Way With Worlds: It Comes Apart – Conflicts And The World

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war ruins city bombed

(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)

So there’s a reason I covered humans (and human-alikes) and the psychology of conflict first. Characters and their institutions are often the causes of conflicts – and characters are the lenses through which players/readers experience your world. We have to think about them first in the case of worldbuilding because it gives us the right perspective.

But with that said, you need something to get your cast to engage in (or prevent) atrocities. What are he drivers and elements that create wars and conflicts?

Again, it’s often a matter of perspective. Which is the problem in fiction – and come to think of it real life as well . . .

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Link Roudup 12/31/2014

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Culture

  • Silicon valley is a hall of mirrors – The whole idea of meritocracy in Silicon Valley is seen as a bit of a joke, and this column further meditates on the idea.  Living there I can attest that though I love it, there’s definite tunnel vision of people promoting people like them.

Economics

  • The Oil crash shows vulnerabilities in Texas (an other economies) – I’ve been skeptical about the Texas miracle, and this column lays out the flaws in that statement.  For TLDR, Texas was propped up by oil, a regressive tax plan meant less services (and gravel roads), and it’s not looking good.  As Texas has hopes for being a tech hub, I’d say those hopes are now in danger.

 

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

An Interview With Liz Gmaz Of Studio Cosplay

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Top Left: Sabrina (Katilist) Maizland Top Right: Liz Gmaz Bottom Left: Stefanie Hackenberg Bottom Right: Daria Medved
Top Left: Sabrina (Katilist) Maizland
Top Right: Liz Gmaz
Bottom Left: Stefanie Hackenberg
Bottom Right: Daria Medved
We’re familiar with hackerspaces and makerspaces here at Musehack – but a Cosplayspace?  Yep, meet Studio Cosplay, which is opening a community workshop in 2015, located in Washington DC.  An entire space for a community to cosplay, share ideas, and work together.  A fusion of geek skills and geek community?  I’m there with an interview.
Let’s meet Liz Gmaz, the president of Studio Cosplay, and one of the people making this dream a reality.

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