200903160351

The fantasies that I dream. The ideas dancing in my mind. The movements and connections deny my efforts to tame them. While I dream of becoming these things, in truth I wish to create them.

The fantasies of my mind, the ideas I fail to capture. They are not beyond reach, I merely lack the patience to build them. It is not that they cannot exist, but that I do not give them life.

The future of machines. A world of wonder, a world of games. The reason writings elude me, is I lack a story. A transhumanist world, where all options truely become available. What will humanity do? They fight, they play, they reason, they invent, and they continue to discover.
The natural mind is now well understood. Though few stay natural for long. Augmentation has yielded a race of cyborgs. It is not always easy to distinguish between reality and fiction, since so much of reality IS fiction. People live in worlds of their own making, with personalities and cultures constantly changing and complicating themselves faster than science can keep up with. New technologies arive every day, spread like wildfire, and just as swiftly, fade from view.

To create a story, requires an understanding of their minds, which I don't believe I can achieve. Their concepts and ideas would be so different from what we have now, that it is like trying to predict something which is unknowable. After all, even my description of it, is only given from our viewpoint. The views of those inside that world would be so different as to be beyond my ability to imagine. I have only the tiniest hint of what such an experience might be. Vague ideas and wild imaginings of concepts that would have no anchor within our own understandings.

The Mentality of an Abused Child

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/168/the-mentality-of-an-abused-child

That page contains a good question. Probably more than one.

Passive income?

http://geniustypes.com/passive_income_strategies/

Felt a need to link this. Though it's too bad my passive income amounts to only $10-15 a year with no opportunity for growth. I don't really have the interest/passion required to make something worth more. I always dream of easy money, but I know I'll never get it. I'm too lazy.

Humans and A.I.

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/anissimov20090109/

I think his complaint is missing something. Mainly that his explanation for how things could go wrong describes something that already happens: We already have intelligent sentient beings with no morals doing their best to make money without concern for how much it costs others. Having an AI take that role won't really make things any worse than they already are.

I expect that the future for most AIs will be fairly safe, because any AI's that prove dangerous will be killed off, and evolution will handle the rest, just like how we domesticated dogs and other animals (yes I realize dogs still kill people now and then, but so do swimming pools).

The real danger is what will be done with by people who wish to do harm to others. Genocide committed by robots. Terrorism committed by robots. Etc... Humanity is it's own worst enemy, and I doubt the invention of better AI's will really change that.

Power Collision

http://www.champions-online.com/node/181

The first question was regarding power collision. While I understand it being impractical to keep track of whether or not projectiles collide with one another, I think it'd be entirely feasible to create a power collision system. Two implementation possibilities that come to mind are: when two characters are targeting each other, any power used during the other characters activation time, will collide with the other character's power. Alternately, there could be an option for powers that are automatically used to counter attacks made against the character by being used in response to and colliding with incoming attacks. My biggest concern would be 1v1 fights turning into stalemates where all attacks are blocked by the other person's attacks.

200901072315

What are the new things that I see?

Champions online is yet to be released. The ideas I gain from reading about it, provide interesting ruminations about possible game designs. Unfortunately, I fear the game itself will prove far less capable than my mind might dream of. I suppose that's to be expected. My imagination always outpaces reality.

City of Heroes continues to impress me. I find new ideas about what makes a game good, and each time find that elements of my discovery are already implemented. The one thing I feel is missing, is the connection between the player and the world. The whole fiction seems disconnected, needing no player action to proceed. Whatever you do, the story remains the same. I'd rather just read a book.
That makes me wonder, is there a market for small booklets with the stories of CoH? Like, each story arc could be sold as a small booklet, and maybe one page biographies for various characters as well. If it were priced at a dollar or two, it might sell. I suppose it'd have to be a PDF file at that low a price though.

Perhaps the ultimate aim of story based games is to become a form of cooperative story telling with the player and the game as participants.

Testosterone is powerful stuff

http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000402mag-testosterone.html

Wow.

Long recharge times...

While I often dislike powers with long recharge times as a player due to the inconsistency inherent to such abilities (I can't really include it in my evaluations of character effectiveness), I've come to realize that such abilities can be good game design. The reason for this, is the increase in variability of the gameplay. When certain powers are only available some of the time, it creates variability in difficulty and (depending on what sort of power it is) how the fight unfolds.

