Zoning Out

Instead of giving wide-ranging player advice for Prismatic Wasteland's blogwagon, I want to focus on one specific - um, sorry, what were we talking about?

You're reading a book and suddenly find that you need to reread the last paragraph, or the whole page. For a moment you were there, casting your eyes across the words, but nothing was sinking in. This isn't particularly disruptive while reading, but the same experience at a TTRPG table can be more problematic. Suddenly all eyes turn to you, you know you're expected to do something significant, but you actually have no idea what is currently going on in the game. In a tactics-heavy game, maybe you can look down at a battle map, get a reasonable sense of the state of play, and jump back in. In theatre of the mind play, the description of the scene is ephemeral and you zoned out during it. What do you do?

Calvin and Hobbies by Bill Waterson

Option 1: Fake it

Take your best guess. When you were last paying attention, the party was negotiating with the village mayor to borrow his hot air balloon. You know the group - these things always take time. Of course that's still going on.

"I get tired of all this chatter. I pull out my dagger, 'Listen bub, we're taking your balloon whether you like it or not.'"

Now you wait and see whether that works, or are you about to be told that you are already in the balloon floating over snowy mountain peaks.

Option 2: Minimize it

What is the smallest possible input you could give at this moment? What's the in-game equivalent of nodding and throwing it back to the other players?

"Hmm... I'm not sure what's best here. What do you guys think?"

Now you hope that the question was not "Hey, does anyone have some rope?"

Option 3: Own it

Zoning out isn't ideal, but it is also perfectly normal and can happen to anyone. Maybe it's due to random thoughts popping up, but it can just as easily be enthusiasm for the game (thinking back on some snippet of lore or planning for an upcoming encounter) that causes you to lose the thread. Even so, it may be hard for the GM and other players not to roll their eyes when you zone out. It seems like you're not paying attention and you're not interested. Options 1 and 2 can deepen that view. You didn't know what was going on, and you seem happy to continue like that, bluffing your way through.

So I say own it. Tell the group you missed something but you want to get back up to speed. That's engagement, which is what we're always chasing.

"Oh, I actually missed some details here. Can we do a quick summary to get me back into it?"

Unless this is happening every time the spotlight moves to you, a reasonable group ought to have patience for it.

Directed attention

I don't think there's any way to completely remove those moments of wandering attention, but I'll wrap up with a few suggestions for active engagement.

• Acting is reacting - when the spotlight is on another player, but your PC is present, consider what you can offer in the scene. This isn't making it all about you, it's about making sure their PC isn't passing through their big moments alone.
• Build the world - maybe you're playing a game where anyone can add details to the world, which is a great way to engage rather than spectate. But even if the GM is the only one painting those details, you can still contribute with questions. "Can we still see the town we left in the morning?", "Are there any other tracks on the road?", "Is there much wildlife here?" When you're reading a book, the author may have been in a distant country, they may have been writing in another century, their words may have been translated through multiple languages. These may be obstacles between the author describing the world and the reader interpreting it. TTRPGs are a live conversation, and are far easier to engage with actively.
• Check the game - Are you playing a game that facilitates everyone being engaged? Is it very turn-based, at the expense of the group experience? Do you find it boring? Maybe you zone out because this isn't the right game for you. Maybe you should offer to run a game for the group, to get a different experience and perspective. (Is this "player advice" post a stealth "become a GM" post? Apparently so.)