thread: 2008-09-29 : Creative Tension
On 2008-09-29, Ron Edwards wrote:
You're understanding me, I think. What interests me is the *disconnection* between this level ("texture") and the level you were invoking in the previous thread ("foundation," "fabric," whatever we call it). In other words, at the texture level, a certain dynamic uncertainty seems to me to be desirable. Does or doesn't my "tough" trait apply in this situation, so I can use its bonus for my roll? In Hero Wars, Dogs, and many other games, that's a fun question partly due to the fact that it *is* a question. Ongoing, nigh-psychic consensus at that level strikes me, in imagining it, as dystopian happiness.
But what makes that texture work and be so fun, I can't say. And how game design encourages and makes it possible to be fun, I also can't say with certainty, although I did identify some ways that it can be structured in the Forge thread. I'll also go to the wall and say that pure "use my trait, add to my dice pool" usage as in Wushu is dull and annoying for me.
I think we have a lot to consider.
