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In ''Defining the Abstract'' Mark Thompson discovers four timeless
factors defining a CV (or game, or formal axiomatic systems if one will).  Namely, Clarity, Decisiveness, Drama, Depth. The tradeoffs are apparent.
Which are markedly like polar opposites? Which paired opposites in tension forever try to drag the other down, in the quest for coherence?  Which
reduces or offsets  the other one's effectiveness in any design? Go ahead
and guess, there being only the three possibilities. Why obviously, Depth
versus Clarity, and secondly Decisiveness versus Drama, as Thompson
enunciates. Think predator versus prey: more depth means less clarity by
and large. Or like balancing an equation: if less decisive then more
dramatic, by some rule of balance. Observe a binary star system's unending tug-of-war: an abstract game's play-offs. Two-body problems three- four-,
multi-. ''Defining the Abstract'' appears to have been written for
short-lived website 'Games Journal' in 1990's.