12 Comments
Jul 4, 2023Liked by John Cutler

Kept thinking about how to determine when/where/what contexts one game type is dominant over the other. These are NOT chaotic environments (in the academic sense of deterministic non linear systems) but they do remind me of a visual aid used in understanding them, which is here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lorenz_attractor_yb.svg

Essentially it maps the patterns of possible paths for a system. In the case of this article, the two game types would be dominant patterns, of potentially many, but they could switch at any time to the other. That switch could come from an internal pressure of external one.

Also full disclosure I probably only got 70% of the chaos theory terminology correct, apologies to anyone well versed in the space.

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Jul 4, 2023Liked by John Cutler

Hoping to see Puerto Rico, Scythe and Great Western Trail get a mention in future posts.

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Jul 4, 2023·edited Jul 4, 2023

I read this post shortly after I finished 'The Status Game' by Will Storr. The shifts in the company's

(or other collective's) rules and how it translates to different games is a much discussed subject in the book also. Excited for parts 3,4!

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there are sub cultures too and central technology /product teams can’t support them. What they produce matters as well..Creative vs structure struggle

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This is great! Please keep going

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Great post, would love to read part 3 + 4, thanks John

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A single wrong move can turn a winnable game into an unwinnable one.https://fauxncotton.com/Resident-Evil-Wolf-Squad-Jacket In contrast, a game with only one path makes it harder to win since a mistake can turn it into an unsolvable game

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I love this series John, please do keep going!

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Love it.

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