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So some of my perspective on
what kinds of things you can

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do in relation to game mechanics
is kind of like

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seeing [INAUDIBLE].

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But it's not the be
all and end all.

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I'm basically showing you my
perspective but it's not the

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only perspective out there.

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I have very little that I feel
qualified to say about things

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00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:47,320
like sports.

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00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:53,246
Things where we are talking
about athletic competitions.

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00:00:53,246 --> 00:00:57,880
Faster, higher, stronger,
that sort of thing.

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But I'm a little bit more
engaged in games where there's

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role-playing.

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Where you're taking on a persona
or at least some sort

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of behavior that
you aren't just

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normally doing in real-life.

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It's not just about how fast you
can run or how skilled you

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are at hitting the ball.

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That sort of thing.

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Let's see, and not every single
live-action game needs

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to necessarily fit within
role-playing sports.

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You've got things like
party games.

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This afternoon we'll have the
lead designer for Dance

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central coming in to do a
little Q & A about Dance

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Central around 4 o'clock,
4:30, in the TV lounge.

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00:01:44,330 --> 00:01:45,510
You guys are all welcome
to do that.

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And that's arguably a
live-action game.

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Sure you've got a computer,
you've got a--

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00:01:50,810 --> 00:01:52,480
how much is the Kinect?

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00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:05,400
$150 piece of equipment
connected to a $250 Xbox

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00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,259
hooked to a screen that's
probably more than that.

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00:02:08,259 --> 00:02:10,550
You've got all this technology,
but in the end,

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00:02:10,550 --> 00:02:12,150
what's that game about?

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00:02:12,150 --> 00:02:14,330
What's Rock Band about?

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00:02:14,330 --> 00:02:16,700
It's about the people who
are in the living room.

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And what is one of the arguments
that [INAUDIBLE], in

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a different chapter in Casual
Revolution, he argues that one

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of the big things that's
happened with gaming is this

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00:02:32,730 --> 00:02:37,500
re-introduction of the space
in front of the screen.

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00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:40,485
The living room space has
come back into play.

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00:02:43,470 --> 00:02:46,050
You haven't lost that with board
games or card games, but

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for electronic games really it
used to be something that

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00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,300
existed with arcade games.

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You've got these giant
motorcycles or steering wheels

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and stuff like that.

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And you still had it with some
really expensive computer

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games like flight
simulators where

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people buy the joysticks.

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I'm a big train fan, so I've
got a Playstation One train

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controller.

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It's throttle and brakes.

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That's all it is.

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No steering when it
comes to trains.

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It's a lot of fun.

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With arcade games, and of course
[INAUDIBLE], there's

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this whole idea that you're
going to be engaging your

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entire body.

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And you could argue that those
are live-action games.

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And you take the technology
out and what you've got is

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just this human body playing
with all it's constraints,

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beholden to gravity, it can't
move faster than a certain

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speed, it's kind of ungamely,
and it's got

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roughly a certain size.

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Gives you constraints that
you can work with in

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terms of game mechanics.

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One of the things that we did
last year was we had a

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00:04:06,470 --> 00:04:09,850
live-action game assignment
in this class.

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And the constraint was you had
to be able to play the

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game in this room.

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Was a newspaper a constant?

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GUEST SPEAKER: No.

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PROFESSOR: That was one huge
decision to use newspaper as a

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constraint.

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But they did things like
blindfold people.

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They were playing around with
the senses on the body so that

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you could hear.

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When one person had unlimited
ammunition, in terms of low

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vaulted newspaper and the
bucket, but couldn't see where

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everybody else was.

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And everybody else could
move around the room

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on sheets of newspaper.

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They had to step on sheets
of newspaper.

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So you could always hear where
they were stepping.

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And the person with the bucket
was trying to pelt the people

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who were stepping
on the ground.

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If you got hit you had to go
out of the magic circle and

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then start coming in.

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The whole idea was to attack
the person who was actually

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throwing all these
newspaper balls.

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00:05:09,330 --> 00:05:12,720
We had a little newspaper
hat that you could grab.

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It was pretty awesome,
because what you need

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to play that game?

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You need one set of rules,
and a chair, a recycle

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00:05:21,750 --> 00:05:23,770
bin--specifically it
was that bin--

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and newspaper.

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But there were all these
things in play about

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what you can do.

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So OK, your target is going to
be roughly the size of a human

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body, and roughly the weight
of a human body.

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It's going to be able to move at
roughly the same speed of a

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human body.

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00:05:39,110 --> 00:05:42,387
And you cannot have multiple
targets in the

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same place at once.

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In fact it's hilarious when you
try, because you've got

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00:05:46,290 --> 00:05:49,000
these [INAUDIBLE].

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And because you're playing with
the humans, all five of

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the human senses, usually
just like hearing.

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I don't know that anyone's
made a smell game.

