Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)

by Yoon Ha Lee

“Two things. First: the value of a game is in abstraction. Many Nirai go in for simulationist approaches, a tendency you share, but sometimes you learn more by throwing details out than coding them all in. You want to get rid of everything nonessential, cook it down to its simplest possible form.” “I see, sir.” The fact that she had been solving the wrong problem with great dedication, if not exactly enthusiasm, was humbling. “Second: what do you think games do? What are they about?” The flippant answers weren’t going to be right, but she had no idea what he was after. “Winning and losing?” she said. “Simulations?” “It hasn’t escaped me that your first answer is a Kel answer and the second is a Nirai answer,” Jedao said. “A Rahal would say that games are about rules, an Andan would say they’re about passing time with people, and who knows what the Vidona are authorized to say.” “You’re a Shuos,” Cheris said, “so I presume you’re going to tell me what the Shuos answer is.” “According to the Shuos,” Jedao said, “games are about behavior modification. The rules constrain some behaviors and reward others. Of course, people cheat, and there are consequences around that, too, so implicit rules and social context are just as important. Meaningless cards, tokens, and symbols become invested with value and significance in the world of the game. In a sense, all calendrical war is a game between competing sets of rules, fueled by the coherence of our beliefs. To win a calendrical war...