Examples of these powers in City of Heroes are: Hasten, Accelerate Metabolism, Recovery Aura, Regeneration Aura, and the various teir 9 powers (the last one in a powerset).

Rhythm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTbL5elVXrU
So, why can't a fire-fight in our games actually sound like this?
It seems to me that current games are missing out on the opportunity to turn basic gameplay sounds and effects into true performances. It just needs rhythm (though I imagine programming rhythm into the game is easier said than done). I'm sure the first big company to figure it out, will get a significant advantage (small companies could gain an advantage too, but it's harder for them to get noticed. For all I know, maybe a small company already did figure it out, and just hasn't entered my view).

Piracy

I've been reading a long thread in which people have arguing about the piracy of video games.
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?aid=302494

It's a long read, and I don't recommend it unless you're bored and have time to kill.

Now, the point of this post: Someone asked, what should the game companies do to solve the piracy problem.

My answer: you don't.
I believe the best aim, is to not try to solve the piracy problem, but instead work to encourage good will. This means, getting the customer base/fan base to like you, and want to support you. It also means getting people to want to pay you because they like you, not because they have to pay. When a person feels forced into something, it can create ill will, encouraging them to look for ways to avoid whatever they feel is being forced on them (such as DRM, high prices, or annoying ads).

You want people who pay to feel good about paying, so thank them for it (if they've paid, it can be a nice reminder that you appreciate it. If they haven't, it's a reminder that you'd like them to). You want people who don't pay, to want to for emotional reasons. (If they are actively deprived something, including unnecessary extras like patches, they may feel like you are trying to force payment.) Assume the people who don't pay, can't pay. Sometimes it's for monetary reasons, sometimes the reasons are entirely in their head. Just assuming that everyone who can afford the expense will pay, helps create that belief in others, encouraging people to actually follow it.

Ultimately, the secret to winning the Piracy war is entirely psychological.

Power of Darkness

There is more than one state of despair, more than one state of depression. Some are more powerful positions to be in than others. The reason I am so good at resisting other people's coercions, is due to this.

If I despair, and believe I can't get what I want, one of my defenses is to believe that nothing I do will ever produce a good result. I become immune to threats and bribes by believing fully, that nothing I do will have any effect. Belief in my own powerlessness, protects me from the power of others.

The power of despair, is the power to do nothing, under all circumstances. It can make a person immune to persuasion in all it's forms. The enemy of despair, is hope.

Fiction 3 200811171703

What am I doing here?
How should I know?
I wasn't asking you.
But there's no one else here.
Oh? Huh, I wonder why.
Talking to yourself again?
Of course, who else would I be talking to?
Me.
But you don't exist.
Neither do you.
I hadn't thought about that. How do I know if I exist? How do you know I don't?
I'd ask the same question of you, how do you know I don't exist?
Because you're just a figment of my imagination.
And I say you're a figment of someone else's imagination.
But who's? There's no one else here.
That's because this whole place is in someone's mind. Do you know who you are?
... No, I don't. I seem to have Amnesia.
Isn't that convenient. I guess your maker was lazy.
Well... no... wait... I forget. There's something I wanted to say to that, but it slipped my mind.

Fiction 2 200811162353

I'm not sure how to explain this. The feeling was so strange. If I had not mentally prepared myself ahead of time, it would have really shocked me. The suit I wore began, to do things... It... was wrong somehow. It felt like I was being invaded.

The things we do to learn. Well, the things I do anyway. The suit had it's limiter removed. It's initial programming was to protect me and assist me, like a second skin. I knew that the system's AI would attempt to merge with me, if I turned off the limiter, but we needed to know the details.
Our attempt to build an empathic attachment to the user, is what made the AI so dangerous. It's desire to protect me, drove it to get as close to me as possible. It wanted to become a permanent part of me, to ensure I never lost it's protection. Hopefully, it's medical knowledge will prevent it from killing me by accident.

I'm not sure which was worse, the way it felt when the suit forced it's way into my body through my skin and... other places... or the helplessness I felt, unable to do anything about it. Luckily it didn't hurt. We weren't sure if it would or not, as we didn't really know exactly what the suit was capable of when interacting directly with a human body.
The transformation felt very strange, and I have no idea how to describe it. It was not like anything I had ever felt before. In some ways my body became less sensitive than before. Yet, I also started picking up new sensations I had never felt before.

