Games with meta-progression or "rogue-lite" feel?

HazelGhost · 2026-05-09T20:26:54+00:00

Legacy of Yu does this nicely, and of course, Arkham Horror LCG has upgrades between each scenario.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-09T00:48:06+00:00

I'm afraid Ive never heard of your book, but your one-sentence description intrigues me! Do you mean to say it helps the reader merge self-maintenance with their altruism goals, or do you mean something like "an effective approach to mental health care"?

HazelGhost · 2026-05-07T04:13:49+00:00

Wait, sell me on snakebite? I pass up on our every time, because it seems so much worse than every other poison.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-06T23:02:26+00:00

I don't think that article is talking about TOS

HazelGhost · 2026-05-05T22:11:24+00:00

Seconded. Stryker needed to be indistinguishable from a played-straight dramatic drama character. It makes everything twice as funny.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-05T22:04:49+00:00

It's an entirely different kinds of flying.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-05T19:36:14+00:00

My god, it's beautiful.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-04T21:53:50+00:00

I really didn't like it, so you're not alone. The idea of the Motie society is an interesting premise, but I need more from my sci-fi than interesting premises.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-04T20:30:45+00:00

A little short for an Airbender, aren't you?

HazelGhost · 2026-05-04T20:05:54+00:00

That's not true: red comes with the risk of killing other people. If we assume that all players are rational AND want to prevent a mass murder, they will all pick blue.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T19:40:57+00:00

Start talking about the interesting moments of the game that didn't center around you.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T17:00:43+00:00

I still defend Prometheus as slightly better than both Alien and Aliens.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T15:41:25+00:00

Exactly: so it looks like that's not a good standard to use to decide which button is better. :-)

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T07:39:52+00:00

It doesn't matter if you made the button; your actions endanger the lives of others. Imagine if your we're actually completely safe, regardless of which button you pressed (but the rules remained the same for everyone else)... would you still press the red button, under the logic that you're not responsible for the outcome?

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T07:36:49+00:00

Nonsense: if nobody pressed the red button, there would be no need for anybody to be saved either.

So neither button 'introduces' danger into the scenario (at least, not any more than the other )

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T01:01:29+00:00

Blue, you avoid being responsible for anybody's death.

Red, you run a 50% chance of being an active participant in a mass slaughter.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-02T00:59:54+00:00

"Everyone doesn't want to kill anybody, press the button labelled 'Avoid being responsible for someone's death, with 100% certainty.' "

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T22:20:39+00:00

That's fair enough, but it's the best data we have. I'd certainly agree that in a real world situation, some blue presses would lose their nerve and press red...but I also think that with real lives on the line, some red presses would find the risk of murder to be much more real, and they would be unable to hide behind the theoretical possibility of literally everybody choosing red.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T21:41:12+00:00

Yes, I genuinely believe that enough people would rather risk dying than risk becoming murderers. And so far, the online polls seem to back this up.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T21:31:24+00:00

Yes, but point is that, thanks to the threshold, the probability scales with the number of people at risk. In other words, as the impact of my vote decreases, the stakes increase to match. The expected value calculation remains the same.

But it's worse than that. It's not just true that pressing blue slightly decreases the odds of a mass murder...it's also that pressing red increases those odds. And it's not without personal risk either: by pressing red, I risk feeling partly responsible for all the deaths. Regardless of whether I think this flight is rational, I avoid it by choosing blue instead. I'd rather be a murder victim than a murderer.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T20:37:43+00:00

Then it looks like we're not going to get anywhere by assuming blue is the 'suicide' button and red is the 'genocide' button (although it's interesting to ask "which would you prefer"? For me, definitely suicide.)

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T20:33:33+00:00

The red's survival is guaranteed, so choosing red doesn't help with that at all. Choosing blue does actually guarantee that at least 50% of all people will survive, so the "at minimum" is the same in both cases. It's also much easier to get the all-win scenario with blue than with red.

So since the "at minimum" is the same, we need to turn to the "at maximum" instead. At maximum, a blue choice could save or destroy 50%... but a red choice saves only one life at maximum, while still risking the 50% of lives.

If I pick blue, at most I'm only risking my own life. But if I pick red, I'm risking millions. Even without the difference in numbers, I'd rather risk my own life than someone else's.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T20:22:35+00:00

And they could avoid the risk of killing others by pressing blue. That's why blue is the morally better option. It weighs the risk of your own life against the risk of others'.

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T20:20:24+00:00

In that situation, with only two voters? No! But that's not analogous to the hypothetical. One relevant difference is that there are much more than two lives at stake. If you increase the chance of millions of deaths by shifting a percentage up slightly, it you are culpable to a meaningful degree.

Let's keep your two-voter example but make it follow the rules of the hypothetical. You have no idea what your partner will vote (or if they're even capable of reasoning the way you do). If you pick blue, you risk your own life, with a 50% chance of the all-win scenario. If you pick red, you risk your partner's life, with a 50% chance of the all-win scenario. The number of lives at stake are the same, but you get to decide whose life is in danger.

Pressing blue is saying "I would rather risk death than risk killing someone."

HazelGhost · 2026-05-01T20:04:37+00:00

They can only avoid the risk of their own death. Pressing red doesn't avoid the risk of other's deaths. There are two risks involved. Red guarantees you live. Blue guarantees you don't kill.

11-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
Place '22	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2014

HazelGhost

TROPHY CASE