What Does "Simulation" Mean To You? [+]

[Pedantic]

Oh, I definitely think the result of an arbitrary algorithm still counts as a simulation.

Any one of the 5 billion planets generated for No Man’s sky is a simulation. Creating a survival mode world off a random seed in Minecraft is a simulation.

That’s why I don’t think the “modeling” aspect of the term “simulation” is very useful for what “simulation” means in the specific context of TTRPGs. It’s why I’ve been more focused on the absence of mechanisms driven by contrivance in my own personal definitions.

I agree with your point here, and I think it points to divergence about whether the antecedents of a system, or the system itself matter toward "simulation" in this sense; is simulation a design goal that can underlie your whole mechanical architecture, or is it method for fulfilling a specific design goal? Falls should be like this, so I'm modeling them this way, vs. falls work in this consistent, understandable way, and that is harmoniously accounted for in the rest of the rules structure.

I like your point about contrivance, I've been wracking my brain for a situation it fails in and I'm coming up blank. Fundamentally, I think simulation is resistance to storytelling, or maybe just "story."

I don't think the calls for a prior goal to system, having a specific thing that is modeled are necessarily constituent. It doesn't have to be realistic, it just needs to be taken seriously. If falling damage is trivial, people jump off walls. If the stealth rules are poorly designed and hiding is essentially impossible, then no one is ever ambushed, and so on.

 

[dbm]

That said I've seen that article cited as proof Gygax didn't like simulationism, but he had a way of taking strong stances that make isolated quotes unrepresentative. Certainly he is more interested in simulationist combat than modern d&d.

That sounds more like a specific counter-punch to Runequest (subject to the exact publication dates) which brought in mechanics similar to what the quote mentions. Runequest’s pitch was essentially ‘more realistic than D&D’ and this is a pitch of ‘yeah but D&D is more fun to play’.