GREG: How’s golf going?
MORT: Still a challenge. When I master it I’ll quit. Shot my age then shot Ron’s age the next day.
GREG: Haha. Can you master golf? I thought part of what was good about it is you can just get better forever?
MORT: Ben Hogan said he strove for perfection his whole life ... felt he hit one perfect shot, the rest (millions) imperfect.
GREG: That’s kind of beautiful
I just watched Ford v Ferrari recently and there’s a simile idea expressed there about a perfect lap
I just watched Ford v Ferrari recently and there’s a simile idea expressed there about a perfect lap
MORT: I think that is an attraction of sport. It is easy to measure against a standard & as a physical effort gives the illusion that you can achieve perfection. The more complex the sport the greater the challenge. I am suspicious of the Olympics gymnastics when they give a 10.
GREG: But there are also moments of almost greater than perfection. Think of some Michael Jordan plays or Roger Federer moments. Those moments are fleeting but they are somehow beyond what anyone imagined a human could even—
MORT: Greater than perfection? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
GREG: Well 10 is a score a person imagined. They set criteria based on their mental image of the best job someone could do. Sometimes for a brief moment people perform way above that level. They do something that no one imagined anyone could ever do.
MORT: True. That’s why I watch sports. To see that rarity live if possible. The legendary greatest come close in moments. Jordan, Woods, Serena ... a very few.
GREG: Exactly
You can think of it as “close to perfection” where “perfection” is some kind of platonic abstract ideal. Or you can think of it as “beyond perfection” if “perfection” is the best a human imagined it could be done
You can think of it as “close to perfection” where “perfection” is some kind of platonic abstract ideal. Or you can think of it as “beyond perfection” if “perfection” is the best a human imagined it could be done
MORT: There’s a scene in “The Hustler” - he describes the feeling of total control over the table - the euphoria of knowing ... you can have that sense in more than games. I felt it in moments in court.
GREG: Yeah. Peak Performance. It’s a thing in any skill that involves synthesizing experience in a real time application. I’ve felt it in drawing: hey I just drew a thing that’s a lot better than the best I thought I could do
MORT: Those moments are shocking - a real high.
GREG: Yeah! Part of what game design is as a field is trying to specifically create an experience that reliably gives players that experience
MORT: Quite a challenge I bet
GREG: Yeah! You can’t do it reliably for any given player. But you can design systems that make it so that 1 of every 100 or 1000 or 10000 players has a shot at it
MORT: I think perfection can be subjective - ie in games, if you master the highest level you can, is that enough to be perfect?
GREG: I agree it’s subjective but I think it’s the feeling of suddenly performing a lot better than you thought you could
MORT: In golf a hole in one is the best you can do. But it isn’t really perfection-chance is involved in the 1 in 10,000 tries. You must hit it well but the difference between going into the hole and a near miss is luck.
END.
