Berkeley Daily Planet recently posted what a good faith effort to separate the “bad” religious believers from the “good” religious believers.

The letter is a waste of time and effort. As long as people are willing to replant reason for the lack of it, we will continue to have prejudiced people.

Let’s look at the points…

“One: True religions value all human life.” No true religions value the believer over others - it’s an extremely effective meme that propigates itself.

“Two: True religions honor genuine holiness.” True religions create the fictious concept of holy and (see #1 above) their holiness is more holy than your holiness.

“Three: True religions honor God, Goddess…” My religion doesn’t recognize your heathen Goddess so DIE HERETIC!!

You get the point. The rest is mumbo-jumbo pablum for stupid people.

There’s plenty of ways that faith is good: faith in one’s self to deal with life’s challenges is important. Faith in our families to support us during trying times is necessary… faith that humans will overcome adversity in a variety of faces.

But to go on and make believe in gods is what causes Earth-centric solar systems and descending from non-belly buttoned fig-leaf wearing homo sapiens.

All the author is doing is placing a value judgement on religions, and in the midst of all these jerks, who’s going to notice ONE MORE VALUE JUDGEMENT on an system of societal control that masquerades as a series of VALUE JUDGEMENTS.

Over at Broken Toys, a gauntlet has been thrown on how one would design a BG MMO. Lots of good ideas, but none of them really stood out in my mind as a game I’d want to play as BattleStar Galactica. Thus, being a know-it-all myself, I’ve let myself go wild on this.

I created the following game design with one thought in mind: Remain True to the Show. Having seen games based on everything from movies to fandom muds, I’m always amazed at how we repeat the same errors over and over: levels, hit points, stats, giving players control where in the Intellectual Property (IP) there is none, creation of fictious roles. And games that challenge those ideas are percieved to not be “FUN” enough to be a commercial success. Key points: a Battlestar Galactica that is progress quest based treadmilling is denying what is GREAT about the show.

Restraints are often seen in movies and television as good things - they keep costs down. In games, they’re bad because if you don’t shoot for the moon, then if you get to the 75% to the end goal of a game development and a new CEO/Director/Marketing Schlub wants to shoe-horn a new feature in, by the time you launch it unbalances the game, is poorly QA’d, and disturbs the developers.

Thus, I propose a 100% canon MMO. Nothing in the MMO cannot be created that wasn’t in or directly implied by the series. Here’s the restraints I’d put on myself:

The game is not a physics, RPG, collision detection engine: the game is a story generator that has a physics collision detection engine it. Just as Battlestar Galactica series isn’t about the special EFX and explosions and computer generated Cylons, the Battlestar Galactica MMO isn’t about the physics/rpg/resolution-toys, it’s about the story. If you don’t get that, you shouldn’t be designing the game.

Each week or two of game play would be mapped to episodic content of the series - as time passes on the show, time would pass on the MMO. As events occur with the series, we would script events on the MMO. I would fight during the contract process to create some synergy with the writers to make sure that the MMO isn’t breaking canon and to have them slip some events that happen off-screen that can be played through by players, say 6 times a year. Also, if the original talent doesn’t sign the contract to provide voice talent, I probably wouldn’t sign the deal. It’s an all-or-nothing.

An example: during Colonel Tigh’s dictatorship (in the first season?), there’s references to other ships not giving supplies to the Galactica. The players would be involved with resolving those conflicts - either by force or otherwise.

Quick points
1. No one would KNOW if they were a Cylon or not. The paranoia and PKDickian ideal of “self” is important to the BG series, if I am not a Cylon, is one of my friends? I would create several storylines that weave this in. Also, some PLAYERS will be Cylons and I’d follow the “Sharon” storyline - at first, they’d be accused of something they didn’t do, then slowly come to realize they ARE a Cylon - or they’d be activated and given a command to perform sabotage. However, I would also guarantee that every player gets at least ONE “am I a cylon?” plot.

2. The rewards are based on which characters you interact with: no leveling, stats are minimal. Bottomline, you are invited to roleplay in this game, not power-game.

3. Every paying customer could have ONE and only ONE pilot on a server. Keeping true to series, the callsign will be given to you during your flight instruction, you cant choose it. Everyone will want at least one pilot - and this will reflect the lack of resources. Callsigns given by Apollo or Starbuck will have more value that a callsign you choose. If you pass flight school - taught by Starbuck - then you can be a pilot. If you fail flight school, then you are not a pilot.

4. Death is death. Death is integral to the BSG IP. Mourning and grief are an active portion of the game. Every player will have a family left behind and/or dead on the colonies. Treat a death with respect and anything less will cause a lack of respect for the game. The goal is that you’re going to be given opportunities to go out gloriously. More importantly, if you’re a player and die so that you compatriots can live, you’ll be remembered.

Basic Play
Play resolution, with the exception of specific parts (say flight or FPS combat) would have a game mini-toy, similar to the Indigo Prophesy style of resolution. Generic enough to work for multiple uses in the game, but specific peices would definitely fall into FPS mode. The difference, I would guess, is that there would be other minigame resolution except for flying - that would be a standard WASD/Joystick.

