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Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8199973" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>On <strong>the desired play experience (agenda)</strong>.</p><p></p><p>I would also add to the above (particularly with respect to the bolded) that the analysis is intended to forensically suss out (rather than abstract or abridge) what constitutes <strong>desired play experience x</strong> vs <strong>desired play experience y</strong> vs <strong>desired play experience z</strong> (and so on)? One of the problems with lack of analysis is that it seems to just assume that there is really only one...maybe a few...desired play experiences. In reality, there are many, many desired play experiences.</p><p></p><p>Once you understand (at a forensic level) what constitutes and differentiates desired play experiences, then you can holistically, and with focus/intent, design toward each of those play experiences (GMing principles, authority distribution, process of content - setting/situation - generation, PC build mechanics, resolution mechanics, incentive structures, metacurrencies/economies - if any, feedback loops, nature/axis of advancement, Win/Loss Con - if any, etc). </p><p></p><p>"Designing blind" (not understanding, at a forensic level, what constitutes and differentiates desired play experiences) is almost always a pretty fraught endeavor. One might respond "I'm not designing blind, I'm designing based on intuition." To that I would say, (i) you either have a much greater grip on the desired play experience than you're able to articulate (which is absolutely a thing) or (ii) you've got some cognitive or experiential blind spots (possibly both) that you're not aware of and you're either smuggling them in and then extrapolating from them or ignoring them and papering over the issues that arise from that. (ii) is absolutely "designing blind" while (i) is basically being possessed of the ability to do all the stuff in my first two paragraphs (even if you can't articulate it or "show your work").</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8199973, member: 6696971"] On [B]the desired play experience (agenda)[/B]. I would also add to the above (particularly with respect to the bolded) that the analysis is intended to forensically suss out (rather than abstract or abridge) what constitutes [B]desired play experience x[/B] vs [B]desired play experience y[/B] vs [B]desired play experience z[/B] (and so on)? One of the problems with lack of analysis is that it seems to just assume that there is really only one...maybe a few...desired play experiences. In reality, there are many, many desired play experiences. Once you understand (at a forensic level) what constitutes and differentiates desired play experiences, then you can holistically, and with focus/intent, design toward each of those play experiences (GMing principles, authority distribution, process of content - setting/situation - generation, PC build mechanics, resolution mechanics, incentive structures, metacurrencies/economies - if any, feedback loops, nature/axis of advancement, Win/Loss Con - if any, etc). "Designing blind" (not understanding, at a forensic level, what constitutes and differentiates desired play experiences) is almost always a pretty fraught endeavor. One might respond "I'm not designing blind, I'm designing based on intuition." To that I would say, (i) you either have a much greater grip on the desired play experience than you're able to articulate (which is absolutely a thing) or (ii) you've got some cognitive or experiential blind spots (possibly both) that you're not aware of and you're either smuggling them in and then extrapolating from them or ignoring them and papering over the issues that arise from that. (ii) is absolutely "designing blind" while (i) is basically being possessed of the ability to do all the stuff in my first two paragraphs (even if you can't articulate it or "show your work"). [/QUOTE]
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