Re: Skill Challenges - WTF?

Allen Wessels wrote:
In article <4840E59B.4030805@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Sea Wasp <seawaspObvious@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


One of my degrees is in psych too, with cognitive as one of my major foci.

And young people are at least as capable of contextual reading as older people, if they're not TOO young (i.e., still learning HOW to read). And if they're THAT young, they ain't playing without someone else telling them how to play.


My read is that 4e is shooting at the 12-19 group. In that age group, their cognitive skills are still maturing, and while they can read for factual context, their perspectives and ability to judge intent are not well developed.


And if you assume that's the way they are, they won't learn the skills, either.

I learned to play D&D at the age of 14, near the low end of your range.

It was OBVIOUS to me that the idea was to play a story. So it was to all the kids, and adults, I played with.


Their reads will tend to be more literal and the people teaching them will focus on mechanics.

I have no doubt that even the 12 year olds will master the skirmish rules fairly easily, but I doubt their ability to make judgement calls. And I know lots of people who started D&D with a group of peers of 12 and 13 year olds with no guiding hand.

And learned to play quite well, without needing additional structure. They misinterpreted things, they reinterpreted, they fixed, they argued, and -- presto -- learned.



--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com

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