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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8673567" data-attributes="member: 82106">No, it IS THE POINT, because for 'simulation' to mean something AT ALL, there has to be something to be simulating, some reality that we can point to that says &quot;this thing, this simulation, has greater or lesser similarity to that actual thing.&quot; It is UTTERLY NONSENSICAL to talk about simulating something in fantasy like that!Instead, what we need to talk about is genre emulation! What things make up the necessary and expected elements of the genre we are playing in. What can we alter? What assumptions are key? How do we bring those things into the game and what form do they take? Are they rules of situational adjudication, or do they restrict the allowed action declarations that players can make, or maybe they have some other manifestation (metacurrency, carrots and sticks of various sorts, etc.). Talking about 'simulating dragons' just doesn't fly! (haha). Talking about making a game in which a dragon has attributes that we would associate with Smaug, that we can do! Anything else just leads down a road of madness, as [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] so ably pointed out. You end up with magic that isn't magical, and other absurd logically nonsensical things, and you still haven't got a simulation, no matter how hard you try, because it is just not logically possible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8673567, member: 82106"] No, it IS THE POINT, because for 'simulation' to mean something AT ALL, there has to be something to be simulating, some reality that we can point to that says "this thing, this simulation, has greater or lesser similarity to that actual thing." It is UTTERLY NONSENSICAL to talk about simulating something in fantasy like that! Instead, what we need to talk about is genre emulation! What things make up the necessary and expected elements of the genre we are playing in. What can we alter? What assumptions are key? How do we bring those things into the game and what form do they take? Are they rules of situational adjudication, or do they restrict the allowed action declarations that players can make, or maybe they have some other manifestation (metacurrency, carrots and sticks of various sorts, etc.). Talking about 'simulating dragons' just doesn't fly! (haha). Talking about making a game in which a dragon has attributes that we would associate with Smaug, that we can do! Anything else just leads down a road of madness, as [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] so ably pointed out. You end up with magic that isn't magical, and other absurd logically nonsensical things, and you still haven't got a simulation, no matter how hard you try, because it is just not logically possible. [/QUOTE]

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