Brand makes an attempt to better explain the whole push/pull thing that’s been talked about on several RPG theory blogs lately:

First, let me say that a lot happened with push/pull in a very short time. Mo started talking about it in terms of social dynamics: the way that players approach the process of making decisions in game. It then quickly morphed to become partly about techniques, ephemera, and ideas around how this may be codified in game and the ways in which games may have already mechanically reinforced one or the other. Some people hooked onto the social angle, some to the ephemera, some to the mechanics and some to he theoretical possibilities. So when they all started talking to each other there was a lot of miscommunication because they weren’t all talking about the same thing anymore. Maybe I can take a small step towards fixing that.

After reading his explanation, and discussions of the topic on other blogs, I’m still not past just having a general idea of what it all means.  Apparently I’m among those who isn’t going to really understand until someone designs a great game that illustrates the principles involved, at which point the whole thing will just seem stupidly obvious.

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