My version of the Secret Meme

 So, I'm going to do the Secret meme.

BUT, because it's a SECRET, I'm going to do it WITHOUT KNOWING ANY OF THE QUESTIONS!



1. Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits.
2. Answer one question with one name.
3. Don't tell the questions to anyone not doing the meme.
4. To DO the meme, comment and I'll send you the details.

1. roseembolism
2. racerxmachina
3. umm...devonapple?
4. Hmm. Tough one. anam_moon.
5. palecur, it's time for you to step up!
6. Am I twitchy enough to put ronebofh  on this one? Of course I am.
7. james_nicoll 
8. Neil Gaiman
9. Dorothy, my cat
10. baronlaw , it’s YOUR turn! Don’t blame me!
11. Summer Glau. Or Gleeson. Or whatever her name is.
12. David Bowie, on the half shell.
13. Yes!
14. Gee, that’s a little…personal, don’t you think?
15. Only with a lot of alcohol. 
16. projectrooftop 
17. Khrushchev and Kennedy
18. Hey! It’s Buckaroo Banzaii!
19. No! Absolutely, positively…well, OK.
20. And Sean Connery best as James Bond.
21. deirdremoon , who is just in here because one of her selves insisted on being here.
22. FNORD
23. Emma Thompson as Ms. Peel
24. Honestly, I think McCain’s selection of Palin was a strategic attempt to circumvent his weaknesses, and build up his base.
25. grandmoffdavid , and I dare you to tell me any differently!
26. We can’t stop here, this is bat country!
27. Insert some random LJ user I've never heard of.
28. “Number 9, Number 9, Number 9”
29. slothman .  In the morning, in the garden, with pinking sheers.  Have seconds ready.
30. rataplan, rataplan

The Chronophage Clock!

I so want this clock in my living room, to eat all that wasted time I have lying around.

Characters and the non-pursuit of happiness

It's interesting to see how a single LARP can place a nuance onto my larger gaming attitudes.

For instance, I have been reading a thread recently, where some gamer pundit was decrying demihuman characters as simply humans with different features and cultural traits exaggerated. This is all something I've heard before, and while I disagreed somewhat, I could see where he was coming from. Until he continued with this:

"Humans are fundamentally motivated by happiness; we do things to be happy and our ethics revolves around making sure other people are happy too. Replace happiness with something else, such as leisure or gameplay, and a completely different worldview and ethics results; something that is genuinely alien."

I was surprised by how viscerally I reacted to that statement.  So much so, that I had to step back and consider why (besides it's simplistic nature) I rejected that idea so vehemently.

And then I thought, "Oh yeah. Geist."

Because Geist was not motivated by happiness. He was about honor before life, accepting fate, and seeing through a curse he laid upon himself. He was even about love and fealty. But not happiness.

And that gave me a useful bit of insight into how culture and personality will triumph stereotypes about basic nature. It will help me make my characters all the more individual in the future I hope.

In the future, I think it will be valuable to keep in mind these questions:
What does he need
What does he want
What does he love
What does he hate
What does he fear
What is he willing to give away, and for what
What will he hold on to at all costs.

In the LARP, I was surprised by some of the answers I came up with. I'm looking forward to being surprised again. And that's one of the best things I can say about any game.