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Skill challenges: action resolution that centres the fiction
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<blockquote data-quote="Pedantic" data-source="post: 8742462" data-attributes="member: 6690965"><p>This is really starting to get to me. I don't know why the approach represented here by SCs gets a monopoly on "interesting." I've used the phrase "interesting decision" several times to describe what is enjoyable about the kind of optimization puzzle you get from trying to take the best option in a complicated system, and there exists a whole field of games that live and die entirely on conceit being fun. Arguably any abstract board-game has nothing to recommend it outside of "trying to make the best decision out of a complicated but limited set of choices," and we've been doing that as long as we've had history.</p><p></p><p>Is it truly so baffling that a person might enjoy a serial set of such problems in a boundless, serially repeatable format, where instead of acquiring the most victory points, one gets the satisfaction of "winning" by instead defeating their fictional childhood rival and saving the country from a rampaging elder god? The appeal is pretty intrinsic. Heck there's a whole genre of computer games, the "immersive sim" which is built around exactly this model, they just aren't as good at it as TTRPGs are. It's really hard to let players have the entire palette of all their actions open to them at all times in a videogame.</p><p></p><p>I'm perfectly willing to concede, and have several times done so, that if you don't care about this kind of agency, or, if you're willing to take another priority over player agency (like say, narrative arc cohesion, or even ease of preparation/use) you might absolutely reach for a SC model. I am not willing to concede that "agency" in the sense I'm using it doesn't exist, isn't entertaining and engaging, nor that skill challenges lack it.</p><p></p><p>It is perfectly possible that this is an intractable design problem, wherein you must make a trade-off between various goods and set various design goals. We could perhaps, note that, draw some conclusions around what systems engage people in what ways, and use that knowledge to benefit everyone in future designs, when playing, when making recommendations, and so on. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I have, I didn't like them (well, even that's an overstatement, better to say I liked them less than other TTRPG experiences I've had) I've spent a long time thinking about why, and formulated a theory about player agency to explain it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pedantic, post: 8742462, member: 6690965"] This is really starting to get to me. I don't know why the approach represented here by SCs gets a monopoly on "interesting." I've used the phrase "interesting decision" several times to describe what is enjoyable about the kind of optimization puzzle you get from trying to take the best option in a complicated system, and there exists a whole field of games that live and die entirely on conceit being fun. Arguably any abstract board-game has nothing to recommend it outside of "trying to make the best decision out of a complicated but limited set of choices," and we've been doing that as long as we've had history. Is it truly so baffling that a person might enjoy a serial set of such problems in a boundless, serially repeatable format, where instead of acquiring the most victory points, one gets the satisfaction of "winning" by instead defeating their fictional childhood rival and saving the country from a rampaging elder god? The appeal is pretty intrinsic. Heck there's a whole genre of computer games, the "immersive sim" which is built around exactly this model, they just aren't as good at it as TTRPGs are. It's really hard to let players have the entire palette of all their actions open to them at all times in a videogame. I'm perfectly willing to concede, and have several times done so, that if you don't care about this kind of agency, or, if you're willing to take another priority over player agency (like say, narrative arc cohesion, or even ease of preparation/use) you might absolutely reach for a SC model. I am not willing to concede that "agency" in the sense I'm using it doesn't exist, isn't entertaining and engaging, nor that skill challenges lack it. It is perfectly possible that this is an intractable design problem, wherein you must make a trade-off between various goods and set various design goals. We could perhaps, note that, draw some conclusions around what systems engage people in what ways, and use that knowledge to benefit everyone in future designs, when playing, when making recommendations, and so on. I have, I didn't like them (well, even that's an overstatement, better to say I liked them less than other TTRPG experiences I've had) I've spent a long time thinking about why, and formulated a theory about player agency to explain it. [/QUOTE]
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