This cover video is an excellent example of the vision for this blog. Chrissy Costanza does it again with her band. This video does not feature Alex Goot or the usual suspects. The credits to this video goes solely to the Against The Current group. From the box seat drums to the in-home decorated studio, this production is superb. Chrissy’s voice is strong and offers an alternative to Taylor Swift’s original arrangement. This was a cover video that helped me appreciate the song even more after it was introduced. Instead of watching Taylor Swift for four minutes in a high-end film production, this band provides variety.
So, it’s been a few weeks and I haven’t updated in awhile. I’ve got a solid number of game events that have happened to me, but I’ve wanted to wait for the right topic to talk about. That perfect story. Some things that didn’t make the cut of posts this year include:
♠ – The FOUR Magic: The Gathering “expedition lands” I’ve pulled this year. That includes an definition of the expeditions for those new to Magic, why they are worth so much, and how ridiculous it is that I pulled four. I traded away three to my friend Charlie, and he’s matched their MSRP value for useful cards that I can use to play the game. I kind of felt dirty posting this, since it would just be me bragging that I got very lucky finding four expeditions out of their packaging. However, I may be convinced to write this without gloating.
♣ – The TWO Magic: The Gathering booster drafts I’ve done this year. For one, this includes a beginner’s explanation of what a booster draft is. For another, it includes draft footage of my drafting of the “Origins” set of Magic. The footage looks quite amateurish and unfocused at times, so I’ve held off posting it. When I get time to edit it and condense it into my best five minutes, maybe I’ll post it.
♥ – The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition I played THIS weekend. It was a campaign based on a setting in Magic called Innistrad, but also my first experience playing 5th Edition by the official player rules. The campaign’s called “Army of the Damned”, you can check it out here on it’s Reddit Page . Likewise, it was my first time using the site Roll20, which was a trip in itself. I want to write a little about it each week as our party progresses.
Notice a theme? Yeah, I have a little bit of a Magic Addiction, but honestly, Magic is a fantastic game which can lend its story and characters into a variety of tabletop games, not just its mainstay TWENTY-THREE year-running card game. Maybe talking about that is a post in itself?
So you see, I’m not gone, just busy with classes and not sure which of any of this to write about. Here’s to more gaming in summer of 2016!
-Tmex
So an update after being dark for over two months: This semester I am taking a class in videogames and I’d like to post some responses I do for class on the theory of games. This does not mean I will be switching to talking about videogames now. This first one is in response to theory author by the name of Roger Caillois called “Man, Play, and Games” give it a look:
The aspects of games in Roger Caillois’ Man, Play, and Games are elements like competitiveness, chance, vertigo, and simulation to describe how they engage the player. In order, the element of competitiveness (or agon) involves rivalry, chance (alea) uses luck, vertigo (ilinx) describes momentous excitement, and simulation (mimicry) represents acting or taking on a role. The text was particularly interesting in how these elements interact in six ways, but I have focused on the four most interesting to me. In the intersection of competitiveness and luck, Caillois describes how the Ancient Romans understood that “quantification and the spirit of precision” allow “free reign to agon and alea in the rules of games”. Romans both accepted the fatalist inevitability of luck and the desire to maximize their chance of winning as aspects of games. Likewise, there was understanding that competitiveness and simulation or vertigo was also present to spectators in the form of “identification”, or feeling the excitement of two rivals clash and identifying with their styles of play. The intersection that seemed the most mysterious and fascinating to me was simulation and vertigo, involving role playing, or “masks and uniforms” which players use to simulate a role within their “magic circle”, where an audience and their fellow players take pleasure from pretending they are a character.
As a player of the card game Magic: The Gathering, I found that these four elements are prevalent in several stereotypical player behaviors. There are four behaviors that Magic lead designer Mark Rosewater and the Magic R&D team have identified. These include the pro-player who, “ just want to win” called “Spike” who represent agon to the creative simulative players who “want to win in the most creative, fun, and convoluted way” called “Johnny” as well as the similar profile of the player who “wants the thrill of playing strong and fun cards” known as “Timmy”. I wish that Caillois would have discussed how these elements found in Man, Play, and Games as they related to the preferences of different players as well as the games they are found in and the periods of history when they were popular.
So I had an interesting Holiday season. It was jam-packed with family, amazing food, booze and trying to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend before I don’t see him for 4 & 1/2 months. Oh and someone stole my parents baby Jesus.
See, every year my parents put up this really nice nativity on our front lawn. I’m talking realistic figures…Mary, Joseph, even farm animals, the whole sha-bang. Including a wooden nativity structure that was originally supposed to be a dog house but my brother gave up halfway through construction.
Now, my parents don’t put out the very realistic football sized baby Jesus until Christmas because technically that’s his birthday. four days go by, FOUR DAYS, and then poof Jesus has vanished, he left as quickly as he arrived.
My mother thinks he got up and left because my family and I were playing Cards Against Humanity on Christmas (if you don’t know what that game is, here is an explanation) and Jesus heard the cards we played, got up and ran away from our house as fast as possible. I think it was those middle school punks that live in my neighborhood. two years ago they took my neighbor’s reindeer and put them in very…um promiscuous positions.
Anyway, two days pass and Jesus was still nowhere to be found. My brother suggested my dad file a police report because you can’t just buy another baby Jesus, it’s not like Walmart the day after Christmas where you can buy ornaments and candy half-off. They don’t have bargain bins for baby Jesus “Christ belated-birthday discount: 60% off!” He’d have to buy a whole new nativity scene ad they are pricey.
The cop drives over to my house and my dad shows him the nativity and explains how baby Jesus is missing and the cop looks at my dad then asks, “Can you please describe his appearance?”
I wasn’t a witness to this interaction but when my dad told me I lost it! Just the fact that the police had to be informed about a missing baby Jesus, how ridiculous is that?
Over a month later and baby Jesus is still missing but we are keeping our eyes peeled.
