Links:

• Global No Pants Subway Ride 2012 | Improv Everywhere

• ifttt / Put the internet to work for you.

• Automate your Dropbox

• Seriebloggen – Bloggosfären – UNT.se

Medspel is dead! Long live Lets-Play.se!

Staging Illusions

A two day, yearly, conference on staging illusions. Mostly people from culture, media and gender studies, also some historians and some with a bit of a technical background. And quite many practicing magicians, nice! This is not really my field, but it was a great way to broaden my mind and find new angles on what I’m doing. If I should really distil the main content from the conference I would say Vanessa Toulmin’s keynote gave a good overview, from pantasmagoria and Peppers ghost to George Méliès movies and Dark Rides.

Other talks I found interesting was:

Jacquelin Hylkema’s speech on history and how the public focus changed from the deciever to the victim around the change of the century 1800 – 1900.

Max Schneider‘s overview of directing miracles and magic effects. Mainly the three roles of a magician:

• Playing the magician, a superior being, an alpha male.
• Magician playing a role, in a story.
• Magic in a play, without one clear magician

Also the split into three types of magicians is interesting:

• Killer
• Victim
• Witness

Kate Genevieve presented “Give me your hand” where the participant is blinded, but with a video showing the surroundings. This builds upon the idea of relating to a rubber hand if you treat it the same way as your real hand (Google it).

Jon Armstrong presented his idea of magic in theatre performance. He’s got a different vocabulary but a lot of thought connect well to what I’m thinking, and especially to the project I call ‘Spooks’ (yes, I’m talking to you Arkadia).

Adam Bee presented an art project called Telekinesis, this I need to delve deeper int before i give my judgement :-)

Astrid Enslin had a lot of good ideas around metalepsis as a transmedia phenomenon. How levels of story collide and different ways of looking at it. There was a lot of good references and I need to look more closely at her work in the future. Among other things she compared:

• Mimesis, the illusion of experience reality (Plato, Aristotel, Averbach, Ricouéur, Genette, Wolf)
• Fourth wall (Diderot, Auter & Davis)
• Willing suspension of disbelief (Coleridge, Ferri)
• Immersion (Murray, Marinelli, Salen & Zimmermann, Boellstorff)

Also there were some talk around Bergson’s intuitive method that was quite interesting

I don’t really have the time right now to write a full post, but this is good and I want to spread it, so here’s a short, and not that well thought through rant: It’s about the new economy, the role of design and the consumer as producer. But, even though she doesn’t really say it directly,  it’s also about feminism and the overthrowing of an old system that gave power to the people already in power. Looking at feminism from that perspective turns it into more than gender equality. uit’s about equal power, it’s about ‘we are the 99%’. And yes, I may be putting more words in there than she would admit or agree upon. I’ll just put a quote here, hope you’ll take 15 minutes to watch it, and decide for yourselves :

Josephine Green talks about the change of age from one way of thinking, of being and of doing in the world to another and the challenges in the 21st century. She explores social innovation, the decentralization and distribution of creativity and capacity through the system and stimulates thinking and insights around the future of innovation and design.

If you’re more interested check: Pyramids 2 Pancakes (I haven’t really had the time to read through it myself yet)

• November (xkcd.com)
  

• MTV Generation (xkcd.com)
  

• Alternative Literature (xkcd.com)
  

• Writing Better HTML & CSS (Slides from FOWA London) | CSS-Tricks (css-tricks.com)
  

• Floppy music DUO – Imperial march – YouTube (www.youtube.com)
  

  Pretty much a waste of time. But what a wonderful waste it is!

