Video Game Developer 28: Fallacious manipulation

At some point during Jin's recounting of The Last of Us, the two inner disciples had sat down on the hill under the shining sun brightening the sect on that day.

The story of the disillusioned Joel who was tasked with bringing a girl immune to the zombie virus to the fireflies, who thought they could create a cure by harvesting her dead body exited his mouth like a stream of water. The complications and the varied characters they met along the way the rocks underneath the stream, providing structure and direction.

Hashimi was twirling a paintbrush between her fingers, her other hand propping up her head with the elbow on the knee.

“And then the experience can end right there, right as the experiencer is about to make the decision to either save Ellie or to try and save humanity.”

“Do you think anyone would choose to save her? It seems to me that the choice is obvious,” she said. “Although, it is fake,” she added.

At this, Joey could only shrug. Of course, the decision seemed obvious, after all, he'd only told her briefly the synopsis of the plot. The experiencer's love for Ellie stemmed from the fact that they’d interacted with her, protected her and were occasionally even helped by her for many hours of gameplay which in this world in particular, with how immersive it could be, would further blur the emotional line between reality and fiction.

“Even if they sacrifice someone, that is still an experience that could make them grow,” he decided instead of going further into the topic. He would simply let her play the scenario when it came to that and she could make her own informed decision then.

“It's very different from what I was told makes a successful Illusion Room. It's more narrative-focused, interesting.”

Jin nodded. “The way I see it, for the scenario challenge the examiners will have to go through dozens of variations of what is essentially the same thing done in slightly different ways. There will be minor shifts in the way the zombie looks, and then the way it attacks you. Some disciples will have you be attacked by three zombies, before escalating to five, and some will start with one before going numerically up until the hundred. 

“But isn't it about the combat experience? If you spend so much time travelling and talking to people, wouldn't that mean that you would barely be getting one per cent of the combat experience that others will be getting in another Illusion Room?” she asked. 

Her question was valid. It was here that Jin's rationale for why Dragonslayer Ornstein had been such a good Illusion Room fell apart. Back then he had argued that there were no Illusion Rooms which introduced completely novel enemies, which meant that warriors were not able to practise their adaptability.

However, since then, especially during his work on Outlast which had been made for a very specific purpose, his perception of the core issue had shifted.

Why exactly was a scenario like his, better than one where you simply battled the same opponent over and over again? Wasn't it perhaps the addition of context? It was well known that the level of immersion the experiencer felt, directly impacted how much skill gain they would get from the scenario. However, it was not widely agreed on how much more this actually was and the general consensus was that it was still better to make it more immersive in terms of how things looked and how the thing thought than to structure am entire real world and story around the enemy. Jin had spent some time thinking about the issue. Other than having passed the exam, what would those Mad Monks disciples who had played through the entirety of Outlast, gain from the experience? It was here that he’d stumbled upon a distinction that he thought proved that even if narrative scenarios were not better than repetitive ones, they were at least not worse.

“Let's say you are to go on a mission, to capture, let's say, a Thunderbolt Oxtail,” Jin started. “You go to the mission hall and in front of you are three disciples who would like to join you and partake in the rewards and reduce the risk. However, you can only take one of them with you.” He paused here to hold up one finger. “The first disciple comes up to you and says, “I would be the best teammate because I have challenged the Thunderbolt Oxtail 100 times in the Illusion Room which lets you fight it in a smaller arena. I am the most likely to win a one-on-one battle.”” Jin held up the second finger. “The second disciple comes up and tells you. “No, I am the best choice because I have practised in an Illusion Room which depicts the entirety of the hunting process from the tracking to the skinning, 20 times. I am the better choice because I am more well rounded.”” A third finger. “The third disciple comes up and says, “But actually I am the best choice because I have practised against the Thunderbolt Oxtail in one-on-one combat 50 times while doing the scenario which lets one track it, kill it and then harvest it, 10 times.”” 

“Which one do you pick?” Jin asked.

Hashimi seemed to think about the answer to Jin's hypothetical question for a few moments. “I understand your argument. You're saying that the person who has more varied experiences is the most balanced, and thus the best choice considering that they have the skills that cover the widest possible amount of situations while still being focused on combat, which is the most dangerous part… But considering that a Thunderbolt Oxtail can actually kill you, wouldn't it be safer to take the one who's better at fighting?”

“I guess that's up to debate,” Jin said knowing that he wouldn't manage to convince everyone with his way of thinking and also that different answers could be valid. But, deep down he did genuinely think that he was right. “However, think about it like this. If you fail to find the Thunderbolt Oxtail you have wasted your time. If you wander around aimlessly in the forest and on the plains for longer than necessary, you might encounter a different beast which is more dangerous and which you have not prepared for.  Similarly, if you fail in some parts of the harvesting you would only be able to sell 50% of the material, and thus receive half the reward that a perfectly harvested Oxtail would have given you. Considering the people generally risk their lives for materials and wealth, being better at harvesting the Oxtail actually means that they have to risk their life less often.” He let Hashimi think on those words for a few seconds before adding one last bit. “Also, no one would ever argue that the survivor of a hundred battles was weaker than a survivor of a hundred Illusion Rooms. Why is it then that we are not trying to replicate in full nuance of war, with all of its aspects such as disease, famine, and large group tactics.”

“Because it's easier,” Hashimi decided. “We make scenarios that are one versus one because it's the easiest way.”

“Now ask yourself this, if everyone is doing what is easy, why would you get any more success than the average disciple is getting?” Jin asked. “Most of them never get promoted to core disciple.”

