by Chris Billowsin Republic of Bloggers1 commentstags: Blogging, Components of Human Nature, Fictional Letter, Republic of Bloggers, Virtuous Discourse
This is an open letter in response to Chris Bateman; it is written in a format to cultivate an open discussion, so please do not hesitate to get involved! Dear Chris, It has taken me some time to write this response to you about facts and knowledge. It is an involved topic that has had me rewrite this letter multiple (40 and counting) times since to write something about knowing means you need to have a conviction you know something! Let me start off with a relatively famous and grammatically twisted quote about what it is to know: [quote]… because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. – Donald Rumsfeld[/quote] This quote captured my imagination. It identifies three different kinds of knowing from known knowns to unknown unknowns. Taking those three, I added a fourth to extrapolate a scale that combines the two redundant values: Known Knowns – these are “facts” that we believe to be true. […]
by Chris Billowsin Jets Flight Control0 commentstags: Jets Farm Team, Jets Improvement, Minor League Stats
The professional hockey world shifted a bit when Atlanta Thrashers relocated to become the Winnipeg Jets. Not only did the NHL get affected, but so did the minor league affiliations which needed to be reestablished. Atlanta had affiliations with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and the Gwinnett Glaidiators of the ECHL. Those were ended in the summer of 2011 when Winnipeg established a new affiliation hierarchy by forming a new team in St. John’s and establishing an agreement with a new ECHL team, the Colorado Eagles. The purpose of this post is to track how the three teams have risen and fallen along side each other to see if there is any pattern. It tracks the 2nd and 3rd seasons. You can see the first and second season comparison from 2011-13 here. This was the second year of the operating agreement between the three franchises. The St-John’s IceCaps had a bust sophomore year. The Winnipeg Jets unfortunately carried on the mediocre tradition of the Thrashers while the Eagles had a disappointing regular season. There was not much to celebrate. In addition, unfortunately for NHL Hockey fans the 2012-13 season was almost halved due to the player lockout. The […]
by Chris Billowsin Jets Flight Control0 commentstags: Jets Farm Team, Minor League Stats
The Winnipeg Jets established a new team with their existing AHL franchise in St-John’s, Newfoundland in 2011-12. The St-John’s IceCaps were a brand new team (even though the franchise moved from Winnipeg) since all of the players belonged to the Vancouver Canucks parent club. The team had a winning season, went far in the playoffs, and were loved by the Newfoundland and Labrador fans. With the St.John’s IceCaps being the primary farm team for the Winnipeg Jets, I thought it would be useful to review how the IceCaps did in their second season as a new team and track how many of those players contributed to the Winnipeg Jets in 2012-13. # Name Pos GP Min GA SO GAA W L SOL SA SVS SAV% NHL GP NHL SA 1 Eddie Pasquale G 43 2452:57:00 114 4 2.79 15 23 4 1223 1109 0.907 * 2 Chris Carrozzi G 3 150:10:00 7 0 2.8 1 1 0 58 51 0.879 3 Mark Dekanich G 35 1913:47:00 95 2 2.98 16 14 1 909 814 0.895 * 4 Juho Olkinuora G 1 59:29:00 3 0 3.03 0 1 0 25 22 0.880 Empty Net 37:57:00 13 13 * indicates Rookie […]
by Chris Billowsin Playstates Theory1 comments
Note: This is an open letter to Chris Bateman at International Hobo. All replies are welcome. Dear Chris, I really enjoyed your serial on the Essence of RPGs where you elegantly explained the tension of the game’s duality; that of Role-Play and of Rule-Play. I remember struggling with these two aspects; The obsessive-compulsive side of me did not want any rule to be neglected, while the creative-imaginative side wanted me to witness an epic adventure unfold. I never did resolve the two and have come to accept that I am a divided individual. 😉 Perhaps it is this internal conflict that has generated in me some insights about the tension of Role-Play and Rule-Play. Based on my interpretation of your writing, Role-Play appears to be the champion of narrative, story, and the performance art of acting, while Rule-Play is the champion of simulation, preciseness, and power gaming. They appear to have little in common with each other. I believe that this is a surface level conflict. Role-Play and Rule-Play may have tensions with each other, but that is because they come from the same place; That place being human imagination and its need for understanding. Games have a special purpose […]
by Chris Billowsin Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Active / Passive Media, Active / Passive Senses, Awareness / Understanding, Infographic, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
In my earlier post, I outlined the five senses by which we interact with music, books, shows (including movies, television, and cinema), and games. I have created an Infographic to outline how the different Media relate to each other on a continuum of Passivity to Activity. Passive Media need Passive Senses (Seeing & Hearing) while Active Media /Games need Active Senses (Touch & Speech). Both Passive and Active Media need the Bridging Sense of Awareness. Upon further investigation, it becomes apparent that Passive Media can expand to become Active by engaging in the development of Fan Clubs (Speech Sense) and expanding into games as evidenced by popular movies being made into games. These expansions become a way for Passive Media to become Active, deepening a relationship between a fan and a franchise. Active Media / Games have done the same thing. There are novels written on Starcraft, movies set on the Mario Brothers, and game music played live by orchestras. Any franchise can migrate across Passive and Active Media to deepen relationships with its fan base.
