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what i mean is, in this space, this space that's essentially clicking through links and reading stuff, a great deal of play/decision making has already [[occured]]:
"There must be at least 2 different outcomes/choices to call something a game.\n\n[[Tossing a coin and guessing if it gonna be heads or tails|coin]] is probably an “atomic” version of game when you can’t really remove any features or rules, because it wouldn’t be a game anymore."\n\n --Gamecat, RPS comment thread (the relevant link will be inlcuded at the end of this piece)
yet, it is very clear to me that [[play]] is involved
how did you respond to the coin toss? did you try to guess if heads or tails would come up next? did you explicity decide not to guess? it was kind of a boring section, did you try to think about other things as you clicked through? maybe you thought back to real toin cosses that have occured in your life, and what those memories [[mean|next]]
before the coin toss: what did you think about the quote i gave? do you care about the promise of a link to the relevant thread at the end of this piece? are you waiting in anticipation for it, or do you simply expect to follow it after a leasiurely thought experiment? or are you expecting not to follow it? [[et cetera]].
after the coin toss: did you go back and re-play that section in order to ensure that I was being truthful about it not being randomly generated? several times? or did you take me at my [[word|nextn]]?
Coin Toss
[[link|http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/16/live-free-play-hard-flaming-skulls-are-a-valuable-part-of-this-forests-ecosystem/#comment-page-1]]
"oh god, more game design terminology" someone says, with a sigh and the hurrumph of a thousand dead internet conversations\n\ndon't worry, i'm not the type of fucker that would attempt to define that kind of word, [[hell no]]
without providing a structural framework for making decisions, we've still created a space where [[decisions are made|gamecat]], and are very explicity the main focus of the work-- the user has a variety of choices, choices that are recognized and considered, even without having avenues to voice those choices in the framework of the system.\n\nmultiple states are acheived by the end of the work, internally, in the player. by the outlined definition, this thought experiment is a game.
that sequence was not randomly generated, it was pre-determined in the course of the text. no variable trickery was used here. you can replay that bit if you wish.\n\nsome more thinking: this work does not require a single "choice," has not a single alternate outcome, essientially boils down to [[clicking the link to advance the text|click]]
thought experiment:\n\ni am going to [[flip]] a hypothetical coin several times. you can react to this situation however you like.
every time you choose to read a book or a movie or listen to a conversation, every time you go on the internet and scroll through online arguments, you are making decisions. there are multiple outcomes, external and internal ones. these are better known as "interpretations" and they happen every second of your life.\n\neven when "[[clicking through]]" a series of links.
basically, what I'm trying to say is:\n\ndecisions don't make a thing a game\n\nmultiple states don't make a thing a game\n\nthere will always be things that will defy your definitions\n\n\n\n\ni'm not here to say what is or isn't a game (i don't find it a useful/helpful/meaningful discussion), i'm here to say that you're not here to say it, [[either]]
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even now: what are you thinking of all of this? have you made any judgement calls on the quality of the thought experiment? on the quality of my writing? on my qualities as a person? are you answering my questions internally, or are you just reading them? what are you thinking about?\n\n[[all of these things are decisions in response to this experiment|andso]]
Gamecat was trying to use their "decision" argument in order to argue that, no, clicking through a series of links without choices is not a game, no, it can't be, there must be decisions invovled, there must be multiple outcomes.\n\n[[bullshit]].
Andrew Hofmann