Steven Savage – Page 307

Civic Diary 7/24/2016: Principles, News, Trump, Information

July 24, 2016 by Steven Savage

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Another busy week for me – I had some classes at work. My pretty awesome boss pointed me at them, so not only did I get important management training, I now have to take a test because these people aren’t messing around. However it meant Monday and Tuesday were solid work, along with most of Wednesday.

But hey, I got some Civic activity to talk about. For those of you new here, I’m documenting my experiences in being more engaged as a citizen, inspired by Anil Dash.

Civic Engagement

Right now I’m sort of on hold in getting involved in Election 2016 due to the conventions – which means everyone is focused on watching them, getting ready for what’s after them, and in the case of the Republicans, apparently wondering what the hell happened. I’ve got my contacts lined up with the right local groups and political parties, and in a bit over a week will be going to a huge networking event to find what I can do for 2016. Sort of glad to have sorted that out – but as noted if you want to get politically involved it’s not always clear how. I’ve found that, unless you want a random angry mob of people, a lot of political organizations that aren’t special interest (unions, professional associations) really recruit from the choir.

Pretty sure part of my future in politics is recruiting.

Also, more and more thinking on the idea of being on the city council advisors for my city. My local library is doing a Pokewalk, how can I not love a place like this?

Communication

I finished The Little Book Of Revolution, a great book on how we need to engage people in personal political discussion. Despite my gift of gab, I’m not that great at political discussion because I’m very results-oriented not framing oriented, so the book was quite valuable. I see how I can work with people better as opposed to coming off as . . . well, a well-meaning project manager. Which is what I am.

One major takeaway from the book is the need for people to understand their own political philosophies and frames, which is very rare. If you don’t know where you’re coming from and how to interact with people as part of a picture, how do you talk to them? So one thing I want to do is sit down and think over and clarify my own politics – which I might do here.

Confucius once described something called “making your stand,” which seemed to fit this – the phase in your life where you have a comprehensive philosophy. I think we all need that. If we have it, we need to be sure we’re good at discussing it.

News

Remember how I’ve gone on about the importance of following the news? Well when you do and find things like Trump has assorted ties to Russia? That it seems he’s financially dependent on Russian interests? Yeah. This is why you follow the news as a citizen.

I feel we’ve lost the idea of the sophisticated, informed, practical citizen. Sure it was an ideal, but now too often it’s an act, someone acting informed when all their ideas come from a conspiracy website or some media hack. Being informed is hard work. And a bit depressing.

You also have to act on it.

There’s your takeaways. Get involved (and it takes time), learn to communicate, and follow the damn news.

May not have much more this week as its busy, but I’m guessing after next week it’s gonna get interesting.

– Steve

No Man’s Sky: Documentary And More

July 19, 2016 by Steven Savage

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

As we eagerly await the drop of No Man’s Sky (OK, I am, but considering my hobbies it’s not surprising), I noticed a thread on reddit discussing the desire for a documentary on the game. I wanted to address this and more.

In short, as I expect NMS to be successful, and certainly groundbreaking even if flawed, and yes, it’s one we should know more about.

But a documentary is just the start of what we should see.

Yes, We Need a Documentary: The game itself has an impressive history, and it’d be great to see it documented. A good documentary should go beyond just the history, but also to the influences and impact – from 70’s concept art to he modern hype. There’s a great story to tell here if done right (and Hello Games could probably make more money selling one).

Management Interview: I deeply treasure the development interviews I read in Game Informer, as I learned a lot from them that I use to this day. I want to see an in-depth discussion in Game Informer if not a professional management magazine on just how Hello Games pulled this off.

Artbook: There’s tempting concept art we’ve seen, so let’s load it all into one book, have interviews with the artists, and sell it. Yes, again more money for Hello Games, but also the artistic insights that could be gained would be impressive. Plus, great coffee table or gift book.

Procedural Lessons: After making NMS, Hello Games teams could probably teach classes in procedural generation. So, do it! Imagine what people could learn with such folks as instructors.

Fandom Study: I’m expecting a huge impact from the game – not Minecraft level, but still intense. I’ve seen the hype, seen fans creating artworks and even role-playing. I’d love to see the fans studied respectfully if it is indeed the hit I expect. Great for general or academia.

So that’s what I want to see come out of NMS documentarianism (there’s a word). Things that will teach us something.

What do you want to see?

– Steve

Curb My Enthusiasm: TF2, Overwatch, PokemonGo, and Work

July 16, 2016 by Steven Savage

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

I should be really enthused about games right now.

TF2, which I adore, has added ranking and competition along with smooth new interfaces. Games feel they’re taken a bit more seriously now, as opposed to SwagBag420 dancing around his sentry.

Overwatch, which is amazing, is here. It’s got competitive mode and casual mode and great gameplay. It’s got a new character coming.

PokemonGo realizes many of my ideas of augmented reality and socialized gaming. Also it’s Pokemon and it’s highly social.

Except . . . I’m not feeling that enthusiastic about any of them. This is probably a phase, but I realized it said something about me, games, and recreation.

All of these games, for lack of a better word, involve resource and people management. TF2 may require teamwork, but Overwatch’s whole rock-paper-scissors type mechanic means teamwork is overwhelmingly important. PokemonGo is social and can involve various rival gyms and factions – and management.

And lately, busy at work, where I’d probably want to game, I find myself less enthused about two beloved games and one interesting take on the franchise. I should be interested and I’m not. Then, I realized why.

Because these games are about what I do in real life.

I manage people. I direct resources. I’m used to charging forwad, goal-driven, with a team behind me (or me behind them). Work’s been pretty busy lately, and that in turn means the games that I like to escape with . . . seem a bit to much like what I do for a living.

This is weirder to me as I love games that play to my strengths – especially resource management and planning things. I love games with people. But when I have enough of that at work . . . I don’t want it as much in my games.

Moreso, a lot of these games feel “workish” anyway. PokemonGo has things constantly happening in the real world. Game wiht a team of friends in TF2 or Overwatch and people will inevitably want to play competitive – and TF2’s casual mode still has its leveling. The games are a bit too close to my job right now, and then a bit too workish anyway.

It’s a strange thing to feel and I’m curious to what happens to my interests anyway. I feel a bit bad as I haven’t gamed with various friends online from anywhere from a month to a week and there’s a strange sense of guilt about it. But really fun things that happen to be like my job – and like work – in all the wrong ways is a new one on me.

I assume as work calms down my mind will change. Heck I sort of want to force myself to play. But for now I feel like I peered around a corner into some demographic issues that could be explored more.

When are fun thngs too much like other things to be fun? What does tht mean for the audience?

– Steve