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[-] BashfulBob@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

Games are experiences, they're stories that can be more immersive than a movie or a book and if they're done well, holy shit are they good!

They're still feedback loops of input and reward. That the reward is "compelling narrative" rather than "loud ding with big number go up" changes the quality of the treat dispensed but not the nature of the box.

Games are (can be) amazing

Skinner Boxes are tools to gauge the behaviors of their subjects.

The form can still be artistic and the reward for interaction can be sublime and the thing itself can still be what it is.

[-] Are_Euclidding_Me@hexbear.net 1 points 23 hours ago

do you think a novel is a skinner box

[-] BashfulBob@hexbear.net 1 points 23 hours ago

No. There's no human input that determines the response.

[-] Are_Euclidding_Me@hexbear.net 2 points 23 hours ago

Goosebumps choose your own adventure novels.

But to take you a tiny bit more seriously, ok? So what? Why does "I have some agency in this story" make a story bad? What actually are you getting at here?

[-] BashfulBob@hexbear.net 1 points 22 hours ago

Goosebumps choose your own adventure novels.

Primitive, but closer to the mark.

So what? Why does "I have some agency in this story" make a story bad?

I don't think it does. The box is just a mechanism. In the same way that a book or a painting can be good or bad, a gameplay loop can, too.

What actually are you getting at here?

You can have a Beautiful Skinner Box in the same way you can have a Van Gogh or a Tolstoy novel.

[-] Are_Euclidding_Me@hexbear.net 1 points 22 hours ago

So you're using some weird definition of "skinner box" where you simply mean "human inputs lead to various outputs". Why use this definition? By this definition a fucking mathematical function is a skinner box.

I simply do not understand, in general, what you're trying to say.

this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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