some context
"Rules Elide" and Its Consequences was an article written by Jared Sinclair. The blog post has been taken down sometime between March 27th and today, but you can still read it through wayback machine.
the reason for this post
Against my better judgement I was looking at twitter and saw a take along the lines of:
Rules Elide means that "Improv is the ideal state of a ttrpg and dice are rolled so we don't have to improv realistic combat", which is counter to the idea of games
I've seen a lot of similar hate for Rules Elide ever since it was brought up in conjunction with an interview where Brennan Lee Mulligan paraphrased it.
brennan was talking about his improv comedy show
Very specifically:
Combat is the part I’m the least interested in simulating through improvisational storytelling.
This entire discussion exists within the context of an actual play podcast focused on improv comedy.
rules elide doesn't argue what the ideal state of a game should be
The only thing Rules Elide explains is an opinionated stance on the function of rules. The fundamental claim is this:
To say that rules elide is to say that they do nothing else. That they cannot do anything else. Rules do not themselves create or conjure or elicit or inspire or invoke or incite—they only negate.
From the viewpoint of Rules Elide, the fictional playspace is an infinite block of marble, and rules define the negative space necessary to create a sculpture. Many people misinterpret this view to mean that the perfect sculpture is the one with the least cuts and chisels applied.
The takeaway here, if there is one, is this: We use rules to remove some of the trees, so we might better see the forest. We argue through negation.
it's a tool
For Jared, Rules Elide was a shorthand to talk about the role of a game designer.
For me, Rules Elide is a lens to look at the mechanics & rules that I'm writing and check to see what gameplay I'm abbreviating and which parts I'm allowing full room to breathe.
If I were to cling to a very narrow vision of Rules Elide, I would argue that the negations carved by rules have the power to create, conjure, elicit, inspire, invoke, and incite. However, I don't need a single game design theory to explain everything about this art form. It is enough for me that Rules Elide gives me another way to look at games.