This is a thread about blaseball, emergent storytelling, and ways that community contributions create a mixed-initiative creative space.

Or, “Why I’m Actually Okay That Yaz Didn’t Get Her Thumbs”.

First, mixed initiative and co-creativity are not my terms; mixed-initiative describes a system where both player and computer can initiate actions. A definitive paper on both (h/t @maxkreminski for the link) can be found here: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/29476

Blaseball leans heavily into a shared narrative experience; @ThisIsBenSamuel's work on shared authorship in his dissertation covers this, and I really like this articulation from @maxkreminski also https://twitter.com/maxkreminski/status/1272663425571667968?s=20

Second, a little bit of background for anyone who isn’t a raging Tigers fan. Yazmin Mason was, prior to decree, our worst pitcher. It’s not her fault; she’s a deer. All season, a bunch of people in the Tigers discord were voting for Thumbs. We figure the hooves aren’t helping.

As many of you might know, during the semifinals, Landry Violence was tragically incinerated. Incineration is a game mechanic that has plagued every team due to an influx of rogue umpires. When a player is incinerated, they are replaced by a randomly rolled new player.

On a purely mechanical level, this is the equivalent to a slight stat change that might marginally impact the odds of a team's victory.

On a narrative level, this is a huge blow.

Here’s where mixed initiative and co-creativity come in. The loss of Landry became a Tigers rallying point; “DO IT FOR VIOLENCE” and “REST IN VIOLENCE” became frequent chants in any Discord watch channel Tigers fans were present in.

He was replaced by 4-star batter Paula Turnip; any improvement in the Tigers' performance could be attributed to her addition or to RNG.

But narratively speaking, Tigers fans decided that our rally was vengeance for Landry; our team had managed to avoid incinerations all season.

Our postseason blessings came down as Bloodlust. We’d been discussing getting Thumbs For Yaz all season; that would’ve increased her pitching ability by 15%. And in fact her pitching ability has increased with Bloodlust. By more than 15%, actually!

Personally, I really, REALLY wanted Thumbs 4 Yaz. In my headcanon they'd have been pseudothumbs made of the same velvet that growing deer horns are. But prehensile.

But we got bloodlust.

This is co-creativity in the sense that the blessing passed because members of the community voted for it; it’s not the devs’ decision or my individual decision (or anyone’s individual decision, although some racked up a truly staggering amount of votes).

And now this twist in blessings becomes an opportunity for the rest of the community to narratively pivot given this new information. @ptychomancer gets at the messiness and complexity, but also the freedom of that, here: https://twitter.com/ptychomancer/status/1272275360885862400

Yaz getting Bloodlust after Violence’s incineration is deeply narratively satisfying, even though the mechanics don't connect them. Even the game’s light narrative wrapper, the text informing us of Landry’s incineration, & later the decree, doesn’t link them. That’s the fans.

I keep thinking of the digital howls of “DO IT FOR VIOLENCE” and of that spurring her forward, transforming her into a deer creature of white-hot rage. Consumed with her need to destroy the rogue umpires; unable to do anything but channel that need into blaseball.

I’m happy on a mechanical level with Yaz’s improvement. I thought at the beginning of today that I’d be disappointed in any blessing for her that wasn’t Thumbs. But I’m delighted to be wrong about that, and even more delighted that it came from the emergent player reactions.

There's also something to be said here about the issues of turn-taking in mixed-initiative work, and how blaseball is trying to solidify some of those boundaries and gestures, organically and on the fly, but I'll let others speak on it; h/t to @GalaxyKate for surfacing that.

Also I dictated most of this thread with voice to text as I waited in line at an outdoor farmers market and THE LOOKS I GOT, let me tell you. Apparently it's weird to talk about pitching stats and incineration or something.