Quais são os benefícios do uso da ferramenta de segurança do X Card em comparação à comunicação simples?

X Card and other toolkit resources come with rules, whereas when groups which I've played with in the past left things to "plain communication" what happened when game content triggered people was that the conversation at times completely failed to improve safety and at times made the situation worse.

Just to cite the rule, according to John Stavropoulos's X Card documentation, when you

"lift this card up, or simply tap it, you don’t have to explain why. It doesn't matter why."

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SB0jsx34bWHZWbnNIVVuMjhDkrdFGo1_hSC2BWPlI3A/edit

That set an expectation in two of my game groups: By agreeing to use the X Card, this concept was introduced to and enforced by a conscientious, cooperative, and sensitive group.

On the other hand, only relying on "plain communication" encouraged people to... wait for it... communicate. As in, being free to bring whatever they want to to the conversation. This has included questioning the triggered person, and unedited reactions, which just created additional triggers and the unkindness of uninformed judgements. Not too safe. By doing nothing proactive to actively promote a safe space, some people were totally unprepared to be present with their empathy and thoughtfulness when a triggered person did ask for accommodation, resulting in not giving them what they needed and were asking for, because of not understanding or not agreeing.

Now, I imagine (just saying rhetorically. I have not tried this.) that it's certainly possible to have a conversation before game time that the way you're going to provide safety is to do something very similar to what the X Card protocol describes, but, now you're no longer in "plain communication" territory.

Given my personal experience with the two options presented in the question, X Card or nothing special, the clear benefit is the X Card comes with training, plus it ensures that everyone is Na mesma página before play begins, as far as willingness to participate in a safe space at all goes.

In my experience, the X-Card provides more benefit in the explanation than in the use of the card.

It is incredibly powerful to start a session with an explícito reminder that everyone at the table is supposed to be sensitive to the needs of everyone else, that everyone is equally valuable and that everyone's individual foibles and lines will be respected.

By placing the tool on the table and explaining how it is to be used, it seems that an expectation of civility and deference to one another is created.

I find that by putting it on the table and discussing its use, you’ve eliminated more than 80% of the problems it is intended to address.

Sit down at a table with no discussion of safety, no expectation (or culture, if it’s a persistent group) of respect, and basically anything goes. Sit down at a table where the topic of safety is foregrounded, with a concrete tool that privileges the affected party (as opposed to the instigating party) and you’ve set a tone for the table and created an expectation that you’ll be looking out for each other. You’ve said, “the culture at this table cares about how everyone is doing.”

In short - the card itself is not, in my experience, the important part. It's the setting of expectations.

Also - I have seen X-Card introductions that undermined or mocked it and while I think those GMs were trying to lighten the mood around a serious topic, they didn't get the same kind of benefit I usually see.

In addition to what has already been presented; The X Card and similar mechanics also present players with a method to express discomfort with actions and content within a game without needing to be confrontational towards the rest of the group or to give undue attention to the player invoking it: It's much more covert and potentially less emotionally stressful to quietly display the X-Card or an equivalent than it is to verbally stop the entire session and try to express to the rest of the group what's happening.

Stopping the game through use of an X Card can also be beneficial in that stopping the game before communicating the problem can help to potentially remove the individual who invoked the card from the source of their distress and emotionally center themselves, which leads to more a open and less emotionally-charged dialogue within the group about how the situation can be improved.