At this point, I think this actually speaks to a need for a new kind of literacy. What I would call simulation literacy. As more and more knowledge is being synthesized through simulation we need to make sure that people are doing the metacognitive work to distance themselves from the simulations, understand them as model's of our current understanding, limited by the mechanics of the simulation platform. The more transparent they are as tools for thought the better off we are.

the more significant factor in evaluating the role of the audience in the creation of the work may not be the mechanics of the two media, but the economics of their creation."

While I would be willing to concede this point I think there is still much to be explored in the openended nature of the sort of sandboxes that these possibility space games offer. For example, a game like Civilization that provides the ability to mod the game with a bit of XML chops gives the entire world of players a wide range of opportunities to actually change the game experience. There are actually a lot of folks that are trying to rewrite the structure of these games to offer very different frames for viewing the world.

Rob: I think your dead on on the distorting nature of simulation, but I'm not sure that it is that much stronger than the distorting influences that come through other modes. For example, written texts impose a level of linearity and order to stories that isn't necessarily there. At the same time one of the other points that Will hit home was that "Simulation is a great tool for spotlighting our ignorance of a system." The act of modeling, of representing, of simulating offers a very concrete, tactile means to test our ideas about the factors in a system. The end product, the simulation, often offers users a very visceral gut reaction to the assumptions behind the model which articulated in another format would not force the same reaction.

"For Will when gamers play games they are actually reverse engineering the game as they play it. While a parent watching their child play Wolfenstein might be taken back by the violence Wright suggests that Kids see the higher level of abstraction the power-ups, a door to the next level. In their minds its more like playing chess. They are abstracting the grammar of these game worlds."

Yes, absolutely. This is what I (stealing from Ted Friedman and Andrew Galloway) was trying to articulate in the second half of this old post.

In a more contentious vein: "simulation is a powerful way in which to understand the world." Yes indeedy, but is it a good way? The simulating impulse can often be distorting if not destructive.

In other words, the more significant factor in evaluating the role of the audience in the creation of the work may not be the mechanics of the two media, but the economics of their creation.