Some might not know me at all, some might know I am related to some of the most random and probably irrelevant threads in this Brickonicle related Forum. Most of it is related to the background of things the show and story will never touch. Like, the environment, fundamental laws of the universe, fighting styles, General questions, and other things.
Either way, I recently found a video on what the narrator calls shandification, following a completely unrelated comment on how you can tell Baccano is a great anime by its first episode in a video about how to tell great anime by the first episode.
This is more important for open games, and can be easily summarized as setting. In the sense that good games have good setting. However, I have to add there is a small difference between shandification and setting. Setting is the environment of story and is generally told when it is immediately relevant to the main story. Shandification is about how things that are far removed in the causality chain can influence the progression of a story. Some may feel it is better described as a sort of butterfly effect. However, that is not the case either, as the event is not that far removed from the causality chain and the causes are no necessarily small ones.
A murder can influence the emotional state of the secretary of a company president, which causes her to miss a meeting. This in turn causes the president who is forgetful to miss his flight for a new deal, making a competing company gain an incredible deal. This causes them to expand, and aids in the financial situation of the main character who gets hired and can pay the bills for his mother’s hospitalization. However, the main character being hired is because he was convinced by supporting character B, who in turn decided to do that because main character’s mother talked to him about his son’s worries. That is not all though, Main character being hired is also due to the fact that he randomly decided to take a specific class, that gave him knowledge on a field that the company wanted. Of all the causes leading to the result of the character being hired mostly only some will be gone in depth: The ads, the side character B talking to the main character, maybe the mother talking to side character B.
Normally you would say that the rest of the information is contextually irrelevant, and while that is true, it is only half true. All those cause and effect interactions still have ramifications. you can have a news about a murder in the beginning of the episode, leading to the main character getting hired a couple episodes later. Then when you introduce the rival company on a later arc, you can have them explain part of the reason as to why they want to sabotage/steal whatever recent contract the protagonist’s company has. Alluding to the the president missing a meeting. All this helps flesh out the world itself. Something we see on some of the best sandbox games produced in bionicle, as well as the better fleshed out plots. Also, it doubles as way to show the audience that there is more happening behind the scenes and makes the world look more realistic.
Now, I understand if the main podcast does not have the time to think about these things. This work is usually done by a team of tenths of people, who are paid for the job, and tend to dedicate their lives doing these things. However, that is why we have the community here. You can let them worry about the lore and the less relevant bits. Make it cannon and build from that. Specially if you want this to be able to spawn side stories of other characters, as well as probably a game.
As to why I am writing this seemingly obvious thing. For one, I found the video on shandification interesting. Second, I am way to obsessed about building this Brickonicle universe that I am now grasping at straws on how to justify some of the most outlandish threads I created, fundamental laws and quantum mechanics, really?
TL:DR
Setting is important, to the point that small details matter in the immersion of a story. The more believable a lie is, the easier it is to keep your suspension of disbelief.
I might be too obsessed about the setting of this fictional world that is not sanctioned by Lego, and I am not getting paid to do research. It is almost like a job, but it is a hobby.