Terminology - Diegetic vs Non Diegetic

Created: 2025-11-23

Diegetic (adjective): Actually taking place or existing in the fictional world depicted.

Non-diegetic (adjective): Not actually taking place or existing in the fictional world depicted, an external thing to the fictional world depicted that the audience percieves.

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Created: 2025-11-23

Other stuff in films that’s non-diegetic includes the credits, subtitles, voiceovers, slow-motion, all that stuff.

See in context at Terminology - Diegetic vs Non Diegetic

Created: 2025-11-23

One thing I find attracts me to various games - notably Powered By The Apocalypse and OSR games - is that you first interact with things using the fictional actions of your PC to affect the fictional world. You treat the world as a real, consistent place, and the GM adjudicates what happens based off that.

See in context at Terminology - Diegetic vs Non Diegetic

Created: 2025-11-23

The distinction between diegetic content and nondiegetic content is not the same as the distinction between flavour and mechanics.

See in context at Terminology - Diegetic vs Non Diegetic