“I guess you'd have to stick out, but there's always a risk.” She looked at the painting that she'd made. “The risk of people not understanding your vision.”

“But, not trying means that you will definitely not succeed,” Jin interjected.

“I guess you might be right,” Hashimi said begrudgingly. It seemed that for the way that he had treated her yesterday, she had rather wished for him to bring an unconvincing argument that she could disregard.

Unfortunately for her, Jin was not actually that stupid. He knew how to bullshit people when he wanted to.

Hashimi seemed to think of the invitation, disguised as it had been as a storytelling and theory-crafting discussion.

“So, let's say we work together, how would we do this?” she eventually asked. “You know I just got promoted, and from what I heard so were you. You have a nice vision but do we actually stand a chance?” she asked

Jin hummed thoughtfully, it was a good question. After all, in a world where cultivation increased lifespan there were many inner disciples who had 50 or more years of experience than the two of them. Let alone speaking of Lung Junior and whatever resources he had available to him. However, he never doubted his actual chances of winning because in truth winning was never assured.

“Winning is never assured,” he thus said. “However you always have to try or you're just standing still in life. And even if we don't win, so what?” he asked. “It's a great experience and both of us are actually still in this period of time where we don't have to contribute sect points yet.”

“I have to say,” Hashimi said reluctantly. “I am interested in doing something other than just another beast scenario.”

“There you have it,” Jin said victoriously. “I'm offering you exactly that. Not making another beast scenario.” 

“Alright, let's do this,” the girl said with a sigh. “I'll let you lead since you have more experience than me and it was your idea in the first place,” she decided.

Jin extended a hand for her to take and she took it. They shook.

The boy wasn't really sure if Hashimi would actually be a good partner for the scenario design process, but it seemed like Lung Junior and his faction had gotten their shit-flinging fingers into everyone else. If anything, someone from outside the sect like Hashimi would be the least likely to be compromised and betray him later on due to other interests. Additionally, he did like her art and he sincerely doubted that someone who was a good painter didn't have at least some positive qualities to add to the scenario that he was about to create.

After their handshake, Hashimi seemed to revert back to having some of that energy which had frightened him the first time they had met. She slapped her open palm with a fist and smiled at him. “So, what's our first task?” she asked. “Should I go down to look at the zombies myself? I haven't yet so I think it would be good to know what they look like. Or, do you want me to think of some other things we could input into the scenario? Oh, wait, I have an idea! We should make some of the zombies cultivators that way they’re harder to fight and it's more fun,” she exclaimed.

Jin held up a hand, causing the girl to quiet. “I think you're very enthusiastic and you have a lot of great ideas, however, I think the best way forward would be a division of labour.” He held up his left hand. “Considering there’s only two of us I think there's a very clear line that we could draw. One task would consist of animating models and animating model interactions. For example, one of us could create zombies, the characters, the weapons and basically everything that at some point moves.” He raised his right hand. “The other one would focus on the surroundings. You see, due to the fact that we are creating a narrative scenario, it means that we need a space that changes as the story progresses. It is this space that has to be rendered from a variety of perspectives, while also making it into something with artistic value to increase the immersion and emotional reaction of the experiencer,” he said and looked meaningfully at the painting that Hashimi had been working on earlier. It was a depiction of architecture. He thought it was pretty clear what he was trying to get at.

The biggest issue with The Last of Us was the fact that just like Outlast, it depicted a narrative of modern Earth. While Outlast modernity has been focalized on a single house which had benefited if anything from the oddity, The Last of Us had a very different focus and it was better not to distract the experiencers from what they were actually trying to gain. Namely, experience in dealing with zombies and creating a focalized morale generator and a general understanding of the possible consequences of humanity losing the upcoming war. Now, Jin obviously could have spent his time turning the architecture of The Last of Us into something that one could find in the new world that he found himself in. However, the task could be very difficult for him since he, other than the memories that he had inherited, he lacked the appropriate cultural context.

He looked at the dark-skinned girl and her uncomprehending gaze. She was someone who had the appropriate cultural context and also the artistic vision to generate something more than just a reproduction of their surroundings.

"What do you mean?" she asked after a minute or so of thinking.

“What I mean is that I consider one of my strengths to be combat interactions and character design and movement. Looking at your painting, as small of a representation of your portfolio as it is, I think that I would trust you with the architecture of the place. My suggestion would thus be that I hand over a rough 3D mental sketch of how the entire environment of the scenario looks like, and you with full artistic freedom fill out the rest,” he suggested.

“Oh, you should have just said that,” Hashimi told him with a light emotional insinuation and her tone of voice that indicated that she thought he was being stupid.

Jin stared at her blankly. “I guess,” he eventually said.

“So, what are you waiting for? Give me the thing.”

Jin paused thoughtfully, bringing a finger to his chin.

He remembered back when he'd been initiated into the sect how he had been taught to generate structures in his mind and export them into an Illusion Room.

However, he had never collaborated with someone before and from his knowledge that required another technique. Namely, one needed to first transfer the structure into a jade slip.

The technique for transferring data to a Room and a jade slip was different.

And he didn't know how to do it.

He eventually hung his head as he realised that before they could even start working on the scenario, he would first have to visit the technique library. “I don't know how,” he eventually admitted.

“Wait,” Hashimi said with narrowed eyes. “Me neither?” she realised with an open mouth, as if surprised.

After all, if he gave her the rough outline of how the environment was supposed to look, then she would have to perfect that and then give it back to him. That meant both needed to know the technique.

They looked at each other blankly as they came to this realisation.

“What now?” 

-/-

AN: Team member get, now need some skillz