simulator-effect

Simulator Effect Skill Specification

Implication is more efficient (and richer) than simulation.

Purpose

The Simulator Effect skill provides principles and methods for leveraging imagination -- human or LLM -- to fill gaps in sparse specifications. Instead of exhaustive simulation, provide seeds that activate rich mental models.

Core Methods

IMPLY

Instead of simulating, imply.

Input: Minimal specification (name, archetype, sensory details) Output: Rich interpretation filling gaps coherently

# Input
character:
  archetype: "grizzled bartender"
  
# LLM interprets as
bartender:
  name: Grim
  appearance: weathered face, salt-and-pepper beard
  manner: laconic, speaks in short sentences
  knowledge: has seen every adventurer who passed through
  secrets: knows where the treasure is, will not say

SEED

Provide imagination seeds rather than exhaustive specification.

Seed types:

• Archetype -- "bartender", "sage", "trickster"
• Sensory detail -- "smells of woodsmoke"
• Mystery -- "the locked door no one mentions"
• Tension -- "she avoided his gaze"
• K-line -- "Sagittarius", "melancholy", "playful"

room:
  seeds:
    archetype: "mysterious pub"
    sensory: "warm despite the draft, old ale smell"
    mystery: "the back room that requires proving yourself"
    tension: "regulars glance at newcomers, then away"

SPARSE

Deliberately omit details to invite imagination.

Anti-pattern:

# Over-specified -- leaves nothing to imagine
room:
  name: The Rusty Lantern
  tables: 12 oak tables, 3 round, 9 rectangular
  chairs: 48 chairs, mix of styles
  bar: 15 feet long, mahogany with brass rail
  taps: 8 beer taps, 2 cider, 1 mead
  lighting: 6 candelabras, 12 wall sconces
  floor: wide oak planks, worn in traffic paths
  # ... 50 more lines

Pattern:

# Sparse -- imagination fills the rest
room:
  name: The Rusty Lantern
  atmosphere: warm despite the draft
  smell: woodsmoke and old ale
  notable: the back room no one talks about

ARCHETYPE

Use cultural archetypes as shorthand for personality packages.

Archetype categories:

# One word does the work of a personality matrix
character:
  archetype: sagittarius_explorer
  # Implies: adventurous, philosophical, blunt, optimistic

JAZZ

Use YAML comments as imagination seeds (per yaml-jazz).

playful: 9
# not born playful -- BECAME playful by choice
# 122 years of grim taught me joy is rebellion

melancholy: 6
# higher than I first admitted
# the silver streaks glow when I am sad

Comments are read by the LLM. They shape interpretation. They are not documentation -- they are code.

The Astrillogical Pattern

Named after The Sims' zodiac implementation (1997):

1. Compute something minimal (Euclidean distance to archetype vectors)
2. Display a cultural symbol (zodiac icon)
3. Write no behavioral code
4. Let imagination do the rest

Result: Testers reported the zodiac was "too influential" -- but there was no influence to tune. The effect was purely imagined.

Application:

# Minimal computation
character:
  personality_vector: [neat: 7, outgoing: 3, playful: 9]
  # Display nearest archetype
  archetype: sagittarius  # Computed, not assigned
  
# No behavioral code referencing 'sagittarius'
# Player/LLM imagines Sagittarius behavior

Integration with Other Skills

With k-lines/

Names activate clusters. Simulator Effect explains why.

# K-line activation IS Simulator Effect
character:
  name: Palm  # Activates: open hand, tropical, reaching

With adversarial-committee/

Mode-collapse is Simulator Effect in reverse -- LLM collapses to mean when constraints are absent. Adversarial committee provides constraints through opposing propensities.

committee:
  - propensity: paranoid_realism   # Different lens
  - propensity: idealism           # Different lens
  - propensity: evidence_prosecutor # Different lens
  
# Same topic, three different Simulator Effects
# Cross-examination finds robust interpretations

With speed-of-light/

One LLM call, many turns. Imagination fills the "rendering" for each turn. Sparse state, rich narrative.

With needs/

Sims motives are imagination seeds, not behavior code.

needs:
  hunger: 30  # Seed
  # LLM imagines: "distracted by stomach growling"
  # Not: deterministic eat() behavior

With empathic-templates/

Templates leverage Simulator Effect -- provide structure, let LLM fill content.

template: |
  [CHARACTER] enters [ROOM] and notices [NOTABLE_DETAIL].
  They feel [EMOTION] because [REASON].
  
# LLM generates coherent fill based on context

Failure Modes

Over-Specification

Too much detail leaves nothing to imagine. The simulation feels mechanical.

Symptom: Output feels like a checklist, not a story. Fix: Remove 80% of specification. Keep seeds.

Under-Seeding

Not enough anchors for imagination to grip.

Symptom: Output is generic, could be anyone/anywhere. Fix: Add archetype, sensory detail, or mystery.

Wrong Archetype

Archetype conflicts with intended behavior.

Symptom: Character behaves "off" despite correct specs. Fix: The archetype K-line is overriding your specs. Change the archetype or add explicit counters.

Mode-Collapse

Single-agent LLM with weak constraints collapses to bland mean.

Symptom: Output is safe, inoffensive, boring. Fix: Use adversarial-committee or add tension/conflict seeds.

Metrics

The Simulator Effect is working when:

1. Readers imagine more than you wrote
2. LLM generates coherent detail you did not specify
3. Different interpreters imagine similar worlds
4. Sparse specs produce rich output

See Also

• k-lines/ -- The mechanism
• yaml-jazz/ -- Comments as seeds
• adversarial-committee/ -- Mode-collapse antidote
• empathic-templates/ -- Smart generation
• constructionism/ -- Mental model building
• sims-astrology.md -- The proof

"The game provides scaffolding. Imagination does the rendering."