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00:05:57,650 --> 00:06:04,620
But you will have the situation
where the people who

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are standing on the newspapers
will try to make noise near

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the other people who are
playing the game.

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So they were drawing attention
away from themselves.

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Sometimes it works.

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Sometimes it doesn't.

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Sometimes it leads to hilarious
collisions --a good

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00:06:18,406 --> 00:06:19,656
time was had by all.

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And those kinds of
party games.

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You know, King of the Hill?

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Can anyone think of any other
playground type games that are

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personal favorites?

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AUDIENCE: Freeze tag.

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PROFESSOR: Freeze tag?

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00:06:36,330 --> 00:06:36,453
[?

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AUDIENCE: Lava.

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PROFESSOR: What's?

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[?

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AUDIENCE: Lava's where you have
swings and all things you

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can climb on.

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And you're playing generally
on the little pebble-like

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00:06:46,330 --> 00:06:46,970
rocky stuff.

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And if you step on the pebble
stuff that's like the lava and

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you get burnt.

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So you have to stay hanging
on the metal part.

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And usually there's someone
who's immune to the lava

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trying to tag you.

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So they can walk over
the lava but they

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00:06:59,470 --> 00:07:01,480
can't go in the structure.

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AUDIENCE: Lava monster.

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00:07:04,020 --> 00:07:05,530
PROFESSOR: Does the
game ever stop?

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00:07:05,530 --> 00:07:07,580
Just out of curiosity?

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00:07:07,580 --> 00:07:09,990
AUDIENCE: Yeah, someone becomes
the next lava monster.

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00:07:09,990 --> 00:07:11,925
Once you get tagged you switch
roles and keep doing it.

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00:07:11,925 --> 00:07:14,748
AUDIENCE: But the thing is,
I never played that on my

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00:07:14,748 --> 00:07:15,150
playground.

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00:07:15,150 --> 00:07:17,640
I always played in my living
room and throw couch cushions

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00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,130
on the floor and stuff.

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AUDIENCE: That sounds
really dangerous.

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AUDIENCE: We'd have wheely
chairs and push off and yeah.

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00:07:25,210 --> 00:07:25,950
PROFESSOR: I used to
have a water bed.

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00:07:25,950 --> 00:07:29,034
So there was some
unpredictability that I could

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00:07:29,034 --> 00:07:32,010
have in my bedroom with
my two brothers.

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00:07:32,010 --> 00:07:34,320
But they were both bigger than
me so I always lost.

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00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,480
I mean, you can think of--

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on one hand, these are athletic
games because they do

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00:07:45,690 --> 00:07:49,300
test your ability to move
and control your body.

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00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:50,990
Which is why they're so popular
around kids who are

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00:07:50,990 --> 00:07:55,590
trying to master what their
bodies are capable of.

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00:07:55,590 --> 00:08:00,160
But on the other hand, they're
also games of mimicry going

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00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:01,748
back to [INAUDIBLE]

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00:08:01,748 --> 00:08:03,050
definition.

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00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:05,967
Because you're pretending that
it's lava, and pretending that

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00:08:05,967 --> 00:08:10,220
you're a person that cares that
it's lava, or a monster

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00:08:10,220 --> 00:08:12,160
that's immune to it.

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00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,730
And these games don't
necessarily--

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00:08:15,730 --> 00:08:17,300
they may have some rules
about, OK you

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00:08:17,300 --> 00:08:19,440
can tag now we swap.

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00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,830
I've seen games where sure, I've
technically been tagged

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00:08:23,830 --> 00:08:26,945
out of this game but since this
game really has no end

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00:08:26,945 --> 00:08:29,440
state that just means
that oh, I lost.

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00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:31,180
Now I'm back in the
game again.

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00:08:31,180 --> 00:08:35,070
It's like playing a Doom death
match and you die and you're

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00:08:35,070 --> 00:08:38,390
just right back in
the game again.

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00:08:38,390 --> 00:08:42,490
Let's see, anyone play those--

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00:08:42,490 --> 00:08:44,750
what's the name of the football
variant where you

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00:08:44,750 --> 00:08:47,296
just have a scarf
attached to you?

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00:08:47,296 --> 00:08:48,546
AUDIENCE: Flag football.

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00:08:51,070 --> 00:08:53,485
PROFESSOR: For those of you--
everyone knows what it is?

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00:08:59,940 --> 00:09:02,320
AUDIENCE: Isn't flag football
where you just have a flag and

185
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,160
instead of being tackled you?

186
00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:05,800
PROFESSOR: Yeah, instead
of tackling you

187
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:07,050
just grab the flag.

188
00:09:07,050 --> 00:09:09,190
And that's an abstraction.

189
00:09:09,190 --> 00:09:11,610
That's an abstraction of
something that you well could

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00:09:11,610 --> 00:09:13,452
physically do.

191
00:09:13,452 --> 00:09:15,380
You could grab this person and
pull them to the ground.