• SEO for Non-dicks – Matt Legend Gemmell (mattgemmell.com)
  

This is really an old subject, the academic education system doesn’t seem to satisfy the needs of the gaming industry. Very few of the students in game design educations actually ends up working in that industry. it’s not that they are unemployed, but rather they find work in other areas. The reasons fort this are many, some of them mentioned in presentations and panels, by both academia and industry are:

• Economical – the game industry doesn’t pay that well, and when you can get a substantially larger salary in more classic IT-industry this is quite attractive. As mentioned today, people in game industry go onto it for the passion.
• Distrust in academia – A lot of game companies are started as ‘my basement’-companies by people with passion, and even if they are bigger now it may be hard to go from that to value of academic education.
• Knowledge – the Academic educations doesn’t teach the right things.This sees to be especially true when it comes to programming. The industry wants C++ programmers more than anything else, this is usually not the chosen language of programming educations.
• Unspecialized – Many game design educations try to educate game designers with a broad view of games, instead of specialists. There’s a big difference between a programmer and a graphic artist, instead of trying to teach all it’s better to focus on one thing and get really good at that.

These are all good points, but I believe some things has been missed, some thing was simplified, and some things just plain wrong! Let me add my thoughts to the list, and take into account that this is far more of a rant than an actually well researched issue:

• I believe the economical reason above is about a lot more than economy. The passion mentioned is not only about love of games, it’s also about giving up on a lot of other stuff. Looking at working conditions the game industry is actually a quite unattractive working environment. Many companies demand unpayed overtime, scheduling crunch time at periods with work more or less 24h/day for periods. I’m not saying it’s like this everywhere, and from what I’ve seen it’s better now than some years ago. But with this attitude still a part of the industry it’s hard to work if you have other interests outside of your work. A lot of people going into the business leave in a couple of years (I’ve heard an average working time of 6 years for a programmer, but don’t have any sources on that) simply because they value other things: friends, family, a nice vacation.
• The distrust in academia may be deserved. Academia teach people that they know better, and even if that’s true, better is not always the best way. Following the form of the company may be better. From some of the talks I feel there’s also a misunderstanding in what research is. The talked about that they use academic papers, but usually about ten year old papers building upon them and going in other directions. This I see a lot, and i believe there’s nothing wrong with it! This is not about research going in the wrong direction, it’s about research being ahead. The things done in research environment’s isn’t directly applicable on today’s technology, if it was it would be engineering, not research. Research is looking ahead, creating the new, and in ten years from now the same people will find the greatest papers and implement them, probably in a bit different direction.
• And, finally, the knowledge and unspecialization (yes, it’s a word!): There’s a connection. It may be true the industry wants specialists, but academic education is not only for industry, it’s also for the students. A lot of people don’t end up in the game design field, but they do end up in jobs, and often in jobs they like. In these jobs they need more than a specialist education. Also, a large part of gaming industry is small companies, of course the big ones want specialists, but there’s a much bigger chance of becoming a web page or mobile app developer in a company with five employees, and then you really need your broad education! After a four year university education you should not end up a code-monkey, or at least you should not be educated to become one. You should have a bigger understanding, you are by then well educated in researching and solving problems, even if they’re outside of your main field. Even if that’s your way into the industry you should have an understanding that will help you in the bigger picture . And, by that, we’re back on distrust in academia. But maybe it’s not really about distrust, maybe it’s more of a misunderstanding of it’s purpose.

And, as I said before: Add your comments and show your view! I’ll especially like to hear about the passion – work time conflict. Does it still exist? Have you felt it? How do you deal with it? Also I’d like to hear a bit of your views on the importance of extra, out of school, projets during your education!

A
Addled: Mad, insane, or just stupid. An ”addlepate” is a fool.
Aft: Short for ”after.” Toward the rear of the ship.
Ahoy: ”Hello!”
Ahoy, Matey: Hail, fellow sailor.
Argh: The most important word in any pirate’s vocabulary. This word is used to punctuate any sentence and should be liberally sprinkled throughout the dialogue.
Avast!: ”Hey!” Could be used as ”Stop that!” or ”Who goes there?”
Aye: Yes or any other affirmative reply.

