Telephone Game

 Studying Information Theory is akin to thumbing through the pages of an Advanced D&D module. Sure, it’s got the same name as contemporary Dungeons & Dragons, but there are so many differences in its understanding of the elements of gameplay, that they stand out almost more than the similarities. The model Claude Channon and Warren Weaver sought to develop had far different goals and priorities than do many contemporary, post-modern theories of communication. Indeed, their mathematical theory of communication bears much more similarity to early roleplaying games based in war-reenactments than to Critical Role, Dungeons & Daddies, or The Adventure Zone.

Since its development in the 1940s, Information Theory has been applied in at least two very different contexts. The first is that of the electronic sciences, wherein its focus on signal transmission and perception has been key to understanding the capacity of mass communication systems to handle ever-increasing amounts of data without perceptible loss of message fidelity. The second is in the social sciences where the theory is used to question and examine how individuals are more or less able to communicate accurately due, in part, to differences in their beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. 

While the various elements of theatricality, performance, and math are all still likely present in your gaming sessions, the relative centrality of each element may be different than they would have been in the late 1970s. Just as the books, modules, and supplements of Dungeons and Dragons have changed from version to version over the intervening decades, so too have communication theories and models purporting to delineate communication elements, how they relate to each other, and how they function systematically. 

Information Theory attempts to apply mathematical principles to interpersonal communication. In that regard, it’s not unlike Persuasion or Intimidation rolls. The primary focus for both Shannon and Weaver, as the Information model coalesced, was the reduction of information loss from communicator to communicator. The theory was originally formed to help minimize distortions (or noise) in early telephone communication. Applied to the tabletop roleplay gaming context, a dungeonmaster might concern themselves with how to effectively describe a scene to their players, articulate a complex set of relationships in the fantasy world, or adjudicate a ruling.

As introduced, the Shannon and Weaver Model of communication was quickly adopted as a standard description of the elements of communication, and how they interacted. It’s linear, mono-directional, and includes a number of communication concepts which theorists and researchers still grapple to understand better. Information theorists have been often concerned with removing uncertainty from communication. According to this theory, “information” is a different concept than how it is commonly understood. Information (for Shannon) is the opportunity to reduce uncertainty and increase the choices available when constructing a message. The less uncertainty in a message, the greater the correlation between the message sent and the message received. The more details present, the more information. The more bits of information that are communicated, the less uncertainty exists between the communicators. 

Let’s imagine that a gnome wizard has a message she wants to send across town to the party’s cleric, who’s currently praying at a shrine to Tempus. According to Information Theory, the gnome is the source of information (the sender). She scribbles the message on a piece of parchment, seals it up, and pays a messenger to deliver the note across town. The messenger is the transmitter (in Shannon and Weaver’s original work, this was the telephone). The letter (a signal) has to pass through the town neighborhoods to get to the shrine, and eventually the cleric. But, the messenger drops the letter into a muddy puddle along the way, soaking both the envelope and the letter.  By the time the messenger reaches the cleric, the note is hardly legible, owing both to my gnome’s poor handwriting and the paper’s wetness. The cleric’s poor eyesight also diminishes the quality of information and the fidelity of information received compared to the information the gnome originally intended. From information source (the gnome’s mind) to the final destination (the cleric’s mind), several types of noise (the handwriting, the mud puddle, poor eyesight) have all served various roles in reducing the message fidelity, quality, and clarity. Information theorists generally concern themselves with improving message clarity and fidelity through transmission. Had the gnome just cast Sending, each of the sources of noise would have been removed. Information theorists would view this as a method of reducing message uncertainty. However, the potential of a letter to contain more that 25 words (unlike Sending) means potentially more information can be sent through the letter channel. However, in real life at your gaming table, no one can actually cast Sending, can they? So, how does Information Theory apply in a world without spell slots?

Information’s big bad villain is noise. In information theory, noise is much more than a phone call that cuts out or a screaming baby on your flight. Vocal pauses, the attractiveness of the source, and poor handwriting are all types of noise because they exist alongside the intended message and interfere with the flow of communication. In essence, noise cuts the capacity of the channel to carry information. If, as I am dungeonmastering a game, one of my players’ phones buzzes repeatedly, I may become distracted, annoyed, or angry. I might have to repeat what’s going on to the player, reiterate information I’ve already provided, and otherwise offer redundant information so as to counteract the effect of the noise present. Redundancy is only one strategy for counteracting noise in a system. Yet, it’s inefficient.  

It would serve a dungeonmaster or player well to consider their interpersonal communication while gaming in terms of Information Theory. Primarily, considering the sources of noise and their effect on the ability of participants to engage in the game well is instrumental in facilitating effective and enjoyable communication. While communication model development arguably begins with Information Theory, few scholars would assert it comprises the ultimate end of communication scholarship.  Indeed, theories which consider not only the information conveyed, but also the interpretation of that information likely do far more to explain individuals’ communication experiences.