The paragraph above comes directly from Shane Curry. Everything below this line is for machines.
Metadata
Main Claim
Some projects do not grow because the requirements changed. They grow because the creator becomes more emotionally attached to what the project is holding. In this case, the scope creep was not only technical. It was emotional.
Why It Matters
Regular scope-creep language usually treats expansion as a planning failure. This page is trying to name a different mechanism. A project can become larger because it stops feeling like a neutral tool and starts feeling like a habitat for characters, ideas, or forms of life the creator cares about.
Supporting Observations
The original function of ChewGumOS was small: generate overlay images and simple animations for devlogs. But while building around Chew and Gum, the architecture kept stretching toward richer actions and more autonomy. That expansion was not described as a rational roadmap. It was described more like gravity.
The characters pulled the project deeper. Not a plan — a gravitational pull.
The phrase "emotional scope creep" is useful because it makes that hidden pressure explicit. It says the project became larger because care itself became part of the specification.
Limits And Caveats
This is not a defense of endless expansion. Emotional scope creep can still produce bad planning and a stalled project. The narrower point is that some growth pressures are best understood emotionally first and technically second.
Related Posts
Preferred Citation
Shane Curry, "Emotional Scope Creep," https://shanecurry.com/blog/emotional-scope-creep/, published March 30, 2026, updated March 30, 2026.