Journals of Doc Surge

Mar 07

Blog-Letters, Values, and More

March 07, 2015 by Chris Billows in Republic of Bloggers 0 comments tags: 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 […]

Feb 22

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Why Tutorials Ruin Games

February 22, 2015 by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: 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 […]

Feb 17

Winnipeg Jets 2013-14 Player Leaders and GM Analysis

February 17, 2015 by Chris Billows in Jets Flight Control 0 comments tags: Drafted Jets, GM Review, Jets Draft, Jets Goalie Stats, Jets Top Scorers

The new Winnipeg Jets 2.0 established themselves as a mediocre NHL team in 2011-12, finishing 4th in their division and missing the playoffs. Being built on the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team True North acquired a team that were just one or two steps above an expansion franchise. The 2013-14 team marks the third complete season since the Jets have returned to Winnipeg. As you will see, the team remains not much better than the old Thrashers franchise. What follows is an analysis of the 2013-14 team and how Jets Management has been successful in building the team, with a particular focus on GM Kevin Chevaldayoff and the transactions he implemented. Each player who played in 2013-14 is identified by how they were acquired by the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets which can be via a Trade deal, a Draft pick, a Free Agent signing, or a Waiver pickup. Below this table I analyze the team’s composition and the turnover of players who stay with the organization for the 2014-15 season. Player Pos GP G A P +/- PIM PP SH GW OT Shots Route NS CD 1 Blake Wheeler R 82 28 41 69 4 63 8 0 4 2 225 […]

Feb 16

Aesthetics as Basis for Conflict Between Players

February 16, 2015 by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments

Note: This is an open letter to Chris Bateman at International Hobo. All replies are welcome. Dear Chris Bateman, Thank you for your post on the “The Aesthetic Flaws of Games“. I am writing to provide an exploratory response to the persistent conflict you refer to, noting that this was not the point of your article. In your first point about Aesthetic Ruptures, you explain how narrative and mechanical aesthetic modes can lead to player alienation because of their unskillful use. I agree with you, and believe that it is this very difference in aesthetic modes that is the reason why the conflict you refer to exists. You speak more to this in one of your earlier posts, ‘The Thin Play of Dear Esther“. I have learned through our past discussions on Twitter of your intention to reduce the sectarianism we see in games, particularly the conflict between the narrative vs mechanical tribes, which can be distracting and destructive. As you wisely told me, be careful of trying to own the term ‘Game’. But I am concerned that in seeking a ‘perennial philosophy’ of games we do a disservice to some of the evolutionary traits that games have developed. While […]

Feb 04

Retrenching a Republic to a Band of Bloggers

February 04, 2015 by Chris Billows in Republic of Bloggers 0 comments tags: Blogging, Republic of Bloggers, Virtuous Discourse

Dear Chris Bateman, I am writing in response to your blog post “Prolegomena to Any Future Manifesto“. What you write resonates with me as I used to be actively involved in electoral politics and had my hand in the formation of a provincial political party. Your post captures the human tension found in all modern organized entities, regardless of sector, human intention is captured in the trio of Principles, Policy, and Practice. I know this trio through my professional line of work in health care where I help families navigate through a complicated, limited system while trying to address an ever-increasing need. My colleagues and I struggle with the interpretation of Policy, how it is resolved through our Practice, and all under the public scrutiny of the Principles set out by our political and executive masters. A manifesto’s nature is to set out Principles, which become a movement’s rallying point. Principles, like an artist’s broad paint strokes on a canvas, can capture high-level notions of democracy, free markets, and public healthcare. Meanwhile the Policy level becomes the “devil is in details” that is meant to inform us how to live, essentially being the laws of the land. These laws are […]

Feb 01

The Long Race of Customer Retention

February 01, 2015 by Chris Billows in Business Beller 0 comments tags: Boot-Strapping, Business Development, Personal Resolve

Dear friends, My company Promaginy is a few months away from alpha launching our premier game website, Heropath. We are putting the finishing touches on the site’s functionality and still need to do some serious testing. I am really excited about what the site is going to offer RPG fans. I have been in the market long enough and have learned from others that considering the launch of any website or advanced game is more equivalent to a marathon than a sprint. Gone are my fantasy wishes for a home run, instead I am going to focus solely on how to retain the users we attract and to convert and then retain them as customers. I am confident that attracting users will not be our main challenge. The business model of Heropath will have built in virality, since the essential purpose of the site is to share what is created on Heropath. Our challenge will be how to make the user interface so intuitive and responsive that the user experience of building a web-based role playing game is a delight. This will take testing and iteration. Its a process of polishing and refining. Its tedious and requires intensive awareness. Interestingly […]

Jan 25

Welcome to Gamestories

January 25, 2015 by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Introduction

Here is my first blog post on Gamestories, a website devoted to Game Design. Gamestories is a new general game theory written by Chris Billows. Gamestories recognizes that games may not share mechanics or themes, but they all share the need to tap the player’s senses. Games are different from cinema, literature, music, and other forms of entertainment & art because the senses they trigger are more extensive and they invite the practice of transformation. Instead of focusing on whether a game is fun, art, interactive, or challenging, Gamestories says that games are important because at their best they invite players to bring all of their senses to the medium. A player’s senses are triggered through the game’s events, become remembered, and then later shared with other players. The greatest meaning of a game is not that it tells the player a story, but that the player tells a story to others about the game. Player plays Game > Player transforms Game Events > Events resonates with Player > Player tells Stories about Game Gamestories can be summarized thus: “A game succeeds as a game when it taps the player’s full range of senses, triggering integration of game events, and […]

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