GNS Theory
The GNS Theory, as originally developed by Ron Edwards, holds that participants in role-playing games can be divided into three categories: Gamists, Narrativists, and Simulationists. The theory developed out of the "Threefold Model" that appeared in the rec.games.frp.advocacy newsgroup in 1997 that defined Drama, Simulation, and Game as three paradigms of role-playing.
Strictly, GNS theory is concerned with gamers, but it has been extrapolated to direct game design. Game designers find it useful because it can be used to explain why players participate in RPGs.
In his article "System Does Matter", Edwards said that all participants in RPGs hold one of three mutually exclusive perspectives or aims. He wrote that enjoyable RPGs focus on only one of these perspectives and that it is a common mistake in RPG design to try to satisfy all three types. It is for this reason that the article could be seen as a warning against generic role-playing game systems made by larger developers. The three GNS perspectives Edwards defined are:
- Gamists who play for competition and challenge
- Narrativists who play for story and characterization
- Simulationists who play to explore and experience
The GNS theory incorporates Jonathan Tweet's three forms of task resolution that determine the outcome of an event. Edwards said that an RPG should use a task resolution system or combination of systems that is most appropriate for game's GNS perspective. The three task resolution forms are:
- Drama, the game master decides the results
- Fortune, chance decides the results (e.g., by using dice)
- Karma, a fixed value decides the results (e.g., by comparing stats)
It has been suggested that the main reason Edwards changed the Threefold Model's Drama type to Narrativism for GNS was to avoid confusion with Drama as a task resolution system.
The GNS Theory identifies five elements of role-playing that all players recognize:
- Character, a fictional person
- Color, details that provide atmosphere
- Setting, location (in space and time)
- Situation, the dilemma
- System, determines how in-game events unfold
It also explains four Stances the player can have in making decisions for their character:
- Actor, decides based on what their character would know
- Author, decides based on what they as a player want for their character and then retroactively explains why their character made that decision
- Director, makes decisions that affect the environment rather than the character (usually represented by a game master in an RPG)
- Pawn, decides based on what they as a player want for their character without bothering to explain why their character would make that decision
