Yes, music is especially math-y

if you are talking about your eudaemonia essay, I thought it was fantastic, but as a side note I can't find it now, did you take it down?

Also, be honest, are short games that much better than long ones, on average? For me, this issue you are noticing applies to all video games, not just long ones, and not just AAA ones.

Second, intuitively, the incentives would work the other way - short games you can consume like movies would make for better products.

1 may have some weird economic effects, eg. winner-take-all dynamics in multiplayer games, the scourge of f2p. But to suggest that this property of games is due to, or in response to, or incentivized by, economic incentives seems wrong. First, it predates games as products (Tennis, Chess)...

As you can see, Theory 1 is positive and optimistic, Theory 2 is disparaging and pessimistic. I'm more confident about 1 than I am about 2, but I think it's a mistake to ignore the possibility of 2, it should be on the table and we should be ruthlessly honest about it.

2. Video games are struggling, for a variety of reasons. There's no robust critical/theoretical practice around them. The audiences are fractured, defensive, conservative. The economics are weird. Video games haven't evolved as much as we might have hoped. Overall, they're just doing worse than film

Great question. I have some theories.

1. Games are less like novels/movies/paintings than we think. They are more like hobbies, musical instruments, habits, trips. Video games shoehorn something like Tennis or Skateboarding into a "work-shaped" box we feel we should be able to evaluate but can't

john cage match

The game of the year winner for “Accurately Parodies My Job in a way that Highlights its Absurdity” is:
“Q-up” by Everybody House Games
What’s it like being a ranked and competitive systems designer? This game knows. Thanks @flantz.bsky.social
store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/...

If it's any consolation, this happens to me too. A thing I found helpful is to focus on getting my board to do one important thing, instead of a bunch of generally-useful things. Maybe even take some less-important nodes off the board. Simplifying my board makes the trigger logic easier to follow.

finally someone gets it

It's never too late!

I AM BECOME PACHINKO, THE TAMER OF FATE