So I just bought a set of precision d6s. They are clunky, huge things that require special rolling surfaces and truly are inconvenient for a tabletop game. I will probably pick up a set of precision backgammon dice after this, but the question is: why? In tabletop circles dice are front and center in a lot of games. They are a quick way to get a random roll and a lot of superstition, ritual, pomp and thought goes into them. My collection ranges through a wide gambit of designs and materials from iorn alloys mined from meteorites to simple polymers.
I've never been one to punish dice or to get too obsessed over the minute differences in face size that can make a die stray from true random, however it is unquestionably an existent drive within the tabletop community. I see people die testing at the table before rolling, I see all sorts of rituals, superstitions and etiquette evolve from table interactions over what are essentially shaped pieces of plastic. This has always fascinated me. In history, dice were and are extremely iconic cultural symbols. A d20 is almost universally accepted as a symbol of tabletop gaming. The piped d6 is nearly universally seen as a symbol of chance.
Games of chance have always had a high place in society. The chivaric code of knights only ever necessitated one type of debt be payed: the debt of honor, or in modern parlance gambling debts. The idea that (G/g)od(s) controlled the outcome of the dice lead to the implements being used widely in games of honor within the nobility. Bagamon, Parchisi and the Royal game of Ur where all developed from this notion. Then they transcended class lines.
Games of dice have been used for most of recorded history, evolving from knuckle-bones and being easily transportable and obtainable by the masses. Games and amusements evolved. Iconic phrases like "The die is cast." (Alea iacta est) arose from their prevalence in society. Given this long history and ancient connection, the level of veneration and superstition at the game table almost makes sense.
Empires have risen and fallen by the toss of the dice, fortunes made and lost. Heroes rise and fall. Even in our age of reason we have not moved past the importance of dice. My precision d6s were machined to tolerances that would not be out of place in a rocket lab at NASA. These specifications are legally mandated in order to ensure the fairest dice rolls possible in legal casinos. The amount of physics and chemical knowledge that is required to ensure the perfectly uniform and perfectly weighted center of these dice is truly astounding. When rolled properly these are the fairest dice you will ever probably get your hands on.... but that fairness is realistically only seen in the long run. With the hundreds of rolls that a pair of dice will see in a casino, the statistical spread from a cheep pair of game dice would likely be noticeable. However, keep in mind that casinos operate on margins of probability as thin as 1.4% in these sort of games.
The dice at your game table? Well, if you have more than one set and they are not visibly deformed you will likely never see the statistical bias of your dice. With the frequency that I pick up a new die set, or get lazy and ask to use someone else's the probability of the innate bias of a single dice affecting my long game becomes asymptotic. In fact, compared to a single pair of precision d6s, the mess of polysets that I use will, across the course of play, be /more/ fair. And yet...
Even before I ponied up the big bucks for machined d6s, I owned not one but two pairs of the first printings of gamescience dice. These re dice that forgo the usual tumble polish process of rpg dice from manufacturers like chessex. The appeal of these dice is that they have, on average, more uniform faces and diameters. This makes them fairer dice. However, there is really no fundamental difference between a toss with game-science dice and a toss with the competition. You will only see a pattern emerge after hundreds of tosses and even then it will be a minimal increase in probability. The idea of a true random die is in practical since extremely, extremely abstract.
And I want it.
I can rationally tell you that these dice make no statistical difference for the small number of rolls we put them though. I can rationally explain it to myself and I, for the most part, accept it. Yet, here I am with a set of precision dice that cost more than ten full polysets, absolutely giddy that they represent something that is mathematically fair. That abstract notion that I will never personally be able to verify gives me a pleasure that seems entirely and utterly unique to tabletop gaming. Even roll20.net made a stupidly huge investment to ensure as true random rolls as possible: http://blog.roll20.net/post/80684919470/data-delve-dev-blog-1-introducing-quantumroll
So, here is a tribute to that undefinable allure. That near universal tabletop quest. Let us raise a tankard of ale (Romulan if you have it) and sing a toast to the pursuit of chaos!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Is the mainstream ready for games as art?