And the list continues:

B
Begad!: By God!
Belay: Stop that. ”Belay that talk!” would mean ”Shut up!”
Belaying pin: A short wooden rod to which a ship’s rigging is secured. A common improvised weapon aboard a sailing ship, because they’re everywhere, they’re easily picked up, and they are the right size and weight to be used as clubs.
Bilge!: Nonsense, or foolish talk. The bilges of a ship are the lowest parts, inside the hull along the keel. They fill with stinking bilgewater — or just ”bilge.”
Bilge-sucking: A very uncomplimentary adjective.
Black Spot: To ”place the Black Spot” on another pirate is to sentence him to death, to warn him he is marked for death, or sometimes just to accuse him of a serious crime before other pirates.
Blimey!: An exclamation of surprise.
Blow the man down: To kill someone.
Booty: Goods obtained illegally.
Bosun: Boatswain; a petty officer.
Bounty: Reward or payment, usually from a government, for the capture of a criminal.
Bow: The front of the ship.
Brethren of the Coast: The Caribbean buccaneers called themselves by this name in the 1640-1680 period. During this time, they actually formed a sort of fraternity, and did not (usually) fight each other or even steal from each other. After 1680, a new generation of pirates appeared, who did not trust each other . . . with good reason.
Broadside: All the guns on one side of a ship, also shots fired by that line of guns.
Bring ‘er alongside: Command to bring ships side to side for boarding.
Briny deep: The ocean. Probably no pirate in all history ever used this phrase, but don’t let that stop you, especially if you can roll the R in ”briny”!
Buccaneer: Pirates who menaced the Spanish of the Caribbean.
Bucko: Familiar term. ”Me bucko” = ”my friend.”

C
Cap’n: Short for ”captain.”
Careening: Turning a ship on its side so that it can be cleaned; making the ship faster in the water – or repaired. During careening all weapons are brought ashore and the ship and pirates are vulneralble.
Cat-of-nine-tails: A type of whip often used by captains to punish and enforce his authority.
Chain Shot: Two cannonballs chained together and aimed high to destroy masts and rigging.
Chandler, or ship-chandler: see Sutler.
Chase: The ship being pursued. ”The chase is making full sail, sir” = ”The ship we’re after is going as fast as she can.”
Chest: Traditional treasure container.

Corsair: Pirates of the Mediterranean.
Crow’s nest: A small platform, sometimes enclosed, near the top of a mast, where a lookout could have a better view when watching for sails or for land.
Cutlass: A curved sword, like a saber but heavier. Traditional pirate weapon. Has only one cutting edge; may or may not have a useful point.

D
Dance the hempen jig: To hang.
Davy Jones’ locker: The bottom of the sea.
Deadlights: Eyes. ”Use yer deadlights, matey!”
Dead men tell no tales: Standard pirate excuse for leaving no survivors.
Dog: A mild insult, perhaps even a friendly one.
Doubloon: A Spanish gold coin. At different times, it was worth either 4 or 16 silver pesos, or ”pieces of eight.”

F
Feed the fish: What you do when you are thrown into the sea, dead or alive.
Flogging: Punishment by caning, or by whipping with the cat.
Fore, or forrard: Toward the front end of the ship.
Freebooter: Another name for a pirate or buccaneer.

G
Galleon: a large sailing ship with three or more masts.  Used as a warship or merchant ship.
Gangway!: ”Get out of my way!”
Gibbet Cage: Chains in which the corpses of pirates were hung and displayed in order to discourage piracy in others.
Grog: Generically, any alcoholic drink. Specifically, rum diluted with water to make it go farther.
Grub: Food.
Gun: A cannon.

H
Hands: The crew of a ship; sailors.
Handsomely: Quickly. ”Handsomely now, men!” = ”Hurry up!”
Hang ‘im from the yardarm: Pirate phrase for punishment for shipmates of captured prisoners.
Hang the jib: To pout or frown.
Heave-To: To come to a halt.
Hempen Halter: The hangman’s noose.
Hornswaggle: To cheat.

J
Jack Ketch: The hangman. To dance with Jack Ketch is to hang.
Jack Tar, or tar: A sailor.
Jollyboat: A small but happy craft, perhaps even one which is a little dinghy.
Jolly Roger: The pirates’ skull-and-crossbones flag (Each ship’s was different). It was an invitation to surrender, with the implication that those who surrendered would be treated well. A red flag indicated ”no quarter.”

