Reading through the unused concordances was an interesting experience - some were poetic (the tense hush the towering puppets), others were unsettling (her face on the dead puppet).
Some of the concordance-generated phrases seem to closely match what you had in mind anyway (e.g. grabbing her left wrist) - does it feel like you're interacting with an AI when you consult the generator or is it just sorting through a list trying to spot a pattern?
I think the AI feeling is strongest when the concordance fits context well and is among the top results. The more I have to search, the weaker the illusion of an AI, but I still retain the feeling that the game isn't being directed by me.
Sometimes I have a strong idea of what should happen next, so I look for a concordance to ratify that for me. However, often I end up coming across other concordances that suggest another path, and when that happens I go for that other to preserve that "GM'd" feeling as much as possible. :)
Oh, and the reason they sound poetic it's because they're written by William Gibson, hehe. :) There's only a few sci-fi authors, in my opinion, who have this kind of style: Gibson and Tom Maddox.
Reading through the unused concordances was an interesting experience - some were poetic (the tense hush the towering puppets), others were unsettling (her face on the dead puppet).
ReplyDeleteSome of the concordance-generated phrases seem to closely match what you had in mind anyway (e.g. grabbing her left wrist) - does it feel like you're interacting with an AI when you consult the generator or is it just sorting through a list trying to spot a pattern?
Hey Jerry!
ReplyDeleteI think the AI feeling is strongest when the concordance fits context well and is among the top results. The more I have to search, the weaker the illusion of an AI, but I still retain the feeling that the game isn't being directed by me.
Sometimes I have a strong idea of what should happen next, so I look for a concordance to ratify that for me. However, often I end up coming across other concordances that suggest another path, and when that happens I go for that other to preserve that "GM'd" feeling as much as possible. :)
Oh, and the reason they sound poetic it's because they're written by William Gibson, hehe. :) There's only a few sci-fi authors, in my opinion, who have this kind of style: Gibson and Tom Maddox.
ReplyDeleteTo me, they're the Nabokovs of Cyberpunk, lol.