by Chris Billowsin Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Active / Passive Media, Active / Passive Senses, Awareness / Understanding, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
In an earlier post I listed the seven human senses that interact with games. I also explained that not all of them are essential to engaging with games with Taste & Smell being two of the seven that can be left out. This leaves five essential senses: Seeing, Hearing, Touching, Speaking, and Awareness. The five senses are employed when we use engage with any media, entertainment, or art. We need all five senses when we read a book, watch a movie, or play a game. Yet, the degree that they are used does differ which helps explain why games are unique. There exists a continuum of passivity to activity that marks how games are different from media like books, music, and shows (including movies, television, and cinema). To help explain why games are different, I divide the five senses into Passive and Active categories. Passive Senses are defined by their latent information gathering done through the visual and audio senses. Active Senses differ from Passive Senses because they require action and communication. Let’s begin by discussing the two Passive Senses: P1) Seeing: Games, books, and shows all share the need for the Seeing Sense. A video or computer game cannot […]
by Chris Billowsin Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Awareness / Understanding, Introduction, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Smell / Taste, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
It is documented that animals have play behavior, but it is only Humans that play games. In order for all animals to play they do so through their range of senses. There are the obvious ones such as sight, hearing, and touch but there are some that are more subtle or so powerful we tend not to think of them. Using ancient Buddhist psychology’s insight into the human condition, I thought it would be useful to evaluate how this list of senses interacts with games. What follows is a list of seven senses that most human beings have. I will describe each one and then list how it relates to games. (I) Seeing through our Eyes This is the primary sense used when it comes to games. A video or computer game cannot be played unless it can be seen since all games are played on some kind of screen with projected images. I can think of one rare exception, but in this case the exception does not make the rule. (II) Hearing through our Ears The secondary sense used when it comes to games. Some of the earliest games (played on main […]
by Chris Billowsin Business Beller0 commentstags: Branding, Business Development, Contrarian
So I have been in the domain and website business since August 2010. I have made a little bit of money but have also lost more. While I can’t brag about success, I can share with you an opinion that is informed by experience. Here are three important things to know about avoiding the shame of the domain name game. 1) Brand First, Concept Second – A domain name is important only if it has a brand or contains words that point to a popularly held concept. This is why so many domains get scooped up because it contains a keyword that can generate traffic, which helps make a website more lucrative. It is like having a really high traffic storefront. This can be valuable, but only if there is traffic. People are now scooping up domains for every niche concept such as wirelessprinterscanner.net (disclosure: I used to own this) all with the intention to capture search engine traffic with the keyword. These keyword heavy domain names (what I call Concept Domains) tend to be very low quality, cheap, and can be profitable, but usually not. It is better to go for a brandable name that is unique and you […]
by Chris Billowsin Republic of Bloggers0 commentstags: Blogging, Republic of Bloggers, Virtuous Discourse
Dear Chris, Thank you so much for your blog-letter, ‘The Merit of Letters‘. I do not intend on getting the last word on this discussion, but do hope that by continuing to demonstrate and practice the Blog-Letter, it will continue to attract interest (which it appears to have). I want to touch on your point: ‘Yet at the same time, the practice of virtuous discourse is informed by its values, so perhaps you could turn those into principles if it were strictly necessary. Those values include, but cannot be restricted to, politeness, insightfulness, fellowship, eloquence, and wit.‘ This is interesting. I agree that Values are something different from Principles. Perhaps they are the unspoken or less organized aspect of Principles? Values can be passed on to us by family, society, or invented by our own volition. To value something is both a goal and an action, while Principles tend to be an explicit statement and thus less dynamic. If I may be so bold, I am going to also suggest the additional Values of Openness and Transparency. The former being your stated intention to welcome all, regardless of status or standing, the latter being the practice of writing these letters […]
by Chris Billowsin Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Lords of Midnight, Player v Avatar, Ultima IV
Note: This is an open letter to Jed Pressgrove at Game Bias. All replies are welcome. Dear Jed, I am responding to your article ‘Tutorialization as an Aesthetic Flaw in Games‘ which was in response to Chris Bateman’s article ‘The Aesthetic Flaw of Games.’ Your post got me thinking fondly and with some nostalgia about the role that non-game items like Manuals and Maps played in my past. I remember getting my first copy of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar which had a gorgeous cloth map and two manuals. The first manual was about the game, while a second manual posed as a spell book (Book of Mystic Wisdom), giving you the feeling of learning the game without the need for a tutorial. Another great memory, is from 1984 when I received The Lords of Midnight in the mail. A ZX Spectrum game, it came with a manual/story plus a map on the back of the game box. Boy, did I spend many a moment gazing on that map thinking about strategies to implement and places to explore. Enough of my navel gazing, the real reason why I am writing is that I […]
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