Psynapshots: Academia Magica Apocalyptica

The Psynapshots Project is about designing games on the boundary between entertainment and psychotherapy. It is an attempt to distill the unsaid and implied parts of the tabletop gaming experience into a raw and verbalizable form. This takes the form of a recurring gameplay loop of (1) using personal virtues and abilities to (2) gain checkmarks which (3) fulfill needs that (4) provide energy to (1, again) empower personal virtues and abilities. This game (AMA) focuses on understanding needs via the Nonviolent Communication framework.

Games smooth out our dopamine neurons' expectations (https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/dopamine-and-temporal-difference-learning-...), allowing us to feel like we live in a world where earnest commitment of time, effort, and attention is sufficient for us to meet our motivations, deliver our desires, and overcome our obstacles.

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