Friday, September 18, 1998:

“You can’t hope to answer a question until it is properly formulate.”

Doesn’t this phrase suggest a couple of other questions. For example what the heck is “formulate”? Or, more importantly what “question”?

Video games lose much of their potency for transformation when you as a player have no question you are currently working on. Continue reading →

Thursday, September 17, 1998:

Well, just how silly is it to select games based on whether or not the game goals match your personal goals as a player?

A lot silly.

Unless your goals as a player are to run around the edge of a cardboard square passing by a specific square marked “GO” and collecting two bright orange pieces of paper with the number $100 printed on the front then it would be real silly to ever expect your goals will match the character goals in Monopoly. Continue reading →

Wednesday, September 16, 1998:

What is the big deal about “having the double view of being both the character and the player”?

It must be a big deal. I think I used the phrase about a dozen times in the previous article.

Well, tis simple. By holding these two opposing views a reconciling element is created. This element can act as a corrosive to erode the tendency toward identification. Continue reading →

Monday, September 7, 1998:

Respecting the character in the game.

The character was there before you showed up and will be there after you leave.

Radical thought? Not really. If you take but a moment to consider the context of the character there is a context.

In the game of Zelda we are inside a character known as Link. Link obviously had parents, a childhood, friends and the rest. When we are not riding around with Link hacking and slashing our way to the inner chambers of Gannon, Link has a life. How hard can it be to respect that life? Continue reading →

Monday, September 7, 1998:

What would be the player’s goal in a game?

Good question.

Here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head:

Spend some time with the other players.

How many Bridge games are just an excuse for the players to sit around and chit chat having a good time?

Learn how to pronounce “s” without hissing or lisping.

Strange as this may appear on the surface, I played the game Sorry for hours and hours when I was in elementary school. I was in speech therapy to learn how to pronounce ‘S’ without lisping. So rather than sit around saying words over and over again we played a game with lots of ‘S’ sounds in the game.

Teach your child simple counting skills.

An adult playing a simple game such as snakes and ladders with a small child may be simply trying to teach said child his or her numbers and the art of counting.

Beat the socks off your older brother.

Maybe you are tried of what a big mouth poor sport your older brother is and since you are better at the game then he is you relish the thought of grinding him into the dirt over a friendly game of chineese checkers.

Unravel the mathematical mysteries of Game Theory.

Yep, there are university graduate departments devoted to the study of game theory. Every now and then they may even play a game or two in an effort to understand what is happening on a mathematical level.

These examples should give you a few ideas of what might be meant by the question: “What would be the player’s goal in a game?”

Now then. Gather answers to this question yourself. What possible goals for a player can you discover, recall, makeup or weedle out of friends and family?

Sunday, September 6, 1998:

How do the goals of the character and the goals of the player relate?

First before addressing this little gem of a question consider this: It might not be possible, ever, for the goals of the characters to be the same as the player. Continue reading →

Saturday, September 5, 1998:

What is meant by character’s goals?

Well in Monopoly you could think of the character’s goal as getting around the game board and passing go collecting $200.

In Zelda the character’s goal is to defeat Gannon and rescue the Princess Zelda.

In Parcheesi, the character’s goal is to get around the game board without being sent to jail and make it all the way to the home square.

Or, how about in the multi-player game of Quake Team Fortress? In that game the character’s goals are to protect their flag from capture and capture the enemy’s flag.

Go through every game you can making note of what the goals of the character would be.

Friday, September 4, 1998:

What Makes A Game A Game?

Well, what are some of the characteristics of a game?

There is an apparent and noticeable distinction between player and character.

The game has definable goals within the scope of the game that are applicable to the character. As in: the character within the game can have the goal of carrying a flag from one spot to another.

The player can have goals that extend beyond the game into other higher-order domains. As in: a player can have the goal of playing with a sense of humor about his or her situation — or perhaps a player can have the goal of playing with an attitude of fairplay.

These are but a few of the characteristics of “What Makes A Game A Game?” If you like the game of solving this question Contact US.

Wednesday, September 2, 1998:

Persistence, Patience, Hard Work

These three characteristics permeate every endeavor — whether it be Job, Work, or Gaming.

Consider the example of making flag runs in a game such as Quake CTF. You would be wasting your time if you fought to get the flag from the hole to the spiral and then to the top of the ramps only to give up because you hadn’t capped the flag yet. You have to keep at it. Continue reading →

Wednesday, August 5, 1998:

Once a signal makes it past the data receptors (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, etc.) into the processing network of the body the processing network can not tell whether the incoming information is from a “virtual” or “real” input source. There is no difference. This is how the subtle brain works. The “beta” brain may know that the virtual input is not “real” and discount it. This does not stop the deep processing functions from accepting the input as real and acting accordingly. Continue reading →