedantic, I’m absolutely not, but it reveals the importance of priorities. Their priority is to create as accurate a simulation as possible so that their game could stand in for the real world. They perhaps go further than RPGers do, but that sentiment can be found in a number of RPGs, with Hero and many Old School efforts* falling under that umbrella. ‘Realistic’ equates to ‘Fair’ from that perspective, and even if my tastes differ, I accept it’s a compelling argument.
That said, it’s interesting to note that Chainmail was pretty streamlined and hippie for its day.
-Rob D.
* Note that that covers the gamut form rules heavy to rules light. If the end goal is modeling the real world, comprehensive rules are one approach, but so are minimal rules paired with a GM who is doing his best to be realistic.
Yeah my group is pretty split down the middle when it comes to right/left brain people. But the biggest thing we always did was the following: We got so into the story and how we were doing things ( we are all martial artists so the combats got pretty detailed) we would forget to include bonuses, ect ( both GM and players! ) So all of a sudden your 8th level Knight was having trouble fighting the entry level bar brawl! So I solved the problem by created a virtual char sheet on the computer that calcs all your bonuses and auto adds them to our rolls. I know alot of people hate involving tech with RPGs, but for us, it solved the problem, and allowed us to focus on the role playing part of the game, letting the mechanics be handled in the background.
Leave your response!
Members
Planet Stories
Board Games
Recent Comments
Blogs I'm Reading
Recent Posts
Most Commented
RPG Bloggers Network