Context and Communication
Once upon a time...
Imagine a hot, dry wind passing over your skin as you carefully walk in the shadows to avoid the burning intensity of the sun that gazes down with nary a cloud to get in its way. The scent in the air is one of dust, with a hint of coffee and cardamom and thyme. The sounds of traffic buzz around you, while a call to the faithful floats hauntingly across the modern city of Damascus.
Imagine, also, the weariness of knowing you have to walk about three miles in that heat to get home, after having spent the last few hours at your second job. You would take a cab, or even the bus, but you live on less than two dollars a day and that bus ride is worth a few rounds of bread. Walking every day, in fact, is what allowed you to save up enough money to visit the one shop in the entire city that sells any sort of American goods. You went crazy and bought two bags worth of cookies and breakfast cereal, because, though you refuse to admit it, you’re homesick. Those two bags are heavy in the summer’s brutal heat, but worth it.
As evening approaches, you cross the archway from paved roads to winding city streets just barely wide enough for cars--and often too peppered with random stairs and unexpected twists to allow them anyway. High Roman walls ring the Old City, and inside, hidden gems of mosaics and fountains, bustling souks, lively cafes. Almost at your limit, but almost home.
And then, from a set of chairs outside a café, your friends spot you. They hail you over, cries of delight at seeing you. You really just want to go home, but you don’t want to be rude.
You walk up to them, with your bags of food in hand. They greet you enthusiastically, you greet them, they greet you again. Such is the game. They ask where you’ve been, and what’s in the bags. You tell them groceries.
Then there’s a long moment of silence.
They stare at you, nodding.
You stare at them.
They stare at you, beginning to give you a look.
You stare at them, tired and confused.
One sighs, grabs one of your bags of groceries, and begins to root through it. He exclaims in joy at each object, pulling them out one by one, showing them to the group, then passing them out. They share out your hard-earned treats giddily. You feel panic and tears rising.
And then your friend takes pity on you, recollects them all, puts them back in the bag, and hands it to you. He explains to his strange, foreign friend,
“When you have bought something new, it is polite to offer to share it. We would refuse, we would never take your food, we know you need it. But it is polite.”
“You could have just said that,” you retort. He just smiles.
Cultural Communication Styles
One of the seminal works in communication is by a man named Edward Hall, who really developed the concepts of something called Low Context and High Context Communication.
These styles of communication describe different cultural norms and tendencies when it comes to communicating. Low context speakers prefer to be direct and straightforward. They are often forceful communicators, who think aloud, interrupt, and speak quite plainly. By contrast, high context communication is more indirect and roundabout. It may use more in the way of euphemisms or metaphors, and speakers are more okay with silence. High context communication emphasizes diplomacy and relationships over an in-your-face truth.
In other words, in high context cultures, more goes unsaid. It is ultimately the listener’s responsibility to understand what is being said or not said. The unspoken, assumed, and generally shared context is very present in every conversation. In lower context cultures, by contrast, context doesn’t matter nearly as much. “Speaking plainly” is valued over “sparing someone’s feelings.”
In the story above, your (or rather my) friend was, through first his silence and then through his strange actions, trying to show me that I had made a cultural gaffe. Just telling me so to my face, though, would have maybe hurt my feelings and maybe made me look stingy in front of the others. In fact, his playful approach turned my poor manners into a game that helped me save face, without me even realizing it. Only when I truly did not comprehend what was happening, did he realize he had to be more American in his approach and tell me what he meant.
This varied approach to communication can cause endless comedic and rather more serious scenes. It’s easy to get frustrated or accidentally insult someone (or yourself) without knowing how or why. Someone from a low context culture might call their own communication style “direct or straightforward” and might call someone from a high context culture’s communication “passive aggressive.” Someone from a high context culture, though, might call their own style “considerate or polite” and might say someone from a low context culture speaks in a “combative or rude” style.
Importantly, it isn’t a matter of good or bad, better or worse. Cultures and people just communicate differently. This is not a thing to judge, but to understand.
Also, it’s worth noting that Hall and others describe this use of context as a spectrum. In the real world, Japanese people are considered to be some of the highest context communicators, while German-speaking Europeans are usually considered the lowest context ones. And cultures are not monolithic. Individuals can vary pretty widely in their personal communication styles. And there are always numerous subcultures that can influence those styles. In general, it is often the case that more dominant groups in a given culture tend to be the most low context communicators, while less dominant groups tend to be more high context.
This tendency reflects social power dynamics and is probably something most of us are familiar with to some extent--when you’re the one in charge, you have a little more leeway to be direct. When you’re not in charge, well, have you ever had to give bad news to a boss with a sharp temper? It sometimes pays to be smart about how you say something, and you may find yourself using higher context communication styles in those moments.
Communication and Worldbuilding
Back to the inevitable question of why we’re discussing this in a roleplaying blog. In a low context nutshell, because communication is an important part of culture. And cultures do it differently.
This can be a space, then, to have a lot of fun! Perhaps you have a bunch of players who are themselves very low context communicators, and their PCs reflect that. Maybe it’s time they visit a high context culture! Oh the frustrations of “why won’t people just say what they mean?!” Think of all the rolls you can ask them to do to test out those charisma and interpersonal skills! Or maybe your players prefer higher context, and you can throw them in a land of people who have no idea how to be polite!
Aside from just messing with your players, though, communication is closely tied into many other aspects of culture. It can be in the background of international relations. For instance, one of the cultures in a world I’ve helped design is very high context. They have neighbors who are less so, and they call being too straightforward “behaving like an Alidaran.” It is most definitely an insult. As noted, it can be indicative of power dynamics within or between cultures. High context cultures are often a little more collectivist rather than individualistic, so communication style can be a tangible way of expressing otherwise subtle differences.
Communication style may seem like a small thing, but it can be a way to both understand and showcase your cultures. It can also be a way to help you think about NPCs and how and why they interact with PCs. And if all else fails, it can be a great way to get people to roll on those often underutilized stats.
If you’re interested in learning more, this article by Nishimura, Nevgi, and Tella is a pretty easy read and gives a nice overview of the topic from a more academic perspective. (https://people.uwec.edu/degravjr/GEOG-ANTH%20351/Articles/NishimuraNevgiTella-highcontextlowcontext.pdf)
