@rdonoghue@dice.camp
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rdonoghue

@rdonoghue@dice.camp

So, I only noticed this bio field existed because someone remarked on its absence, which is a little embarrassing. Anyway, I'm a nerd of many colors - Agile Nerd. Productivity Nerd. RPG Nerd. Bag Nerd. Etc. - an old man, and a dad. Used to be a politics nerd, but there's not much joy in that these days.

Have written some RPG stuff, and I used to blog, but the pandemic killed my soul and it hasn't really grown back.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

rdonoghue, to random
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I just assume everyone knows this, but sometimes I suspect they maybe don't, so:

If someone tels you that they are "data driven" or that they just want to make "information based decisions", the polite response is to nod and move on with full understanding that they are absolutely full of shit, and the only question to answer is whether or not they have successfully fooled themselves on the topic.

(The answer is usually yes. If they're an economist, it's almost certaintly yes.)

rdonoghue,
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And don't get me wrong - I love economics as a discipline, but conversations on the topic will usually reveal more unexamined assumptions than catholicism.

rdonoghue,
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Anyway, when someone tells you about being data driven, what they're really telling you how they want to be sold to, and that's useful information. They do want data, yes, but it's data as a performance.

They are still going to make the decisions they want to make (just like anyone else), but they are looking for the data to allow them to do that.

rdonoghue,
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Because, spoiler, data doesn't really drive decisions. It has no opinions. What matters are the decisions we make about:

  • Which data is important
  • Which data we pay attention to
  • Which elements we measure and compare
  • Which comparisons we want to make

These are all normal, human decisions (nd, again, that's fine) the layering on of data is just a sales tactic.

rdonoghue,
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Delclaring yourself data driven is an implciit dig that otheres aren't (which is nonsense - we all use information when we can), so it's a defense tactic. The emotion it usually reveals is fear - declaring you're data driven is a defense move to justify your decisions.

rdonoghue,
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Specifically, it pre-emptively shifts blame if the decsision goes badly. The problem wasn’t the decider, it was the DATA.

This is usually very easy to prove after the fact. Data is INCREDIBLY easy to use to show the right answer after the fact.

rdonoghue,
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By itself, this would not be a noteworthy pattern. We all have a great many ways to try to deal with the necessity of making decisions in the face of uncertainty, and data-driven theatrics aren’t really any better or worse than others.

What makes this particular pattern interesting (and sometimes a problem) is that it’s surprisingly easy to fool yourself with it.

rdonoghue,
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As I noted, many who claim to be data driven genuinely believe this to be true. And, in part, they are correct - EVERYONE is data driven to whatever extent they can manage. We don’t deliberately make counterfactual decisions (though selective filtering of facts allows us to do so as a practice).

The risk of thinking you’re “truly” data driven is that it removes any reason to examine your assumptions.

rdonoghue,
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That is, “data driven” asserts that all factors impacting a decision are external to the decider, and that an equally rational decider with the same data would make the same decision.

Except, of course, that’s not what happens. Internal factors DO enter play, and that’s a problem. But it’s a problem you deal with through the hard work of engaging it rather than the much easier practice of pretending it isn’t there.

rdonoghue,
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Still, people wouldn’t take this tack if it wasn’t and effective one. Not effective in terms of better decisions, that is, but better as a means of selling themselves and their decision making prowess. A big part of leadership lies in convincing people you know what you’re doing despite being as flawed and human as everyone else. People want to believe that, and “data driven” is a great sales pitch for it.

rdonoghue,
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It also offers logistical benefits. As noted, it provides a built in defense when decisions go wrong, and that’s super handy.

Even more useful, it allows nigh infinite deferral. The great thing about data is you can always ask for more of it. You can put off any decision for as long as you need by pleading the need for more data.

As a bonus, since the “right” answer will change with the data, you can often just keep asking, and then declare it’s enough data when it aligns with your desire.

rdonoghue,
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Now, to be super clear, this is not an evil practice. It’s just people being people.

It’s also not actually an argument against using data to help drive decisions. Data and analytics can definitely help us make much better decisions in almost every domain.

