Players and Creativity - Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Powers of Players
The specific powers players have are very hard to define, due to their nature. It is far simpler for us to discuss the scope and limitations of the players' power. Players have the power to do anything. To overcome any obstacle. However, their powers are more indirect than they first appear - it looks like they can do anything, but the "anything" has to be in pursuit of a specific goal. The first, and most crucial limitation of a player's power is that they cannot accomplish their long-term goals directly - they simply have the power to give themselves the tools and set up the situations for their long-term goals to be fulfilled.
The most obvious example of this is the current godmodder themselves, the eternal nemesis of all players(see chapter 1). The long-term goal of the players is to slay the godmodder, which prevents them from using their powers to slay the godmodder directly. They cannot simply will the godmodder to be dead. Instead, they must will themselves weapons or abilities that let them launch attacks against the godmodder, and hopefully, accomplish their goal of damaging and ultimately killinh him. That is a simple example - almost too simple to describe the entire situation. The power of the players can be philosophically described as "the power to overcome problems" - to overcome any obstacle, as mentioned earlier.
While players can do almost anything in pursuit of their goals - summon allies(see chapter 3), launch powerful attacks, or any other shenanigans they can think of, their power is most limited as a specific "piece" of a long-term goal, which will be a piece of a longer-term goal, which might be a piece of an even greater goal, and so on. For example, a player might want to kill the godmodder. To this end, they'll need to have a good shot to damage the godmodder. To that end, they will want to kill one of the godmodder's major entities. To THAT end, they'll want to keep one of their own entities alive and well to attack it for them. To THAT end, they'll need to remove the godmodder's mind control on the entity, first!
Players can't just will one of the pieces in that chain into place and so have the ripples spread back up - they experience a sort of "Xeno's Paradox" effect, where before they can do one thing, they need to do something else, and something else before that... thankfully, the paradox doesn't go down forever. Eventually, you'll have a "piece" of a goal small enough that you can do it and then start working your way back up the chain. In the example above, a prospective player could start by using their own psychic powers to mind-control the entity right back onto their side. Where the specific limit starts can often vary from player to player, but it's generally within a player's power when its a specific action they can take right now.
The main challenge for a player using their power is to determine what specific actions they can or should take to make progress to their goals. Successful players will find interesting and exciting paths, while failing players won't plan ahead or won't be creative, and run headlong into the second restriction on player power - creativity. Creativity is so important to players that it deserves its own chapter - chapter 4. For more information, please see there.
...And that's the end of the chapter! Which one would you like to read next?
Remaining Chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
3: Entities; the Minions of Players
4: Creativity: The origin of the players powers?
5: Players vs. Godmodders
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary
(EDIT: Just changed some wording to make it flow better)
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