Game Mechanics

[Ritterin Sophia]

Anyone know where I can find a quote saying game mechanics are non-canon.

[Chris OFarrell]

You won't.

And you have to be more specific. Are we talking about a computer game? About an RPG? What?

[Illuminatus Primus]

There was a quote by Dave Sansweet I believe. I'll try to dig it up.

[Vympel]

We've got it stored on the forum. It's Steve Sansweet quoting Chris Cerasi:

The further one branches away from the movies, the more interpretation and speculation come into play. LucasBooks works diligently to keep the continuing Star Wars expanded universe cohesive and uniform, but stylistically, there is always room for variation. Not all artists draw Luke Skywalker the same way. Not all writers define the character in the same fashion. The particular attributes of individual media also come into play. A comic book interpretation of an event will likely have less dialogue or different pacing than a novel version. A video game has to take an interactive approach that favors gameplay. So too must card and roleplaying games ascribe certain characteristics to characters and events in order to make them playable.

[Jim Raynor]

I asked Leland Chee about this a while ago on the official forums:

Are game mechanics (video games or rpg) canon? For example, does a rpg damage rating like "7d" mean anything? If a C-canon source (like a novel or reference book) contradicts what the game mechanics say, will the book win out?

Game mechanics are designed to try to match continuity to fit the purposes of the game for which they were created. They can serve to provide a scale from which to compare how one character or piece of technology stacks up against another. Because RPGs use dice, there is always the element of random chance involved, which isn't quite applicable to a book.

But stats themselves aren't created randomly; they are based on what is already known. As such, we can always look to them as a basis when writing books. I often look to RPG stats to see for example, what type of Force powers a character may have. Or if we haven't determined the stats of a particular vehicle, we can look to RPG stats for a basis of comparison.

Conversely, I think it would be a determinent if books were artificially limited by game stats. So I would agree that a book is going to overrule a stat if there is a contradiction.

Chee tries to be diplomatic and all-inclusive as usual, so he avoids going with the obvious and saying "LOL! What kind of idiot thinks game mechanics mean shit?" Even so, his use of game mechanics as a source only goes as far as character profiles or as a basis of relative comparison, and he agrees that books and other sources would overrule game mechanics if there was a contradiction.

EDIT: Link. It's near the bottom of the page.