Just as explicit games have rules, normal conversation has all kinds of implicit expectations.
If someone asks me a question, I should answer.
No rules = no rule saying that you have to answer.
In fact, if someone says that they are curious about my reaction to something, it’s totally fine for me to just say “okay” and then change the topic to something else that feels more interesting to me.
That said, it is also okay for the other to get annoyed by that and say it, which they might or might not.
So then is circling just the voicing of the ever-present fact that you’re free to violate social expectations if you’re willing to annoy people?
I understand and agree with the stuff about “when you don’t take social expectations as binding that’s simultaneously freeing and difficult”, but that’s already the choice you have. If circling doesn’t include any rules against trying to enforce social expectations in the usual way, then it seems like circling can’t change anything. Is it just the effects of making this fact common knowledge?
So then is circling just the voicing of the ever-present fact that you’re free to violate social expectations if you’re willing to annoy people?
I understand and agree with the stuff about “when you don’t take social expectations as binding that’s simultaneously freeing and difficult”, but that’s already the choice you have. If circling doesn’t include any rules against trying to enforce social expectations in the usual way, then it seems like circling can’t change anything. Is it just the effects of making this fact common knowledge?