K
Keelhaul: Punishment by dragging under the ship, from one side to the other. The victim of a keelhauling would be half-drowned, or worse, and lacerated by the barnacles that grew beneath the ship.
Kiss the gunner’s daughter: A punishment: to be bent over one of the ship’s guns and flogged.

L
Lad, lass, lassie: A way to address someone younger than you.
Landlubber or just lubber: A non-sailor.
Letters of Marque: Papers issued by a national government during wartime, entitling a privately owned ship to raid enemy commerce, or even attack enemy warships. Early letters of reprisal were issued to merchants to make it legal for them to counter-raid pirates! A ship bearing such letters, and operating within their limits, is a privateer rather than a pirate . . . that is, a legal combatant rather than a criminal and murderer. The problem is that letters of marque aren’t always honored, even by the government that issued them. Captain Kidd had letters of marque; his own country hanged him anyway.
Lights: Lungs. A pirate might threaten to ”have someone’s lights and liver.”
Line: A rope in use as part of the ship’s rigging, or as a towing line. When a rope is just coiled up on deck, not yet being used for anything, it’s all right to call it a rope.
Lookout: Someone posted to keep watch on the horizon for other ships or signs of land.
Loot: Gold, money, or other goods obtained illegally.

M
Maroon: A fairly common punishment for violation of a pirate ship’s articles, or offending her crew. The victim was left on a deserted coast (or, of course, an island) with little in the way of supplies. That way, no one could say that the unlucky pirate had actually been killed by his former brethren.
Matey: A piratical way to address someone in a cheerful, if not necessarily friendly, fashion.
Me: Used in place of my or mine.
Me hearties: Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew.
Moidore: a type of Portuguese gold coin.
Mutiny: To rise against authority, particularly a naval or military power.

N
Nelson’s Folly: Rum.
No prey, no pay: Crew received no wages, but shared in whatever loot was taken.

O
On the Account: The piratical life. A man who went ”on the account” was turning pirate.

P
Piece of eight: A Spanish silver coin worth one peso or 8 reales. It was sometimes literally cut into eight pieces, each worth one real.
Pirate: A person who robs or commits illegal violence at sea not in possession of Letters of Marque or reprisal. Contrast with privateer.
Plunder: The act of pillaging or robbery.
Poop deck: The highest deck at the aft end of a large ship. Smaller ships don’t have a poop; the highest part aft is the quarterdeck.
Port: (1) A seaport. (2) When facing the bow (forward), the left side of the ship. Also called Larboard.
Poxy, poxed: Diseased. Used as an insult.
Privateer: A ship bearing letters of marque (q.v.), or one of her crew, or her captain. Thus, she can only attack an enemy ship, and only in time of war, but does so as a representative of her country. A privateer is theoretically a law-abiding combatant, and entitled to be treated as an honorable prisoner if captured.
Prow: The ”nose” of the ship.

Q
Quarter: Mercy given to those defeated.

R
Red Ensign: The British flag.
Reef: (1) An underwater obstruction of rock or coral which can tear the bottom out of a ship. (2) To reef sails is to shorten them, tying them partially up, either to slow the ship or to keep a strong wind from putting too much strain on the masts.
Rope’s end: another term for flogging. ”Ye’ll meet the rope’s end for that, me bucko!”
Rum (noun): Traditional pirate drink.
Rum (adjective): Strange or odd. A ”rum fellow” is a peculiar person, the sort who won’t say ”Arrrr!” on Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Run a rig: To play a trick.

