Author: Mendel Schmiedekamp (---.psu.edu)
Date: 03-28-2005 14:10
When looking at RPGs as a form a play, and hence focusing on the learning aspect, it is helpful to use the term learning in a broad sense.
Learning as the simple acquisition of knowledge maps well to our ideas of declarative and procedural knowledge. But with cultural knowledge the idea of learning seems misplaced.
However, learning can also be reinforcement, both of existing experiences and thoughts, and new and different thoughts. Reinforcement can be found in the stereotypical "munchkin" seeking to reinforce perseved social status as well as the thematic player's reinforcements of the different values of family (for example). This reinforcement is still learning, albeit learning something already "known". There is a far cry between knowing and incorporating in your perspective of yourself and the world around you. The later is where cultural knowledge lies.
-Mendel Schmiedekamp
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