So recently I discovered that MIT has one of their massively open courses on game design. Now, this isn't one of the 'how to use tool a to get result a' sort of courses, it's a look into the fundamentals of game theory and works its way through the arts and practical structures that make up modern game design, both as traditional games and as computer games. In reading through the book I was reminded of the importance of language when it comes to artistic critique.
Now, this isn't to say that we need more jargon in games journalism, but it is to say that I feel games journalists should be well versed in the language of games design. The importance of the dolly zoom in film should be understood by anyone who wants to be a film critic, so i postulate that the importance of open and closes systems, the cultural impact of emergent gameplay and the history of interactive entertainment should be the expected grounding for those who want to criticize games. This is especially true as we move into an era where we expect games to be treated as an artistic medium.
As we are a young medium we borrow a lot from the established fields of criticism. This leaves us will a lot to say about story, visual presentation and other components that map well when regarded from another medium, but not a lot to say about what makes games stand out from the other methods of expression. There are a few general categories that a seasoned gamer can draw on to describe the general feel of a game, but rarely do we find commentary on how the feel of a game contributes to the direction or expression as a cohesive whole. perhaps this is indicative of the informal genre divides, or a side effect of game designers being forced to template from popular successes regardless of the vision. Regardless of the explanation, as we move forward this kind of discussion will become critical to establishing the legitimacy of the medium.
Let us take for example The Last of Us. It is a critically acclaimed game, widely reviewed as the best that the last generation of consoles had to offer. A lot of the reviews focus on the story, the characters and the visual presentation. It looks amazing, has a moving story with interesting characters and forces us to accept morality as a grey zone. It also has gameplay, but... it's nothing special. It plays like you would expect a third person action game to play. The gameplay doesn't really add to the end statements, the player doesn't really have any meaningful choices that impact the narrative. It's the kind of game that lends itself well to a critique with the same language as a movie with a bit of gamy bits thrown in. This isn't to say that it's a bad game, but it does raise the question of what is important in a game. We don't have the language formalized to describe the mechanical impact of games. The discussion of the system interacting with the narrative elements of play is not very prevalent, so it seems like most of the time we get this big budget games that instead really just push out the gameplay that will sale with packets of content that will review well with the established language of criticism (usually cinematic).
Now, on the opposite side of the spectrum from the Last of Us is Conway's game of Life. Conway's game of Life is a zero player game with no real art assets to speak of and no giant story. It means that, if viewing it as an artistic piece, all of the message is in the rules and mechanics of the game. The rules to Conway's Game of life are as follows:
Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
Any narrative or story must be a result of these rules. The player sets up the board, populated with as many live or dead cells as desired, and then the game plays itself. The assumptions codified in the ruleset gives us a kind of message, and while this is supposed to be an abstraction of cellular evolution we can derive many messages from it. The game itself says that the rules of life are simple, but through the simple rules amazingly complex machinations and interactions can occur. As a game designer I can look at this game and see that a well written, simple mechanic can produce amazingly nuanced gameplay. As a historian I can see that the game is a product of the times, with the prevalence of computer systems reaching a point to make the testing and implementation of such a model feasible. The game has such a wide spread impact that it has recently been implemented on drum machines because the computational pattern is simple and fits well to grid-based sequencing with interesting results.
I think it would be interesting to see how mainstream game journalism would review conway's game of life. To me there is obvious merit. We can communicate the ideas behind it, we can discuss the history around it, it has an amount of historical impact that can not be overlooked. It is elegant in its simplicity and stunning in its complexity. These are things we can say about great art...
But do we want art?
For me, it's a resounding yes, but as I look at the mainstream sensibilities I am not sure. The god of the mainstream game is fun. It's this subjective metric that changes for everyone, but it rarely includes the desire to go to an art museum. It is obvious to me that games _can_ be an expressive art form, but look at how the gaming community reacts to games being evaluated _as_ an expressive art form. Even mention a feminist critique on a gaming forum and you'll likely get flamed within the hour. Games have the capability to be powerful vehicles of thought and expression. games have the capability to provide meaningful insight into society. Games have the capability to be interpreted as products of history and culture, but is that something that the gaming community is ready to embrace?
