Recent content by Umbran

With a great deal of respect, games have evolved. What you forget is that evolution doesn't have a preferred direction, or a plan. It just blunders around, and some stuff survives. That it didn't end up exactly with the thing you are imagining at the moment doesn't mean they haven't evolved...

Well, such products exist. One of my players is running one to give me a break while I am setting up a new long-term campaign. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/114457/always-never-now The issue you probably hit first is that having all the rules for everything the players might...

I'm surprised nobody has come back with... The same thing that brings me back every night, Pinky. I'm here to...

Harm? I think you and I may have different ideas of what qualifies as harm that might call for care to be taken - and what comes to my mind would not be covered by rules-algorithms that don't have empathy.

It generalizes, actually. People who are really good at most professional-level skills are not necessarily good at the business end of things. Like, being a great woodcarver doesn't mean you can profitably run a furniture company, being a good doctor doesn't necessarily make you a good...

Yes, but admittedly a high-risk one (most games, even with support, don't go too far), and thus hard to make profitable. It would be terribly useful, but hard to make actually work.

Mod Note: And in my experience, ascribing motives to folks to suggest their stated intent as... counterfactual, shall we say... 1) suggests the discussion is likely beyond a useful point. 2) ends a poorly. You don't want to be at that poor end, I expect, so please, respect, or take a break.

So, that informs what the industry needs now. Business incubators, where designers can go to get support in the areas they suck at in a way that reduces the financial risk.

Yeah, well, how many professions do you expect them to be good at? They need to be game designers and art directors and business managers and project managers and marketers... Being an awesome game designer comes with NONE of those other skills wrapped up and ready to use. Oh, and they go...

And I expect my players to have fewer issues about "power" than that. When I am running a game, I have power. But I am not using it against the players. My power is used for their benefit. I only get benefit if they do! If you are coming to my table worried about how much power I have...

I think the thing I need most is time. And not just my own time - saving me a bit of prep isn't the issue. I need time and to spare with my players to run longer sessions with fewer scheduling conflicts.

Also, just to note... Many of the ways we hypothesize about this amount to, "We didn't make an artificial intelligence, we made an artificial stupidity." There is nothing wrong with that, but it is unsubtle, and if we are not careful stretches credulity. A machine that can prioritize and adapt...

Mod Note: This thread is NOT going to be about the overall politics of tariffs. If you don't want to keep it to how tariffs are impacting the game industry, take it to some other venue, please and thanks.

Rules are not someone. Rules are an algorithm. Is an algorithm better than you?