Help!
Kiyash and I have no Xmas or Xmas Eve traditions, and now that we're married, we think we oughta. So here's our idea for this year: We are going to design a game.
The parameters: A game for two players, that you can play in an apartment.
Here's the thing. We need YOUR rules.
It's going to be exquisite corpse style. Anyone can submit a rule, any rule, but only one rule, and you don't get to see anyone else's. (That's why you have to EMAIL the rule instead of putting it in the comments.) Then, Kiyash and I have to design and play a game that includes all of the rules you submit and still makes sense!
For example, you could send a rule like the following: "No one can leave the circle until the peanut is found." or "Cheating is allowed, but only while you are holding your breath." or "The game ends when one player has both of the other player's shoes."
If you're reading this post and it's not Christmas Day yet, PLEASE send us a rule! Email us at the following address: rules at avantgame dot com.
Oh, the fine print: Rules should not include extraoardinary props that we are unlikely to have in our apartment. Rules should not induce severe physical pain while being implemented. If two or more rules conflict and cannot be reconciled, the first rule received will stand and the latter rule(s) will not be implemented.
(Pictured above: Kiyash at the Hex168 Game Tree. Who needs a Xmas tree when you have an XBox-green game tree? Woo!)
3 comments:
Merry Xmas, cupcake - I am sorry I didn't see this until today!
pyy
UPDATE: Experimental game design is so instructive. With this particular experiment, I am re-learning an old rule: When given an opportunity to remotely control human agents (Think: Tele-Actor, Tele-Twister, etc.), people think it is clever and fun to suggest outrageous things and make slightly malicious use of their power. They also view it as an opportunity for self-expression and getting attention ("Look at what I made tele-object do, I'm so clever, I'm so powerful, I'm so bad-ass.") While this is an important lesson proven again and again in previous experiments, it is boring to me now and not the point of this experiment at all. So I am ammending the fine print: Rules submitted should be RULES, not COMMANDS. Rules are abstract, generalizable, repeatable aspects of play that could be applied to anyone playing the game. They include goals, methods for action and advancement, restrictions on legal movements, and a way to determine when the game is over and who was won. Commands are instructions to do something specific and have more to do with your power trip than with designign a game. So if you want to be a part of this collaborative project, please help us learn something new, not the same old tele-actor lesson of "Wooo it's fun to make other people do something." Geez. No wonder puppet masters have a bad rap in the mainstream. The thing is, a good and serious PM only asks players to do something she believes will improve the designed experience. Okay? Cool. Think of this additional fine print as a little insight on the difference between control and collaboration. This is an exercise in unconscious collaboration. Not an experiment in your desires to control others. Although I promise I will remember these desires for future reference. ;) And thanks for the opportunity to think critically about the difference between a rule and a command. Good stuff.
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