Let us consider the most popular novels in the world. Last time I checked, the most popular kinds of novels are harlequin romance novels. They are usually cheep, contrite pieces of throw away writing that use lazy plots in order to indulge in a fantasy. They are insanely popular. I don't know of many people that would point to any of these books as an example of great fiction, but I don't know of anyone who would argue that novels can not be great art.
Now, this analogy might be slightly disingenuous. The direct parallel to the harlequin romance novel would be cheap cell phone games that are plentiful and widely varied, but they work well as an illustration of my point. Big games, like the Last of Us or Gears of War would be better compared to hits like the Harry Potter series or Twilight. People will always be more divided about how to look at these bits of popular medium but we still do not generally put them on the same level as Catch 22 or Great Expectations.
I don't think anyone who is familiar with gaming will argue that games don't have their Catch 22s. I don't think that anyone who is familiar with gaming will argue that games don't have their harlequin romance novels... and I think the mainstream is becoming familiar with gaming.
As we develop and disseminate more and more language that allows for deep discussions about games, I feel that the culture will change. I think it already is. We are taking the way that games are portrayed more and more seriously. There is more and more lititure that tries to seriously contemplate the impact of games. People are more and more aware of what makes a game enjoyable...
Art isn't always enjoyable, so art isn't always popular. I don't think this is ever going to change in any medium, including gaming. However, as more of a medium is enjoyed by the mainstream it becomes easier for them to accept it as art. I feel we are reaching that point.
Now, this isn't to say that we need more jargon in games journalism, but it is to say that I feel games journalists should be well versed in the language of games design. The importance of the dolly zoom in film should be understood by anyone who wants to be a film critic, so i postulate that the importance of open and closes systems, the cultural impact of emergent gameplay and the history of interactive entertainment should be the expected grounding for those who want to criticize games. This is especially true as we move into an era where we expect games to be treated as an artistic medium.
As we are a young medium we borrow a lot from the established fields of criticism. This leaves us will a lot to say about story, visual presentation and other components that map well when regarded from another medium, but not a lot to say about what makes games stand out from the other methods of expression. There are a few general categories that a seasoned gamer can draw on to describe the general feel of a game, but rarely do we find commentary on how the feel of a game contributes to the direction or expression as a cohesive whole. perhaps this is indicative of the informal genre divides, or a side effect of game designers being forced to template from popular successes regardless of the vision. Regardless of the explanation, as we move forward this kind of discussion will become critical to establishing the legitimacy of the medium.
Let us take for example The Last of Us. It is a critically acclaimed game, widely reviewed as the best that the last generation of consoles had to offer. A lot of the reviews focus on the story, the characters and the visual presentation. It looks amazing, has a moving story with interesting characters and forces us to accept morality as a grey zone. It also has gameplay, but... it's nothing special. It plays like you would expect a third person action game to play. The gameplay doesn't really add to the end statements, the player doesn't really have any meaningful choices that impact the narrative. It's the kind of game that lends itself well to a critique with the same language as a movie with a bit of gamy bits thrown in. This isn't to say that it's a bad game, but it does raise the question of what is important in a game. We don't have the language formalized to describe the mechanical impact of games. The discussion of the system interacting with the narrative elements of play is not very prevalent, so it seems like most of the time we get this big budget games that instead really just push out the gameplay that will sale with packets of content that will review well with the established language of criticism (usually cinematic).
Now, on the opposite side of the spectrum from the Last of Us is Conway's game of Life. Conway's game of Life is a zero player game with no real art assets to speak of and no giant story. It means that, if viewing it as an artistic piece, all of the message is in the rules and mechanics of the game. The rules to Conway's Game of life are as follows:
Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
Any narrative or story must be a result of these rules. The player sets up the board, populated with as many live or dead cells as desired, and then the game plays itself. The assumptions codified in the ruleset gives us a kind of message, and while this is supposed to be an abstraction of cellular evolution we can derive many messages from it. The game itself says that the rules of life are simple, but through the simple rules amazingly complex machinations and interactions can occur. As a game designer I can look at this game and see that a well written, simple mechanic can produce amazingly nuanced gameplay. As a historian I can see that the game is a product of the times, with the prevalence of computer systems reaching a point to make the testing and implementation of such a model feasible. The game has such a wide spread impact that it has recently been implemented on drum machines because the computational pattern is simple and fits well to grid-based sequencing with interesting results.
