NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9706312" data-attributes="member: 6790260">For universe-building, sure.But I'm not talking about universe-building. I'm talking about the process of actually playing.Well...I mean, no, not really. It's just that a mechanical device which fits into the kind of space it needs to (a roughly inch-/2.5cm-wide cylinder no more than a couple inches/10cm deep, or a block no more than about the size of a playing card deck, perhaps stretched or squished a bit) doesn't really have a lot of options for how it can be designed in order to still be usable. The vast majority of locks IRL use pins (or wafers, for low-security, high-wear applications) and springs. ("Dimple" locks are basically just sideways, narrow pin-tumbler locks, and vulnerable to most of the same exploits.) The only major exceptions are "disc detainer" locks and tubular locks (e.g. the kind used on vending machines, with a key that has a cylindrical shape), which require a specialized tool for easy picking and are relatively modern inventions. The best high-security locks (e.g. those used by the US military to lock nuclear materials!) are, functionally, just really really high-quality pin-tumbler locks with extra pins, and picking them is, again, mostly a matter of having the right tool to make it easier. Old-style "warded locks" are basically never used anymore except for cosmetic purposes, because they're almost trivial to pick and extremely susceptible to skeleton keys.It's not really a matter of anyone conspiring against anyone else. It's that a machine that is simple to use, small enough for purpose, resistant to wear-and-tear/dirt-and-grime, and which works consistently with the right key, has extremely tight design constraints. Or, to turn an old phrase, if you can build a better locking mechanism, the world will beat a path to your door...and then be unable to get in because it's locked. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> But are you actually willing to use that argument? Are you willing to commit to it?Because that opens you up to a number of rebuttals I'm not sure you want to face. Like the idea that, because it's a game, it should be designed to be entertaining as a game, in addition to and separately from its realism, historicity, etc.</blockquote>

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