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<blockquote data-quote="Thomas Shey" data-source="post: 9246409" data-attributes="member: 7026617">Well, in the end, mechanics are a tool; a tool to produce certain kinds and varieties of results when evoked.&nbsp; In theory, all mechanics can be desirable if you're trying for a certain kind of result and feel when they're evoked; its just that some produce the kind of result its hard to see many people wanting ever, and even ones that produce results that might be appropriate under some circumstances are often applied in ways that seem perverse given when they're used and what the game is avowedly about.This is why I say sometimes people appear to be using a wrench as a hammer to me; it can be used to pound nails, but its not what its set up for.&nbsp; But some people are so used to using the wrench they just don't want to use a hammer, and will not only get annoyed when you tell them it seems a poor tool for the job, in a small number of cases will scoff at the desirability of hammers in general.(This is one reason you need to be pretty careful with the design of generic systems; often just opening up the operational space of an extent game isn't really doing an adequate job of it).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Thomas Shey, post: 9246409, member: 7026617"] Well, in the end, mechanics are a tool; a tool to produce certain kinds and varieties of results when evoked. In theory, all mechanics can be desirable if you're trying for a certain kind of result and feel when they're evoked; its just that some produce the kind of result its hard to see many people wanting ever, and even ones that produce results that might be appropriate under some circumstances are often applied in ways that seem perverse given when they're used and what the game is avowedly about. This is why I say sometimes people appear to be using a wrench as a hammer to me; it can be used to pound nails, but its not what its set up for. But some people are so used to using the wrench they just don't [I]want[/I] to use a hammer, and will not only get annoyed when you tell them it seems a poor tool for the job, in a small number of cases will scoff at the desirability of hammers in general. (This is one reason you need to be pretty careful with the design of generic systems; often just opening up the operational space of an extent game isn't really doing an adequate job of it). [/QUOTE]

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