The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

If you respond to an offer as though it’s true, that’s accepting the offer. You can accept offers verbally, physically, or both.

Daisy curtsies and says, “Hello, your majesty.” Gerald bows, kisses her hand, and responds, “Hello, princess. You look lovely today.”

Gerald accepts Daisy’s offer by saying and doing things that align with the truth of his being royalty.

Accepting is especially useful when others make defined offers. By accepting, you establish the foundation of a shared world and avoid debating what’s true and what’s not.

When you have an idea that hasn’t been explicitly defined, if someone preempts it with an defined offer, accept it. Support the truth of their offer, even if it’s not what you had in mind.

Milo is digging a hole with the intention of planting a tree. Ingrid asks, “Is that hole deep enough to bury the body?” Milo accepts Ingrid’s defined offer. “Just about. This ground is harder than I expected.”

Accepting an offer doesn’t mean you always have to go along with the intention behind it.

“Cigarette?” “No thanks, I’m trying to quit.”

This response accepts the truth of the cigarette. It just doesn’t go to the action of smoking.

To play together within fictional worlds, players need a shared understanding of what’s true. When you accept other’s offers, it establishes the shared truth of the fictional world.