That makes a bit of sense. The occultists fancied themselves scientists, back when that wasn’t such a clearly defined term as it is now, and they rummaged through lots of traditions looking for bits to incorporate into their new (claimed to be old) culture. But computer games design had all the same sources to draw from, greater manpower and vastly more cultural impact. I would expect “almost any” useful innovations the occultists came up with to be contained in computer games.
This is true for both of your examples: “winning the game” and skill trees, respectively. And skill trees are better than initiation paths, because they aren’t fully linear while still creating motivation to go further.
I say “almost any” because an exception may be fully immersed, bodily ritual stuff. Maybe that can hammer things down into system 1 that you simply don’t “get” the same way when you just read them.
I say “almost any” because an exception may be fully immersed, bodily ritual stuff. Maybe that can hammer things down into system 1 that you simply don’t “get” the same way when you just read them.
Is VR (Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus) a significant step in that direction?
Sure. In fact, some occultists already use VR, so I don’t see why we couldn’t.
The one interesting innovation the occultists came up with is creative design of ritual—and sometimes they do manage to see them as psychological tools rather than somewhat supernatural things. Surely some of that could be “useful psychologically/motivationally”—although psychological research into that is practically nonexistent, it is plausible that a well-designed ritual could do something to participants, such as help them to actually change their mind.
For example, most of us agree Crocker’s rules are a good idea. I’m confident that if adopting them was done as a ritual event, something pompous with witnesses, that’d:
create positive reinforcement and a more impressive memory,
help keep the rules and
advertise them, especially if the witnesses aren’t familiar with them.
Maybe VR could help heighten the experience. But I assume that recording the event, and publishing it for all the world to witness, would do much more.
My computer gaming experience mostly peaks around the era of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Ultima, so I’m only vaguely familiar with skill trees. Could you describe how they might apply here in a bit more detail?
Think of a research tree, then. Or more formally, a simple directed graph. Nodes can be “on” or “off”, meaning you (claim to) have or not have the skill that node describes. A nodes can be a prerequisite for other.
This can be taken many ways, but one obvious example would be a “sequences comprehension tree”. One node per part of the sequences, with the parts that part is based on as prerequisites. You could claim a node to express confidence you’ve understood (or even agreed with?) that particular part, track your progress, and if you could publicly share your progress along this sequences comprehension (or any other) tree, you could also show off.
This could be done in JavaScript fairly easily, and it’d be awesome I think. Anyone want to code it?
That makes a bit of sense. The occultists fancied themselves scientists, back when that wasn’t such a clearly defined term as it is now, and they rummaged through lots of traditions looking for bits to incorporate into their new (claimed to be old) culture. But computer games design had all the same sources to draw from, greater manpower and vastly more cultural impact. I would expect “almost any” useful innovations the occultists came up with to be contained in computer games.
This is true for both of your examples: “winning the game” and skill trees, respectively. And skill trees are better than initiation paths, because they aren’t fully linear while still creating motivation to go further.
Compare the rules of how to play more like a PC, less like an NPC.
I say “almost any” because an exception may be fully immersed, bodily ritual stuff. Maybe that can hammer things down into system 1 that you simply don’t “get” the same way when you just read them.
Is VR (Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus) a significant step in that direction?
Sure. In fact, some occultists already use VR, so I don’t see why we couldn’t.
The one interesting innovation the occultists came up with is creative design of ritual—and sometimes they do manage to see them as psychological tools rather than somewhat supernatural things. Surely some of that could be “useful psychologically/motivationally”—although psychological research into that is practically nonexistent, it is plausible that a well-designed ritual could do something to participants, such as help them to actually change their mind.
For example, most of us agree Crocker’s rules are a good idea. I’m confident that if adopting them was done as a ritual event, something pompous with witnesses, that’d:
create positive reinforcement and a more impressive memory,
help keep the rules and
advertise them, especially if the witnesses aren’t familiar with them.
Maybe VR could help heighten the experience. But I assume that recording the event, and publishing it for all the world to witness, would do much more.
Occultus Rift?
My computer gaming experience mostly peaks around the era of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Ultima, so I’m only vaguely familiar with skill trees. Could you describe how they might apply here in a bit more detail?
Think of a research tree, then. Or more formally, a simple directed graph. Nodes can be “on” or “off”, meaning you (claim to) have or not have the skill that node describes. A nodes can be a prerequisite for other.
This can be taken many ways, but one obvious example would be a “sequences comprehension tree”. One node per part of the sequences, with the parts that part is based on as prerequisites. You could claim a node to express confidence you’ve understood (or even agreed with?) that particular part, track your progress, and if you could publicly share your progress along this sequences comprehension (or any other) tree, you could also show off.
This could be done in JavaScript fairly easily, and it’d be awesome I think. Anyone want to code it?