S
Sail ho!: ”I see a ship!” The sail, of course, is the first part of a ship visible over the horizon.
Salmagundi: A favorite dish on a pirate ship.  Name is from French salemine – highly seasoned or salted. ”Included might be any or all of the following: turtle meat, fish, pork, chicken, corned beef, ham, duck, and pigeon.  The meats would be roasted, chopped into pieces and marinated in spiced wine, then mixed with cabbage, anchovies, pickled herring, mangoes, hard-boiled eggs, palm hearts, onions, olives, grapes, and any other pickled vegetables available.  The entire concoction would then be highly seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, and mustard seed and soaked with oil and vinegar.”
Salt, old salt: An experienced seaman.
Scallywag: A villainous or mischievous person.
Scourge of the seven seas: An extremely evil pirate.
Scuppers: Openings along the edges of a ship’s deck that allow water on deck to drain back to the sea rather than collecting in the bilges. ”Scupper that!” is an expression of anger or derision: ”Throw that overboard!”
Scuttle: To sink.
Scurvy: (1) A deficiency disease which often afflicted sailors; it was caused by lack of vitamin C. (2) A derogatory adjective suitable for use in a loud voice, as in ”Ye scurvy dogs!”
Sea dog: An experienced seaman.
Shanty: Another spelling for ”chantey” – a sea song.
Shark bait: (1) Your foes, who are about to feed the fish (q.v.). (2) A worthless or lazy sailor; a lubber who is no use aboard ship.
Shipshape: Well-organized, under control, finished.
Shiver me timbers: Phrase expressing surprise or strong emotion.
Sink me!: An expression of surprise.
Smartly: Quickly. ”Smartly there, men!” = ”Hurry up!”
Six Pounders: Cannons.
Sloop: Sailing vessel with perpendicular for and aft rigging.
Spanish Main: Refers to the South American coast – today’s Panama, Colombia, and part of Western Venezuela.  In the early 16th century the Spanish called the land Terra Firma (the Mainland) and when translated into English it was known as the Spanish Mainland – shortened by the English to Spanish Main.
Splice the mainbrace: To have a drink. Or, perhaps, several drinks. Spyglass: A telescope.
Starboard: When facing the bow (forward), the right side of the ship.
Sutler: A merchant in port, selling the various things that a ship needed for supplies and repairs.
Swab (noun): A disrespectful term for a seaman. ”Man that gun, ye cowardly swabs!”
Swab (verb): To clean something. Being put to ”swabbing the decks” would be a low-level punishment for a disobedient pirate.
Swag: Loot.

V
Vice-Admiralty Courts: In the British colonies, they held trials and made decisions regarding maritme issues.

W
Walk the plank: A piratical execution. The victim, usually blindfolded or with bound hands or both, is forced to walk along a plank laid over the ship’s side, to fall into the water below. Except this seems to be a total invention; it first appeared in 19th-century fiction, long after the great days of piracy.
Weigh anchor: To haul the anchor up; more generally, to leave port.

Y
Ye: Used in place of you.
Yo-ho-ho: A very piratical thing to say, whether it actually means anything or not.

Yesterday was the reception party. Some fun stuff and some nice people to talk to. I especially I liked to finally be able to play Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally Okay Now, or for short B.U.T.T.O.N. from Copenhagen Game Collective. I’ve seen it online before and really like how the game rules is moved from the game console out into the social space.

After introduction and a keynote from Eric Zimmerman, today begun with a Ph.D.-workshop on investigating games and play. Two hours of intense work and one minute madness presentations lead to some new thoughts around my thesis. Focus of the discussion was on ludic attitude as not necessarily fun, and why people choose to engage in them anyway. A new angle of thoughts and a new acquaintance is good work for two hours!

Interesting moments in the afternoon was a Panel on Research Practice, and Social Dynamics. In my opinion the focus was a bit to high on how research can be useful for the industry. Not that strange maybe, since thats where a large part of money comes from, but a more pressing issue is how research can function for itself, when industry is such a big part of it and lies so close.

Further a keynote by Reiner Knizia, right after eating lunch with him. Actually I think the lunch gave me more thoughts, it’s quite obvious that he left his research career behind him, but it’s nice to get an inside into how one of the greatest board game designers proceed with his work.

Finally a panel on boardgames and how they are interesting for the game studies. Really interesting, with views from some of the names I relly like (yes, I know, I’m a fanboy when it comes to boardgame design). Afterwords I got to speak a bit with James Wallis, inventor of the Indy Role-Playing Game the Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Münchausen, and Andrew Sheerin, the man behind War on Terror the Boardgame.

Finally a couple of beers with “the Norwegians”. Nice day, nice evening, long day. Now tired and time to res. There’s a day tomorrow as well…