The role/class system would be a meritocracy: you either have the skills to be a: Pilot (Starbuck), Marine (?), Operations (Petty Officer D), Technical (), Diplomat (Billy), Scientist (), Preist () or Journalist(). These roles would govern what you have access to (ships, flight deck, etc.)

Game Content
For every several episodes, the MMO would have events, such as the nuclear strike, or the Cylon invasion. In fact, I wouldn’t sign a contract that doesn’t allow us to closely match events that occur in the system

The game plot would be broken into 4 parts:
1. How you got into the fleet: were you on a diplomatic mission, a trader, in jail, etc?

2. 33 minutees - for a server/shard to get free of the Cylons, ALL of the players would have to have a number of successes until the event with the suicide nuke ship occurred. This gate will become the standard of resolving plots. Gathering resources for the fleet becomes a major driver in the plot.

3. What side have you joined - are you pro-military or pro-government or (for the lack of a nicer word) pro-journalist (muck raker) or the Criminal element? Your loyalty will be tested.

4. Family, friends and romantic interest. Call me a bit of a girl here, but developing relationship where you have to choose between duty and friendship will be deciding factors.

==

So that’s the MMO - what’s wrong with it? Everything. People will whine about their characters dying. People will whine about how there’s not enough action. But then, done right - with the same risks of the series - I think we could build something pretty spectacular.

So, what else could be done as a “PUNT” process? For example, instead of striking out on the new territory, what can we build that reduces game development risk and improves our chances that marketing schleps will understand.

BF2 meets Battlestar: there have been several large combat situations that could be used a “map”.

BattleStarcraft a la Homeworld space combat - this is the easiest solution I can think of. Cylon vs. Colonial. It’s a bit dry, but get’s the job done, and you can follow the BSG story exactly + easy multiplayer.

Find me a dead cloud
and a sharp piece of science
I want to see the skeleton
of weather
And let me map
all maps we have mistaken for the world
And learn by heart the timetable of dice
And in our clutching, self-invented steps see
An accidental grace
A choreography
– Alan Moore (1990)

The above comes from a failed (but incredibly successful book) called Big Numbers.

And from my favorite: Robert Frost’s Departmental (1936)

An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
His business wasn’t with such.
He gave it scarcely a touch,
And was off on his duty run.
Yet if he encountered one
Of the hive’s enquiry squad
Whose work is to find out God
And the nature of time and space,
He would put him onto the case.
Ants are a curious race;
One crossing with hurried tread
The body of one of their dead
Isn’t given a moment’s arrest-
Seems not even impressed.
But he no doubt reports to any
With whom he crosses antennae,
And they no doubt report
To the higher-up at court.
Then word goes forth in Formic:
“Death’s come to Jerry McCormic,
Our selfless forager Jerry.
Will the special Janizary
Whose office it is to bury
The dead of the commissary
Go bring him home to his people.
Lay him in state on a sepal.
Wrap him for shroud in a petal.
Embalm him with ichor of nettle.
This is the word of your Queen.”
And presently on the scene
Appears a solemn mortician;
And taking formal position,
With feelers calmly atwiddle,
Seizes the dead by the middle,
And heaving him high in air,
Carries him out of there.
No one stands round to stare.
It is nobody else’s affair
It couldn’t be called ungentle
But how thoroughly departmental

I’ve no idea why Frost and Moore come to mind this morning, but damn these poems are a hell of a lot better than anything you see on the net or in publishing today.

The singularity is a point of constantly increasing change (some say infinite). Some here have posted both doomsday and utopia scenarios.

I theorize that the observers of the singularity has a set of rules.

1) The exact point of time of the singularity cannot be observed.

Because we truly can’t define what the singularity is accurately (how does one define infinite change), the observer - no matter how well informed - will not know the event when it occurs.

2) The results of the singularity is unknowable.

The only constant of the singularity is change. Saying it’s doomsday (borgification) or utopia (rapture of the nerds), is only a hypothesis, and with infinite change, it could go from one to the next rapidly.

3) If the observer doesn’t know when an event will occur or the results of the event, then the only observation which can be made is to measure all change.

If something is unobservable, and it’s effects unknown, there is no mechanism other than the rate of change (delta from one minute to the other), but you’d have to measure the rate of change of everything. Which is, of course, near impossible.

Because the observer only observes from their locus (as a point in time able to see a finite amount of space), if the rate of change is high: they will always see the singularity as something in the future. A true “event horizon” where measurements of deltas are “colored” by the amount of space at the unique time.

Unless the observer can observe from multiple loci (multiple points of time and space) only then will they be able to see that the singularity occured (in the past). Right now, it’s a physical impossibility to capture such a measurement, other than an approximation.

But tomorrow, it may be possible due to the fact that infinite change can cause an observer to be a two loci at one time, or measure everything accurately.

