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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8607000" data-attributes="member: 177">Except, of course, non-simulated ice cream melts all the time.&nbsp; The simulation doesn't tell you that.&nbsp; Nor does it tell you that ice cream is edible, because sure as heck the simulation isn't.You see, that simulation is made for a purpose.&nbsp; The prop ice cream is a highly accurate visual simulation, but it is not a good simulation of, say, the flavor of ice cream.&nbsp; This is common for simulations - they are generally made for some purpose, and they don't reliably reveal anything beyond that.Try to use the simulation beyond the realm it was intended, conclusions you draw about the thing being simulated will tend to be inaccurate.&nbsp; Usually highly inaccurate.&nbsp; Using that simulated ice cream, you may get an accurate idea of what it looks like, but not its physical texture, chemical composition, or gustatorial properties.If the game is a simulation, then is only intended to be so for the purposes of people around a table having fun playing heroic adventures.&nbsp; If you try to use it to, say, be a model of the fictional world's economy, beyond what is seen in the transactional experiences of the PCs... well, it notoriously doesn't make a whole lot of sense.Yep.&nbsp; This seems nonsensical if you've misconstrued the purpose of the simulation.&nbsp; We are not simulating a world with rational biology for academic study.&nbsp; We are at best simulating heroic action fiction for entertainment.&nbsp; There's a strong argument that we aren't even simulating a heroic action fiction world - just the fiction itself.&nbsp; Heroic action fiction has dramatic highs and lows - one way we simulate those is by driving the character down and up in hit points.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 8607000, member: 177"] Except, of course, non-simulated ice cream melts all the time. The simulation doesn't tell you that. Nor does it tell you that ice cream is [I]edible[/I], because sure as heck the simulation isn't. You see, that simulation is made [I]for a purpose[/I]. The prop ice cream is a highly accurate [I]visual[/I] simulation, but it is not a good simulation of, say, the flavor of ice cream. This is common for simulations - they are generally made for some purpose, and they don't reliably reveal anything beyond that. Try to use the simulation beyond the realm it was intended, conclusions you draw about the thing being simulated will tend to be inaccurate. Usually highly inaccurate. Using that simulated ice cream, you may get an accurate idea of what it looks like, but not its physical texture, chemical composition, or gustatorial properties. If the game is a simulation, then is only intended to be so for the purposes of people around a table having fun playing heroic adventures. If you try to use it to, say, be a model of the fictional world's economy, beyond what is seen in the transactional experiences of the PCs... well, it notoriously doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Yep. This seems nonsensical if you've misconstrued the purpose of the simulation. We are not simulating a world with rational biology for academic study. We are at best simulating heroic action fiction for entertainment. There's a strong argument that we aren't even simulating a heroic action fiction [I]world[/I] - just the fiction itself. Heroic action fiction has dramatic highs and lows - one way we simulate those is by driving the character down and up in hit points. [/QUOTE]

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