Reality, Sleight of Hand, & Videogames.

[droqen]

I'm reading The Beginning of Infinity in a close reading thread, and am reminded of this thought i had about randomness.

If i program a "shuffled deck" object for the purpose of drawing cards off its top, one at a time, then it does not matter if I really shuffle the deck or simply pick a card from the remaining pool at random. That is, there may in truth be an order to the cards in the deck or not, but someone may draw either conclusion about the "reality" of such a system.

For a long time my conclusion was that you might as well perform the cheapest and laziest approach, if they're all the same in the end.

However, consider the new lens: if a subtle detail of a consistent world cannot be understood and discovered, the solution is to surface it, rather than to resign oneself to see it as vestigial.

Make those beautiful unnoticeable edges of the system visible, rather than erase or discredit their existence.

[droqen]

I want to know that there's a simulation going on, the more complex the better, and I want to participate in that simulation as deeply as possible.
//
Generally spellcasting sims are what interest me the most, but city/village simulators can be pretty interesting too

tweet thread

spellcasting sims are like 'studying science in a fictional magic-themed world'. explaining reality... and then in the case of most games, using good explanations in order to triumph.

game goals/challenges aren't Deutsch's "problems", but may motivate them.