thread: 2010-01-12 : Something Ben Said
On 2010-01-14, Joel wrote:
Maybe it's because I only ran PTA once and fucked it up royal, but for me the impulse is stronger for, say, Solar System.
Except that Solar System IS kind of designed to be adaptable to any content you want to plug into it, so long as that content is amenable to the Keys/Buyoffs/Transcendence reward systems. Which for me, is most stuff that I feel like doing in a game.
On the other hand, if someone makes a game whose reward system is even more strongly suited to its subject matter, then I totally wanna use that instead of Solar System's. For instance Dogs and IaWA, My Life With Master, Polaris. But if someone hasn't made that specific game, or I haven't read it or own it, then Solar System is totally serviceable for, like I said, most of the stuff I wanna game.
So what's the lesson, here? Generic = Bad? Catch-all System = Bad? No, there's something more subtle at work, but I'm not sure how to articulate it.
I think maybe it lies in what Emily said about Matt's "Seed Context" When you say "Make Good Television" that functions as a seed to catapult us right into switched-on collaboration. Solar System on the other hand, doesn't have that built-in cultural buy-in point. And if you DON'T approach it from the starting point of "Good Television"...neither does PTA.
Hmmm...
