This began as a review for Cyberpunk 2077 and changed into something else. From the piece:
The real world didn’t copy cyberpunk, but it rhymed it, and then one-upped it. A novel set in the real 2021, that accurately reflects it, sent back to Gibson or one of his contemporaries, would be an incomprehensible trip: a hit of uncut psychedelia that would be both banal and mind-shattering (equal parts Dick and Ballard, shot as a documentary).
What I’m trying to make clear is that game design, on the level of mechanics assembled to make the game produce a narrative through player interaction, already cribs a lot of its procedures from politics, including political economy. A means that a powerful tool could be built from these pieces.
Read MoreI’m tired of writing about the virus; I’m going to stay inside and read game books. Taking a break right now. I’ll get back to the unrelenting parade of boring real horror outside in a bit. I’m going to look at an unrelenting parade of interesting fake horror, instead.
Read MoreIt may be possible, within these universes to measure the direct amount of power that is generated by an act of devotion: one orison, one tiny miracle; do the rosary, get something bigger. This looks like an exchange between the person and the deity. Moreover, it is one that would necessarily have a magnitudinal component to it. Where does this lead?
Read MoreI don’t intend this piece to be a pure review of what other people have said; I have written a number of things on a variety of subjects, and there are a few ideas I wish to bring in. Chief among them are the concepts of the “Paradigm-Syntax” dyad (which can be connected to the GNS or the MDA sections) and that of “Complex Pleasures” (which connects to the Eight Kinds of Fun.) I also have the compulsory commentary on Nostalgia and Genre that readers of this blog will know is coming.
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