The trick is that good decisions don’t automatically flow from data, or even pretty graphs. They require rigor and intentionality, both of which are a lot more work than just being “data driven”.

rdonoghue,
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@genesisoflegend definite similar flavor

rdonoghue, to random
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I have a weird piece of game design and GMing advice that struck me in the car this morning.

If there is media that you want your game to feel like, I strongly recommend the exercise of writing a summary of it.

This will be an INCREDIBLY frustrating exercise, because you presumably enjoy the media a great deal, and the abbreviation necessary for summary will feel like they fall far short of your vision.

But that’s good, because it forces you to think differently about the material.

rdonoghue,
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See, when you love a story, you tend to create a version of it in your head which may be subtly (or not so subtly) different than the source. It emphasizes the parts that resonate with you and de-emphasizes the parts that don’t.

There’s nothing wrong with that. As a person enjoying a thing, it’s actually kind of optimal.

However, it creates complications when you try to build something off of it, because the story and your story are not the same thing, but no one knows the differences but you

rdonoghue,
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It is not bad that there are two versions. It is only bad when that muddles clarity.

The purpose of the summary is to help you build a stronger vision of what actually happens in the story as something separate from the vision you hold and love. Once you have that, you can deliberately choose to design or run towards either version, and be crystal clear in your intent and communication.

And as a bonus, you may learn more about WHY this story works for you.

rdonoghue,
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I should add, I recommend summarizing because you can do that solo, but “explain it to another person “ offers similar value, though there are some differences. When you explain, it can be easy to accidentally gloss over things (not great) but it does force you to acknowledge things that require a ton of backstory or just make very little sense (super useful).

rdonoghue,
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In either case, you may discover that the actual story has a lot of stuff that you have mentally minimized, or that it spends a very different amount of time and attention on things than you recall.

At worst, that’s good to know, but at best it can really get you thinking about how the version on the page or screen became the version in your head that you love so much.

And that matters because, when you make a game, you are building the path to a version in someone ELSE’S head.

rdonoghue,
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Someone - Neil Gaiman maybe - observed that books are as close as we come to telepathy, as they are a means to get the writers thoughts into the readers head.

Game designers seek to do something similar, but must do it at one more step of remove. Our games-as-written do not get into people’s heads (except incidentally), nor should they. They are there to help the events of PLAY get into their heads.

As such, we benefit from understanding how that happens, if only in ourselves.

rdonoghue,
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Anyway, I should add that there are a lot of tools that will help with the summarizing. It’s tremendously useful to understand things like narrative structure and plot beats to better understand what’s actually going on in the story you love.

Which is not the same thing as endorsing those same structures as part of game design. They can be, sure, but saying it helps to understand plot structure to help make better games is not the same thing as saying games must follow that structure.

rdonoghue,
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That last bit was necessitated by the fact that some people, even in this day and age, will hear this advice and assume it’s just “story game” stuff, and that is so goddamned wrong. If your game is influenced by fiction - and most are - it benefits you to understand that fiction. If you know what makes it awesome, you can better bring that awesome to the table.

This is true whether your game is PBtA, D&D, a Lasers & Feelings hack or Phoenix Command.

rdonoghue, to random
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My son is running D&D for his friends again. The game is a riff on Strixhaven, and I am getting the sense that my kid is very much enjoying the opportunity to play the teachers.

I am inferring that some of them are, shall we say, recognizably resonant to his players.

LeviKornelsen, to random
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Subtooting another site:

Decrying someone else's good times in TTRPG as badwrongfun doesn't make me think less of them; it makes me think less of you.

Dressing it up in fancy language just means you know you should be ashamed of this and are trying to conceal it.

rdonoghue,
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@LeviKornelsen so. Tired.

rdonoghue, to random
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The more useful D&D Beyond is, the more I resent it.

rdonoghue, to random
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I am exhausted but feeling good.

Tonight's D&D session was a successful multi-front battle episode (which is a trick in and of itself) and gave:

  • Our Fensei a duel with a Djinn
  • Our Scholar the opportunity to unlock and use an ancient weapon with research
  • Our pirate a chance to steal (and lose) a ship, then get in a giant brawl
  • Our Batman a chance to....well, Batman.
  • Out Fighter a Horatio scene.

Now I go pass out.

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