2025, dec 12 - (structure 3) a series of interesting decisions

[droqen]

oh no

[droqen]

when i open up a book to read it -- on my phone or in my hands -- there is often the choice to linger, or go backwards. taking a step forward is an action, and it feels purposeful. am i in the right mindset to proceed? i like the feeling of a book's volume, its bulk in my hands, past and present and future.

it takes some doing to recognize that truth of reading a book. it did for me, anyway--so used to travelling one from beginning to end in an uninterrupted stream.

[droqen]

a navigable structure. how to construct a work such that it can contain all of

• free navigation (like a painting, book, or gallery)
• a sensation of events having weight, and
• the player's personal involvement?

if choices are positioned in space and the player can step away from a choice to make it later. there are some choices that don't work that way. but i don't (personally) feel the need for narrative or plot-based pressure in the thematic structures i want to weave. that's a device that i can take or leave.

[droqen]

how does the simple introduction of 'interactivity' or play derail the basic idea of existing in a world where things of importance occur? every videogame is trapped within that 'magic circle'. i keep returning to this 'navigable structure'... when the experience is nonlinear, and its shape changes in response to player action, then the experience is less "designed", less authored. this introduces a lower skill ceiling to the artist's capacity to affect the experience. for some this is not antithetical to a role that games play in their lives.

they are of course wrong but also legitimate