Category: And also

An amusing coinage to come out of the RPG community (at least, that’s where I think it was coined) is “badwrongfun” (always written as one word). This represents the idea that the fun you are having is ideologically unsound – it is exactly the same idea as political correctness, i.e. fun that is politically incorrect is badwrongfun.
In specific, “badwrongfun” is often used to deride attempts to analyse and define the RPG field. Such attempts invariably leave some people feeling like they are being disparaged, and they proudly own their badwrongfun to mock the theorists. (I will spare you further details – RPG theory is not something I would lightly inflict upon good people such as you, readers.) It is also now used tongue-in-cheek to reference games and non-game entertainments that are can be seen as improper – unwholesome movies, for example, are always “badwrongfun” (assuming they are fun at all).
Even though this term is often used in high seriousness, which I find exasperating in the extreme, it still pleases me as a coinage. Its the overload of negativity that does it, the scold’s indulgent delight in taking the moral high ground which only undermines itself. It’s a great little phrase.
I wonder, what pleases you among the coinages and phrases that have cropped up in your fields of interest?

I was delighted to read about Google’s new web browser, Google Chrome, the other day. Delighted because Chrome promises to improve on the already-good experience of browsing with Firefox; delighted because Chrome is going to be open source, and thus contributing to the greater development of the web user interface; and delighted because all its complexities were explored through a comic by Scott McCloud.
Comics people and communications people will already know McCloud as the author of Understanding Comics, the best single explanation for how the comics medium works, and easily the most influential comics textbook around. It helped that McCloud wrote it as a comic, of course. While wiser people than I have challenged some of his interpretations and claims, this was still an astonishingly sound discussion of what comics means, and what happens when you stick words and pictures on a page together.
The usefulness of comics as an explanatory tool has been well-known for decades. The comics medium is particularly good for explaining complex topics, and what McCloud and the Google Chrome team have done here is nothing short of masterful. With deft use of images and placement, and no doubt some very careful editing of the words, some very complex engineering is rendered comprehensible to the average reader. It is a remarkable feat in and of itself, and I am impressed also by the marketing angle – that the way they decided to talk up Google Chrome was to get an awareness of the technical advancements out to a general readership. Other neat aspects – the fact that the comic is narrated by comic versions of the actual Google Chrome designers, for instance – build on this. I don’t think you can avoid coming out well-disposed towards the project at the end of reading this book, and considering how the usual general response* to a new technology announcement is either apathy or cynicism, that’s quite something. As far as I’m concerned, its a triumph of the comics medium. So, well done Google, and well done Scott McCloud. Consider me sold.
You can read some of McCloud’s fiction comics work online, as well: Zot: Hearts and Minds.
* I am, of course, generalising madly from personal experience here…

We are living in the post-farewell era. Goodbye doesn’t mean anything any more.
(Just as i hit post, i realise: I think this is in some way a reaction to Twitter.)

Big news of the moment is the pending release of two new games from two of my favouritest game designers, Malc and Gregor!

Malc’s Hot War has just hit pre-order at Indie Press Revolution. It follows up his Cold City game and twists it in new, powerful directions. It is also an incredibly beautiful book, thanks to Paul Bourne’s typically amazing designs.

London. Winter. 1963.
It is a year since the Cold War went hot.
And this was not just a nuclear war. Far more sinister, darker weapons were deployed from the shadows.
Survival and re-building are all that matter now. But human nature and tragic circumstances mean that everyone has their own ambitions.
…a Government desperate to hold on to what remains of the country.
…military forces who wish to expand their power and influence.
…frightened and brutalised refugees who simply want a place to call home.
Into this maelstrom steps the Special Situations Group, a motley band of men and women tasked with the jobs too dirty or dangerous for anyone else.
This is Hot War: a game of friends, enemies, secrets and consequences in the aftermath.

You can download a preview .pdf here
The main website for Hot War is here – art previews, play experiences and more!

Gregor’s 3:16: Carnage Amongst The Stars develops and extends his Ronnie-winning original version, and also boasts tremendous visual style.

This high-octane Sci-Fi role-playing game for 2 or more players has your space Troopers killing bugs all across the Cosmos. You’ll advance in rank, improve your weapons, slay civilization after civilization and find out who you are through an innovative “Flashback” mechanic.
Terra’s plan is to kill every living thing in the Universe to protect the home world. See where your tour of duty in the 3:16th Expeditionary Force takes you and your friends. Revel in the kill-happy machismo and enjoy a campaign of Carnage Amongst The Stars.
3:16 is a Sci-Fi role-playing game about Carnage Amongst The Stars.
• Take your squad of kill-happy Troopers and annihilate bugs!
• Low preparation, elegant game system.
• Delivers developing campaign play.
• Lavishly illustrated and designed book.
• Winner of a High Ronny Award for Games Design for the original version.

More info here.
Two amazing games, both coming at you highly recommended. Even if you’re not a gamery type, take a look at the pretty. For they are both pretty.

Two of my favourite Ulysses-related sites on the internets:
Ulysses for dummies, the entire book told in animated GIF form.
The Internet Ulysses (maps, notes, comments, photos, all sorts of interesting stuff).
A cursory google reveals no Bloomsday-themed LOLcats. A missed opportunity, surely? There must be a tremendous “IN UR DUBLN” line just waiting for the right amusing cat picture….

Wellington’s Saints finish the National Basketball League regular season with an unbeaten record at home, sitting at the top of the table with 14 wins over 4 losses. Media coverage: small story inside back page of newspaper, no art.
Meanwhile, the Auckland Stars get kicked out of the playoffs because they didn’t pay their league fee.
Just six years ago we finished fourth in the basketball world championships, and now we’re stumbling around in the very definition of amateur league. Man.

I know there are a few Seattle folk reading this, or people who might visit Seattle this summer – I want to plug the summer return of the Pacific Northwest’s favourite ice cream makers, Epicurean Empire Ice Cream!
They return this weekend to the U-District Farmer’s Market and to the Ballard Sunday Market. More details over on my LJ post!
(Because if you can’t use your blog to promote your friend’s ice cream business, what’s the point of it?)

I mean, really, isn’t this the most inane scandal you could imagine?
ITV rigged the outcome of its call-in 2005 People’s Choice comedy award so Robbie Williams would be able to give an award to his mates Ant and Dec.
This is sad on so many levels it makes my head swim when I try to count them.
I mean, it’s clearly scandalous – those call-in votes cost money. But… but… Robbie Williams! Ant and Dec! People’s Choice Awards! ITV! THIS IS A STUPID SCANDAL!

This morning is the first of winter.
Last night/today is Samhain in the Southern hemisphere, and while our cousins in the north farewell the Winter, down under we welcome it.
(It rained like buggery last night. In Wellington, that’s what winter means. Rather less nifty than the blanket-of-snow thing, but you make do with what you have.)

This has been getting muchas love from the blogs, for good reason:
At a Web 2.0 conference last week, Clay Shirky discussed how sitcoms are like gin, and how four-year-olds understand the world, and how people find the time to LOLcat or WoW.

Here’s the transcript.
Shirky’s bit about participatory culture is worth getting your head around. I think I have a post on this coming, but for now you can get your fix of awesome ideas straight from Shirky.