I think it would be interesting to see how mainstream game journalism would review conway's game of life. To me there is obvious merit. We can communicate the ideas behind it, we can discuss the history around it, it has an amount of historical impact that can not be overlooked. It is elegant in its simplicity and stunning in its complexity. These are things we can say about great art...
But do we want art?
For me, it's a resounding yes, but as I look at the mainstream sensibilities I am not sure. The god of the mainstream game is fun. It's this subjective metric that changes for everyone, but it rarely includes the desire to go to an art museum. It is obvious to me that games _can_ be an expressive art form, but look at how the gaming community reacts to games being evaluated _as_ an expressive art form. Even mention a feminist critique on a gaming forum and you'll likely get flamed within the hour. Games have the capability to be powerful vehicles of thought and expression. games have the capability to provide meaningful insight into society. Games have the capability to be interpreted as products of history and culture, but is that something that the gaming community is ready to embrace?
Let us consider the most popular novels in the world. Last time I checked, the most popular kinds of novels are harlequin romance novels. They are usually cheep, contrite pieces of throw away writing that use lazy plots in order to indulge in a fantasy. They are insanely popular. I don't know of many people that would point to any of these books as an example of great fiction, but I don't know of anyone who would argue that novels can not be great art.
Now, this analogy might be slightly disingenuous. The direct parallel to the harlequin romance novel would be cheap cell phone games that are plentiful and widely varied, but they work well as an illustration of my point. Big games, like the Last of Us or Gears of War would be better compared to hits like the Harry Potter series or Twilight. People will always be more divided about how to look at these bits of popular medium but we still do not generally put them on the same level as Catch 22 or Great Expectations.
I don't think anyone who is familiar with gaming will argue that games don't have their Catch 22s. I don't think that anyone who is familiar with gaming will argue that games don't have their harlequin romance novels... and I think the mainstream is becoming familiar with gaming.
As we develop and disseminate more and more language that allows for deep discussions about games, I feel that the culture will change. I think it already is. We are taking the way that games are portrayed more and more seriously. There is more and more lititure that tries to seriously contemplate the impact of games. People are more and more aware of what makes a game enjoyable...
Art isn't always enjoyable, so art isn't always popular. I don't think this is ever going to change in any medium, including gaming. However, as more of a medium is enjoyed by the mainstream it becomes easier for them to accept it as art. I feel we are reaching that point.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Suddenly Sound Security
I'm going to dedicate this post to a bit of an instructional. For those of you who know me out there in meatspace you know I am highly security conscious. So, I'm going to make a basic primer for network security and personal privacy.
At home
Security starts where you live. It is very unlikely that someone will actually try to aggressively penetrate your local network unless you have a particularly high standing or known to have a bit of juicy bit of data access. More likely than not you're going to just have cheapskate neighbors trying to use your wifi. Regardless of the minor security threat you'll have at home there is a basic level of security you should abide by.
Technical Security
- If you are using wireless (WiFi), make sure you have a passphrase set up on your access point.
- Do not use WEP encryption, use WPA or WPA2 when available.
- WEP encryption is flawed and can be cracked in under five minutes by something as powerful as a smart phone. WPA and WPA2 are significantly stronger.
- If your router only has WEP or no security option at all, consider upgrading your access point. Not only will you be far more secure but you will benefit from the improved hardware.
- For truly sensitive communications (online banking, corporate email) you should have a wired connection available.
- Although it is unlikely someone will take the time to crack your wifi, wireless communications are broadcasted in a wide area and can be easily intercepted and stored for later analysis.
- Consider getting a router with a Guest AP mode.
