Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-97.81.240.58-20130603234626/@comment-24590102-20140327064724

Coppermantis wrote: Smoking.Chimp wrote: Gameplay is the factual subset of Lore:^) In what way?

I think that game lore encompasses the total scope of world-view which exists in the context of the game. While part of that comprises the opinions and findings of various NPCs, the player is, equally, an entity within this world who may directly observe, through game-play, many facts pertaining to the world of the game. In this sense, game-play provides verifiable facts, in the context of the game, which reveal how things really are in the gameworld (e.g. geography) and may either contradict of confirm various opinions if these observations are probative. In this way, gameplay forms a vital part of game lore - and I think that game-lore is, equally, not be confused with, for example, folklore presented as having developed in the world of the game. That in-game folklore is, likewise, is only a part of game lore.

Taking this further, lore is "a body of traditions and knowledge on a subject." It follows that game lore is a body of traditions and knowledge on the subject of the game in question. This is a very broad scope. Chess lore does not just encompass what has and has not been successful in the game of chess but also the various legends of prominent players in addition to many accurate and, equally, inaccurate opinions about how to play successfully. In this sense, even player perceptions can be an aspect of game-lore and certainly, by this extension, the lore attached to many of the mods which are used in conjunction with TES add to TES lore after the external body of legend which evolves from player perceptions.

The key is to correctly contextualise lore factually - which means ensuring that lore-elements are identified as to whether they are: In-game facts are of particular importance in the case of mysteries because, generally, non-factual lore is intentionally wrong or misleading in the mystery genre because I think you'll find that this genre is an expression of the broader realist or empiricist literary currents (not to be confused with real-world empiricism such as science). Geography is, in RPGs, traditionally part of the overall mystery and is, likewise, dependent more on in-game facts (i.e. gameplay) than on other aspects of game-lore. Crafting, alchemy, enchanting, and even weapons handling also take on a predominantly gameplay-derived body of lore which often-enough contradicts some of the superlative descriptions which get passed around.
 * 1) NPC traditions, legends or folklore as expressed orally in-game
 * 2) NPC opinions, mythology, or cosmology as expressed in in-game books
 * 3) NPC observations which can be verified by player observations
 * 4) In-game facts such as can be verified by Game-play
 * 5) External player opinions which are probably best expressed as “it could be argued...”
 * 6) etc.

