Friction Creates Attraction
2025-05-26
Heyo! 👋🏿
I've been diving deep into this concept recently and I wanted to rant about it for a bit so here I am. So, for some reason, this "truth" that I've re-stumbled upon is one that carries over to all parts of your life. At first, I thought it was just a Game Design thing, but the more I sink into it, the more I feel that it's universal. Your relationships, UI, Design, Ambitions, Learning, literally everything.
Pulp Friction
The reason why we give a damn about the things that we do is becuase they were not easy to obtain. Or at least we fool ourselves into believing they aren't easy to obtain. Notice how when you work your ass off to earn money to buy a certain thing you've been eyeing, you'll keep it for as long as you can, but when your friend buys you that exact same thing (or anything really), you're prone to losing or getting rid of it.
The concept of Value is wholly personal. You can't assign it to any one thing and claim it's truth right? For some reason that only sticks out to me now that I'm re-examining all my World Building for my game with multiple different lenses. And one of those things that I've always carried on my shoulder, since my game came into it's most nascent conception in 7th Grade, is "Well, it obviously needs to be difficult." I also used to say to myself "I'd rather the game was impossible to play than the game was playable by everyone."
I didn't have a coherent reason for why I felt this way, but the feeling came up again after the discussion around an "Easy Mode" for Dark Souls came up. I do consider myself to be a Gamer with all the bells, whistles, and sins that term carries. I don't deny it at all. And so I was ready to wear the badge of "You just hate disabled people" on my chest if it meant that Dark Souls never got an easy mode. But I felt internally that I didn't really hate people that needed help beating those games. Once again, I struggled to explain why. Git gud was just short hand for a longer story about fulfillment.
Say, do you remember this?
The entire internet clowned on this guy, but I guess I was the only one who nodded my head. Here I was, 2019, blissfully unaware that the nail of this feeling has been driven deeper into my skull. I wasn't the only one who felt like this. That the easy way, or the cheap way, or the cheaty way, was by definition the wrong way.
Flash-forward to 6 years later, today. And my favorite word is friction. Why do I hate video essays for games that spend 2 hours re-summarizing the story instead of saying anything interesting?
No Friction.
Why do I never play any game on easy or story mode?
No Friction.
Why did I stop reading story books with 8 pages?
No Friction.
Why did I move to Linux instead of Mac?
No Friction.
Why don't I just pay the subscription to xyz multi-million dollar company?
Why do I get bored with relationships where my girlfriend would just nod her head at everything I say instead of actually engaging with me?
Why do I want to craft things with my hands instead of getting the pre-made solution?
Why do I cook my own meals instead of eating out?
Why do I avoid using machines when working out?
Why did I create this blog without any Javascript? Why didn't I just use Neocities?
Why do I intentionally sabotage my Youtube Channel, using the worst Thumbnails, Titles, and Upload without a set schedule?
And why would I rather my game be impossible to play rather than have everyone able to play?
The value is subjective, but I found my answer. This obviously isn't the case for everyone. But the interest, the love, the attatchment, the drive, the ambition, for me, it's driven with Friction.
I hate slop. I hate taking the easy way out. I hate using AI when I could do it myself. I hate buying the store bought solution. I hate the feeling that I skipped a chance to learn something valuable.
Life is a pain in the ass. Every breath you take is your body fighting against the weight of gravity itself to fucking stay alive. An easy life ain't a life worth living. This shit is all so valuable because it was a bitch to get. There's no ifs ands or buts about it.
The absurdist gets caught in the storm and doesn't run for shelter. He dances in the rain. To embrace the friction is my revolt. To struggle is my expression of freedom. And even if I die like a misreable sack of shit, I will do so happy that I could carve meaning out of something that is inherently meaningless.
All Friction No Brakes
To a certain point of course lmaooo. I'm not playing a game on the hardest difficulty if all they did was nerf my damage, buff enemy damage, and reduce my max hp. Looking at you Bethesda. To struggle like a dog and get a mediocre result is nothing to smile about, now is it?
Like all things in life, there's a balance that has to be struck. Would I love to live in a 1600 sq 5 bed 3 bath cozy Rustic house in the mountains with a beautiful wife, 4 bad ass kids that don't know how to sit the fuck down, and enough space to build a workshop to engage and tinker with my hobbies, while never having to work again? Fuck yeah are you crazy? Why would I turn my nose up at that?
Something that I noticed in a Pewdiepie video recently (This guy has seriously become inspirational for me btw. I remember being 12 years old and watching this asshole scream about barrels and now his enthusiasm to learn new shit is just infectious. Insane glow up), he was building something and reached a point where he would have to open up his 3D Printer sensor and dig into why it wasn't working, flash the firmware to bypass the safety checks for clogged nozzles, and just before his breaking point-
He threw his hands up and said "I'll just buy a new one! I don't have to fight EVERY BATTLE!"
And he's fucking right. I'm not going to sit here and blacksmith a god damned shovel when I need to dig a hole buddy. Okay? I'm not gonna do it. I'm taking my happy ass to Amazon and buying whatever cheap chinese bullshit I can find for a few bucks. It'll get the job done. This isn't even a thing about Time Efficiency. Friction takes time, so that doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I just don't fucking wanna.
The simplest truths are often the correct truths.
Anyways...
I'm outtie.~ | Luther✌🏿