- A Guest AP mode will separate guest access from your local computers and sensitive information with a separate AP name and password.
- If you are using cable (Such as COMCAST) or wirelessly provided internet (Such as CLEAR), strongly consider purchasing a VPN account and using it on all sensitive machines.
- Cable internet works a lot like broadcast television. Everyone in your neighborhood has the ability to tap into their cable lines and receive every single packet being sent to you. The cable modems your cable company provide you act like filters, only letting you view the packets meant for you, however it is trivial to buy your own modem and disable this filter in order to watch all of the traffic in the neighborhood.
- VPNs (Virtual Privet Network) provide an additional layer of security for your internet use by encrypting your data from point to point. This makes is difficult for anyone to tap into your internet sessions regardless of where you are.
- Keep your firewall up.
- A modern router will have a built in firewall with will protect against most attempts to access your local network from outside. However, software firewalls (the ones on your computer) add even more security. As annoying as they may be, don't disable them but instead add firewall exceptions on an as needed basis. Mac (instructions for Linux vary by distro)
- Firewalls help filter out data that you do not request, there are several ways that firewalls can operate but in a home usage scenario they mostly operate as packet filters.
- Keep antivirus software up to date.
- Most antivirus suites are way overkill and will include additional security programs to the simple antivirus scanner.
- I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials or Immunet for Windows, ClamXav for Mac, and ClamAV for Linux. These programs only do scans so will not slow your computer down as much as the big guys.
- I recommend these programs for Mac and Linux not necessarily because of the threat of malware to the Mac or Linux machine but more to keep your files clean in case you transfer them over to a windows machine.
- Antivirus is not a sure defense against infection, but coupled with secure user habits it will protect against most forms of malware.
- Install flashblock, adblock and noscript
- Most malware comes in the form of hijacked advertisement servers.
- flashblock and noscript will make sure nothing runs unless you allow it.
- adblock will remove ads from websites entirely.
Secure Behaviors
- Choose lengthy passwords.
- At home, you don't need to listen to what your company's requirements for passwords are. Try this simple method of password generation.
- Verify senders of attached email files.
- Ask your friend if he sent you some pictures before opening them.
- Don't click links in email.
- Copy and paste the link instead, emails can show different links then what they send you to when you click them.
- Never enter in your username and password into a website linked to you by an email address.
- Go to the site from google and sign in from there instead.
- Your bank will never randomly ask you for your username and password, and neither will anyone else. If you didn't ask for a password reset to be sent to your email, be suspicious.
- Be careful what you download from which sites.
- Yes, I mean porn.
- Scan that XXX action for viruses.
- Yes, I mean illegal downloads.
- Scan that wearz action for viruses.
- Yes, I mean Christian Blog Sites
- For the love of God don't click on those banner ads.
- Assume all email can be read by everyone.
- Don't email confidential information, passwords, or something you don't want known.
- The only way to have truly secure email is using Encrypted Email, however this is difficult to do because it requires everyone you email to to have encryption set up and for you to share secret keys with each other beforehand.
- Apple's iMessage and RIM's BBM are encrypted and secure messaging systems. However, these messaging systems only work between their respective devices.
- Give your kids their own accounts.
- Give your kids their own, personally named accounts on your computer and make sure they are not administrators. This also applies to their personal computers. Kids will do dumb things, but making sure that they can't change system files easily will help tremendously with the security issues they might cause.
On the Go
When you are away from home the security risk immediately increases. Public access wifi hotspots are a gold mine for information phishers. Be on alert when accessing any internet access point you do not control.
- Trust no one.
- Access points can be spoofed, redirected, and cracked very easily. Always assume that the Wifi is compromised.
- VPN is a necessity for security
- The only way you can have any sort of privacy on a public wifi system is to encrypt your communications. VPNs encrypt everything you do online.
- Do not accept suspect certificates.
- When you are on the go and your browser suddenly freaks out about how something may not be secure, listen to it. Wait until you get home to try the page again.
- Strange USB devices: Not even once.
- It is easy for an attacker to take over your machine once they have a physical device plugged in.
