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Just to be clear: the following opinions belong to @lynchpoet, one of the people whose work is featured on the Misery Tourism itch.io.  I submitted work to this jam, so I'm voting here, but we're a collective.  

I like this a lot, even though I'm not into philosophy (and I think that most of the textual stuff from Kierkegaard has gone over my head).  

EXPERIMENTATION:  I give this a 4 for experimentation, because the elements of the ghazal it uses—specifically the audience/public participation aspect common in mushairahs, mixed with the mechanical lens of the cards—create an atmosphere in poetry that I don't really believe exists in the traditions of recitation and presentation that I've personally seen.  Further, the cards present a fairly unique way of generating public participation around an artist's work that is really awesome (you mention in the essay that you can basically play this with poems you create, which is great).  I know of some games that do similar stuff with haiku ( Poet Glorious by Kimberley Lam is one example I can think of off the top of my head ), but the use of the ghazal as the centerpiece, and the goal of the work to, as you put it, "...demonstrate by example how both canon-critical and original works in philosophy can be done outside the confines of the now-standard treatise, essay anthology, or journal article" is incredibly out there.  The idea of having some kind of philosophical debate or forum (or even an academic dissertation, or, fuck, even a diatribe/manifesto of some kind) based around a game, where the mechanics inform and arbitrate, is pretty wild shit.

INTERACTIVITY:  I give this a 5 for interactivity, since, uhh, it's literally all interactivity.  It's play that generates discussion.  Sweet.  The companion pieces were cool, and definitely helped me understand the context of the philosophy better, so even if  those aren't strictly interactive, I think they serve an important purpose.  

POLISH:  I think this is a pretty polished piece (leaning towards 4).  One thing I wasn't 100% clear on is how to choose a winner in the Ghazal (the game text mentions a winner at step 6, and I think it's the person who runs out of cards, but what happens if both players decide the verse is complete?).  Could just be something I'm missing.  

POETRY:  This occupies a space at the literal intersection of poetry and gaming (in all senses of that word).  I'm giving it 3 to represent that.  I wish that instead of a 5 star thing, I could just give the answer "Yes" to the question: "Is this a poem or is it a game?"

(+1)

Thank you so much for such a kind, thorough response! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and that you think the animating idea's out there in a good way, hehe. I'll definitely check out the piece you mentioned -- I'm really happy to hear other people are making things like this.

To answer your question about the ghazal game instructions: Gosh, I really couldn't figure out the extent to which any of the instructions were clear, so I appreciate any and all questions about (and suggestions for) them! The winner of "Ghazal" is just whoever runs out of cards first. This (insofar as I played it out myself with a partner) doesn't depend on whether any given verse is considered "finished" by the players, even in a "Free" round. One of two things can happen in a Free round: Either both players decide that the verse is finished and continue playing (because they both have cards in their hands), or one player runs out of cards to put down during that round, bringing an end to the entire game. A winner isn't exactly "chosen;" it just happens naturally in the course of play. The strategy during Free rounds is to string out the verse in such a way that the other player's forced to pass or that brings the verse to an obvious end. Does that make sense? (Totally chill if it doesn't! I can take another crack at explaining.)

Ahh, yeah gotcha.  That makes sense.