Posted here first, then on KurzweilAI.net
Copyright 2006 Bob Kelly

There’s the brain dead: the religious pompous fools that think they can dictate right from wrong based on old books written when we didn’t have a cure for trichonosis, let alone a word for it.

And then, there’s the OTHER brain dead: the kind-hearted souls that just want to go-along to get along, thinking that the deposing of Joe Lieberman has made a difference. Ding-dong, the witch is dead, now we get a happily ever after.

And then there’s the rational ones: those that observe and nod sagaciously (a word that only follows a nod), noting this as a positive significant event for the world’s future. They’re not so brain dead, as desparate to believe that this single event has meaning beyond the displeasure of a populace.

All of us trying to do what is right. Standing up, as it were, taking action because it’s Right.

You can only stand up for what is right when you have a strong belief in right and wrong - and the people who will beat you to it are those that buy into Manichean duality quicker and easier. Their reaction of right/wrong has been a darwinian survival trait - I feel threatened, therefore I kill that which is most alien.

Rational minds want to wait and rationalize, therefore WAITING as the pattern occurs… because knowing more, understanding the pattern is a darwinian survival trait - the smartest course of action will result in survival. Meanwhile if it’s a pattern of ensuing chaos where the exception of hope is used to delay action in the idea of “we’re seeing positive change.”

And in somewhere, Connecticutt, Joe Lieberman will no longer be in congress. The first brain dead ones have said, “This is bad!” The second have said, “The is good!” The rational ones have cautiously sought hope. And I, well, I think we’re in trouble.

The US is in a consitutional crisis point and the world is in a social crisis point:

The US’s last 7 years has been that of a defacto ruler (”world’s last superpower”), but the problem is that if you want to exert control, the THREAT of force is more useful than the USE of force. But because of 9-11 and our sore egos, we have allowed:
- Unbridled use of the war powers act
- Declared war not on a nation or an “ideology” - but a METHOD that rebels use, in fact, a method that EVERY rebel has used in the last 500 years. That alone is an act of desparate despots.
- As with any war, we’ve demonized the enemy, and then wonder why our front line soldiers rape and torture, which perpetrates a cycle
- Begun with the restriction to access of data, followed up with the unbridled monitoring of communication.
- We’ve “consolidated” Federal Services into an orwellian unit called “Homeland Security” - since when did AMERICA need to be a HOMELAND? How is HOMELAND different from “Fatherland” or “Motherland”. The United States of America used to be an Ideal, so that ANY territory can adopt to, internalize and apply to join, such as Hawaii, or New Mexico. We’ve capped our imaginations at a limit of 50 states.
- US education has suffered so much in the last 20 years that children are educated as an exception, not a rule. And while a single school board has stood up to the religious defectives, more school boards are losing the fight of religion vs. education.

Socially, the world has to decide:
- Do we grab for what is ours or try to work together?
- Do we continue to consume both lives and natural resources, or do we try to live peaceably with our environment?
- Do we allow the incredible prejudices of monotheist religions to continue to propigate genocide?

So, no, I’m NOT hopeful and I’m NOT happy about Lieberman… he’s just a very small pimple on the ass we’ve allowed this world to become.

If I didn’t feel so DAMN paralyzed about taking action (one more cook in the kitchen, the best plan sometimes is to do nothing), I’d feel a lot better about it.

So, yeah, ding-dong, the witch is dead… long live the new witch.

*thanks to Tamsen for the Name of the Article

Recently, I’ve had to go to the Doctor.

Every doctor I’ve been to before has actually sat down, talked with me, gotten to know me and, at least, APPEARED TO CARE.

In the office, the staff has appeared to care. The Doctor, I’ve never seen. The Physician’s Assistant, who I have seen, has been downright… well, here’s a quote, “I’ve an appointment at (time) so I can’t take all day with you.” - Note that I wasn’t even 15 minutes into the discussion.

So, the first time I went (for my physical), I felt that they were rushed and busy. The second time, I was an inconvenience. And, because I wonder, I’ve been going over both meetings and wondering, what did *I* do wrong.

Well, FUCK THEM. I’m the patient and I’d like them to take some time to answer my questions and explain to me.

WOOT!

I’ve been spending a lot of time getting the game play together. Have pencil and paper version of the game - sorta - and have figured out things like the gestures (circle, square, triangle, pentagon and star), what they represent (recruiting, operations, money, military, and “soul”), and their sounds (specifically how the sounds are going to work).

But DAMN I’ve got a lot of work to do. This one is gonna be a long development time unless I can get time off of work. I was hoping I could get done in time for the IGF awards as a submission to GDC, but prolly not.

I’ve got the name, the domain name, the server set up, so that’s easy. Now I gotta get the rest of them done.

Also, a web-flex solution prolly aint gonna cut it. It will work for solo play, but definitely not MMO play, so we’ll do solo first, then dabble with MMO soon thereafter.

The biggest problem of design vs. development is that development takes SO DAMN long to get out the door. Highly disappointing.