- Encrypt sensitive data on portable computers.
- If you have information that would be ruinous if stolen, Encrypt it.
- Turn off automatic login
And that's about everything I can think of.
Stay safe out there!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
late lightning log, lamenting lethargy.
So it's been nearly two years since my last post. I am not the best at blogging, so it would seem. The house is currently shaking as there is yet another thunderstorm routing its way through Tampa, my newborn nephew Leo sure chose a noisy week to come into being!
All in all life has been treating me with its usual ambivalence, somewhat of a blessing, though my expectations of the world as a general state has been lowered; pessimism can make one fairly resilient to those lurid stings that seem so prevalent.
This lightning really doesn't want to be ignored! Oh well, no real significant events today other then my discovery of The Idea Channel. If you haven't given them a look over I'd recommend it, it's an easy to consume smattering of pop culture and philosophy. Very likely to give you some nice idle conversation material. For music I'm currently revisiting Squaredance (Released CC 3.0 unported by the artist), though I tend to go through albums like a chain smoker.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
He has a Hole in his Heart
Prayers go out to an anonymous individual who will be undergoing surgery today for a patch up after suffering a major heart attack. I hope he will do well and I wish the surgeons undergoing the operation only the best of luck.
On a lighter note, this text marks the third post but the first full sized blog entry. I'd like to thank my troublesome ADHD for keeping me so on edge that i basically caved in and created a bit of a blog. The titular theme will be spread sparingly through the text of my marginally rhythmic posts. I really would rather avoid running another extremely repudiative escapade. I hope the varied use of vowels with assonance and other figurative language finds an appreciative audience.
But back to the blog bit. I identify as irick, ideally, he's the mitten looking indifferent in my icon. It is impolite to ask my actual name, so please call me Irick in the according posts despite previous privy to my privet presence.
Currently my day as progressed slowly primarily due to sleep schedule conflicts, coffee and caffeine. I must force myself back from falling asleep every few minets. Though sleep really does sound splendid compared to the realistic alternative. I'm working on willing myself through this mild setback that should be soon rectified.
IPv4 reaching its end of life, the 32 bit specification are only able to adress 4.2 billion devices, so i've been sort of experimenting with the next generation of IP addressing and it is generally going well. Well... rather... mostly, my router really doesn't like manual management of ipv6 options.
On a lighter note, this text marks the third post but the first full sized blog entry. I'd like to thank my troublesome ADHD for keeping me so on edge that i basically caved in and created a bit of a blog. The titular theme will be spread sparingly through the text of my marginally rhythmic posts. I really would rather avoid running another extremely repudiative escapade. I hope the varied use of vowels with assonance and other figurative language finds an appreciative audience.
But back to the blog bit. I identify as irick, ideally, he's the mitten looking indifferent in my icon. It is impolite to ask my actual name, so please call me Irick in the according posts despite previous privy to my privet presence.
Currently my day as progressed slowly primarily due to sleep schedule conflicts, coffee and caffeine. I must force myself back from falling asleep every few minets. Though sleep really does sound splendid compared to the realistic alternative. I'm working on willing myself through this mild setback that should be soon rectified.
IPv4 reaching its end of life, the 32 bit specification are only able to adress 4.2 billion devices, so i've been sort of experimenting with the next generation of IP addressing and it is generally going well. Well... rather... mostly, my router really doesn't like manual management of ipv6 options.
Post from Irick at CHUM.LY
One wonders of originality on blogs. That which has had handbook after handbook handed out to the huddled hundreds clearly can't convey true characteristics of the creators. I try to test the tepid tide of typical text... It is tough to take.
A tech test of touch typing via telephone. http://chum.ly/n/237932
A tech test of touch typing via telephone. http://chum.ly/n/237932
Greetings you overtly Gregarious Giant
Hello world.
I have proven yet again my sociable nature by extending my little tidbits of useless wit and recycled information. Expect many more musings my trivial tribulations further in the future!
I have proven yet again my sociable nature by extending my little tidbits of useless wit and recycled information. Expect many more musings my trivial tribulations further in the future!
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