WIP, meditations while thinking about how I want buni to be
- One of the best things about the Manifold community spirit is the sense of play
- This was designed into Manifest, to be a place where intellectuals play
- Also most of my favorite sites (mmm.page, civitai, partiful)
- Part of Janus’s thoughts on LLMs too: you need to play with them to understand them
Things that facilitate play
- Liberty, freedom from (some) constraints
- “Cheap” — easier to play when it doesn’t feel costly
- “optional” — play is voluntary
- Sandbox — separation of effects from the “real world” (?)
- In Secret Hitler you can lie and deceive and everyone agrees this is okay
- You don’t think about your Manifold mana like cash
- No real punishments
- (cuts a bit against “everything is open”)
- though it doesn’t have to, once openness is the norm
- Intimacy, trust — play requires a willingness to try things. that people don’t judge/criticize
- Focus, concentration? Can you play when you’re distracted?
- Messiness, lack of polish, imperfections
- Challenge? does play require obstacles?
- cf Maro on making board games
- And Maro on “constraints breed creativity”
- Novelty, exploration
- Play is often about doing things one hasn’t done before
- Though, some pieces: when I play a new Magic set, the framework is familiar and I’m exploring the card interactions
Play vs work
- You want to vs you have to
- At the highest level, work is in pursuit of money
- Play is not really in pursuit of something, except maybe fun
- I often think working on Manifold was a ton of fun…
- and that’s the way it should be!
- cf PG on what doesn’t feel like work, and doing what you love
- Work hard vs play hard
- Is playing hard an oxymoron?
- Playing hard is… traditionally, sth like your body can’t take it any more?
Related to play
- “fun” — kind of the goal. Maybe see “fun sequence”
- “toys” — objects which facilitate and encourage play
- “games” — systems set up to help with play
- “playact” — to pretend to be someone else, to simulate a different role