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Oct 12

Adventure (1979) – Reply from the Easter Egg King Robinette!

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Adventure 2600
It’s Thanksgiving in Canada and I can’t think of a better way of demonstrating gratitude than getting a nice response from Warren Robinette to my email thanking him for Adventure 2600. Here is his response: Chris — Thanks for the nice letter.  I meant to give you an immediate response when I first saw it, but your email kinda slipped down the inbox. I have attached something I wrote about Adventure a few years ago, which may interest you, if you haven’t seen it.  I kept copyright, so you can post it on your website if you want. I am also working on a book about the implementation of Adventure, which I hope to have online by the end of the year.  I am calling it “The Annotated Adventure”.  The book is about the program that implemented Adventure, so the target audience is programmers (I think).  But if you know Adventure, you might get something out of it without being a nerd. Thanks again for the good words.  Back when I was creating Adventure, I had no idea what I’d be doing 35 years later, but if I had made a list, it would not have included corresponding by email […]

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Sep 22

The Curious Word ‘PLAY’

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Definitions
So what does Play mean? We all know you can play a game. But you can also play a song, play a movie, or be in a play. Its a verb “to engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose”, and a noun “an activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation, especially by children”. Yet, we use the word in more playful ways. When you play a movie, everyone knows that you are not playing it like you would a game of Minecraft. You play a song, play in a band, play a sport, or play on a person’s emotions. A person can play a Vine adventure but also play an Online Battle Arena. That’s why we need to relax when it comes to defining what ‘Play’ means. To play a game requires different skills and senses depending on the game. There are lots of ways to Play, so that’s why we have lots of different kinds of games. Play is not work, yet some games demand such a high level of effort and skill, they will demand more investment than some less demanding paid work. So go ahead and play. Just don’t forget […]

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Sep 19

Adventure (1979) – Quest in Delight

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Adventure 2600
Dear Mr. Robinette, What follows is an open letter to you from my blog to thank you for your pioneering masterpiece, Adventure (1979). It is in response to your GDC presentation that you delivered earlier this year. While you admitted that Will Crowther’s Adventure (1977) inspired you, what you created was a 90 degree game that took the industry in new directions. The amazing thing about Adventure was it was a simulation that provided a dynamic, emergent narrative. You touched on the following accomplishments in your presentation: Yes, Adventure was the first action adventure game. Yes, Adventure pioneered technology to help create the first comic superhero game Superman (1979). Yes, Adventure won an Arcade award, and Superman, that used your technology also won a Arcade award the same year. Yes, Adventure contained the first ever Easter Egg and sent a F-U message to corporate cronies who treated developers like faceless factory workers. These are all things to be in awe of, but what made me so in love with Adventure was that it was primarily a simulation. Not a tedious simulation where making a wrong move would crash your Flight Simulator. It was a fantasy quest simulation with items, dragons, […]

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Aug 06

Games Are Primarily About Transformation

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Games and Jung
Note: This is an open letter to Daniel Cook at LostGarden.com. All replies are welcome. Dear Dan, I am responding to your article ‘Shadow Emotions and Primary Emotions‘ which was shared in response to my Twitter inquiry: @danctheduck Hmm… I’m fascinated. I will write you a blog-letter with my own understanding of what you wrote. I think Jung can help. — Chris Billows (@Doc_Surge) July 6, 2015 In your blog post, you state that there are two kinds of emotions: Primary and Shadow. Primary emotions come from Games, while Shadow emotions derive from Art. I am not enthusiastic about these labels since you are clearly stating that Primary emotions possesses greater depth than Shadow emotions. Because emotions are not objectively measurable, I am not convinced that its possible to say that one set of emotions is deeper than another. Labels aside, your insight into the different emotional timbres of Games and Art is worth a deeper look. Through simple observation alone, we see that the act of participating in any game is far different than perusing an art gallery or reading a book. The level of engagement and stake in a game is far greater. But how do these different […]

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May 21

Why RPGs Matter

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 1 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 […]

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Apr 05

Passive & Active Media Infographic

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: 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.
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