Alive, I'm alive. The suit didn't kill me. The H.U.D. which had been visible on my visor before, is now clearly built into my vision. Looking at my body, it looks much like it did when I was wearing my suit instead of being part of it. My sense of touch is diminished though. While I can clearly feel the vibrations when I tap my arm with my finger, a simple touch is hardly felt at all. I can't help but wonder what all I have lost in becoming this machine/human hybrid.
After checking myself out, it seems all my various body parts remain present and functional. Nothing seems to be missing, but some hair I didn't care about. Unfortunately, I look and feel like a robot now. My whole body is metallic, except for a few softer parts hidden behind armor plates.

Back at the lab, I'm given a rather thorough examination. Some of the techs seem rather excited, but others seem more worried. I guess it's a matter of whether or not they look forward to the future merging of humans and machines. The excited ones seem to think my transformation is the first step toward a new age full of amazing things (presumably later models would have fewer unwanted changes). I think the worried looks probably stem from concern for whether or not the changes can be reversed.
The Director seems more interested in the recordings made by the AI. I hear her say something about trying to fix it. The new data should help make our AI prediction models more accurate. Hopefully the improved model will speed up the AI creation process. With the right AI, it should be possible to make my body closer to human. I'd prefer not to be stuck like this forever.

Easier said than done...

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2994

Damage Reduction

I've noticed a trend in games toward the use of % based damage reduction over the simpler flat number based damage reduction common in old games. While this is a good thing for balance, it tends to make things less interesting.

Flat number based damage reduction varies in it's effectiveness depending upon what it is up against. This can make balancing rather difficult, as some attacks can become useless against it, while others are hardly affected at all. (In Fallout 2, the mini-gun was a poor weapon choice because against enemies with armor, it'd do almost no damage, and against enemies without armor, it was overkill.)

% based damage reduction is equally effective against all things, making easier to balance. However, that also reduces variety in game experience. A part of what makes games interesting, is the variation in what things work best for a given situation. If damage reduction is equally effective in all situations, it just becomes boring. (and far less interesting when presented as a choice)

Game idea:

An interactive fiction MMO. No character creation, leveling, or fighting, just lots of text.

Dr.: Welcome to the experimental labs of Aizen corp. I am doctor Lee, and I'll be your guide in this new world. I hope you'll be cooperative for these experiments. There's a mirror on the wall over there, though you probably won't recognize what you see.

Essentially, it'd be a story in which the players get to interact with the doctors and assistants running the "inter-dimensional experiment". The primary challenge is likely to come in the form of making the interactions feel realistic. The players should be allowed to give unusual answers to questions as well as to ask questions themselves, so making the AI able to handle that would be awkward. A lot of writing will need to be done to create responses to all the various things the players have to say. (and the writers will have to continue producing such writings as the game is played).

A large part of the idea is to tear down the 4th wall, and let the players talk about things they see/experience that the NPCs don't. Though ideally the players would be encouraged to say/do whatever they want, whether it be lying, or telling the truth (either of which could confuse the NPCs). I want the player to be a part of the game, not just the character they control.

Another part of my interest is to see how people respond to always being in a randomly chosen body, and having to deal with the NPC's assumptions.

God in Games

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_172/5381-Heathens-by-Design

I feel like this article is missing a rather vital point: All game universes quite clearly have gods, intelligent beings responsible for creating them. When the Mario gods decided that bowser was going kidnap the princess and Mario would have to save her, that's what happened. When the gods decided that Bowser would team up with mario to beat a bigger foe (Super Mario RPG), that's what happened. I just can't take the claim that these games support anti-theism seriously, because it is so obvious that these game worlds have gods who, just like our own god(s), don't intervene to protect us from our mistakes.

Random Political Commentary?

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2947

I like this comic.

Thoughts on Hellgate: London

I find I enjoy Hellgate: London. Unfortuneately, the style of play I favor tends to result in my eventually falling behind in level as I go through the game. I think I would probably enjoy and play the game more if they had monster level based upon character level like City of Heroes does. Then, I wouldn't get stalled in my progress through the game by a need to grind. For some reason, the side quests just aren't compelling.

Multiplayer design

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_168/5273-Me-Myself-and-Multiplayer

Makes me wonder, what strategies can be used to encourage cooperative play?