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00:09:15,380 --> 00:09:17,430
AUDIENCE: Does touch
football exist?

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00:09:17,430 --> 00:09:18,680
AUDIENCE: Yes.

194
00:09:21,490 --> 00:09:23,230
PROFESSOR: That's a smaller
level of abstraction because

195
00:09:23,230 --> 00:09:24,860
you can really hit someone
pretty damn

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00:09:24,860 --> 00:09:27,496
hard with touch football.

197
00:09:27,496 --> 00:09:30,710
But it's an abstraction of,
here's this thing that I

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00:09:30,710 --> 00:09:32,430
personally, physically,
could do.

199
00:09:32,430 --> 00:09:33,780
But I'm going to introduce
this level

200
00:09:33,780 --> 00:09:34,740
of abstraction for--

201
00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:36,970
I don't know-- safety.

202
00:09:36,970 --> 00:09:39,320
That's usually the reason.

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00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:44,090
And so you've got the human body
and you've got all of its

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00:09:44,090 --> 00:09:48,010
values and virtues and
all of its curses.

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00:09:48,010 --> 00:09:49,260
You've got issues of safety.

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00:09:51,915 --> 00:09:56,080
You don't want people to hurt
each other, but yet human

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00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,073
beings and their bodies are
extremely capable of hurting

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00:09:59,073 --> 00:10:02,450
each other with no added
implement at all.

209
00:10:02,450 --> 00:10:05,771
Even worse when it gets to a
game and someone's trying to

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00:10:05,771 --> 00:10:07,850
win something.

211
00:10:07,850 --> 00:10:10,860
If you don't have a specific
rule that says you can't punch

212
00:10:10,860 --> 00:10:14,540
this person, but you have a
game that's very athletic,

213
00:10:14,540 --> 00:10:15,830
someone's going to try.

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00:10:15,830 --> 00:10:21,330
That's why you get these sort of
abstractions to pretend in

215
00:10:21,330 --> 00:10:23,740
that military form that all
right, I've grabbed

216
00:10:23,740 --> 00:10:24,650
this thing off you.

217
00:10:24,650 --> 00:10:26,594
Now you have just been tagged.

218
00:10:26,594 --> 00:10:31,380
I've effectively tackled
you [INAUDIBLE].

219
00:10:31,380 --> 00:10:36,170
So, what I'm trying to draw
attention to with these

220
00:10:36,170 --> 00:10:42,520
examples is that with
live-actions games the thing

221
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:47,620
that you have to keep in mind
all the time is at what point

222
00:10:47,620 --> 00:10:51,110
is the person who's playing
actually the

223
00:10:51,110 --> 00:10:52,780
character who's playing?

224
00:10:52,780 --> 00:10:55,150
It's really, really, hard
to tell when it comes to

225
00:10:55,150 --> 00:10:56,210
live-action games.

226
00:10:56,210 --> 00:11:00,820
If you are playing in sports
it's the same thing.

227
00:11:04,010 --> 00:11:09,010
Any given athlete and their
performance in the sport is

228
00:11:09,010 --> 00:11:09,870
who they are.

229
00:11:09,870 --> 00:11:11,320
It's the same person.

230
00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,770
If I'm role-playing then the
person that I'm playing is not

231
00:11:14,770 --> 00:11:15,820
supposed to be the same.

232
00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:19,360
But there needs to be a whole
bunch of rules that basically

233
00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,680
specify that the character
that I'm playing is not

234
00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:27,630
actually the person that you're
seeing in front of you.

235
00:11:27,630 --> 00:11:33,214
For that time, the player is not
the Count of Monte Cristo

236
00:11:33,214 --> 00:11:34,200
or something like that.

237
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:34,520
AUDIENCE: One interesting

238
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:36,180
exception to that is wrestling.

239
00:11:38,990 --> 00:11:41,000
Not wrestling like actual
high-school wrestling, but

240
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,602
wrestling on TV--

241
00:11:42,602 --> 00:11:43,360
I don't remember what
it's called.

242
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:44,820
Because everybody puts
on a persona.

243
00:11:44,820 --> 00:11:46,770
They're never the same
person that they are.

244
00:11:46,770 --> 00:11:49,475
I just thought it was
interesting when you said that

245
00:11:49,475 --> 00:11:51,460
any sports person, but
that's one exception.

246
00:11:51,460 --> 00:11:53,590
PROFESSOR: That's true.

247
00:11:53,590 --> 00:11:56,890
And that creates a lot of
discussion about whether

248
00:11:56,890 --> 00:11:59,971
wrestling is a sport.

249
00:11:59,971 --> 00:12:00,840
It's athletic.

250
00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:01,780
Everyone agrees that
it's athletic.

251
00:12:01,780 --> 00:12:04,790
But so are trapeze artists
athletic but you wouldn't call

252
00:12:04,790 --> 00:12:06,040
it a sport.

253
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,090
And in fact, if I understand
correctly, wrestlers are

254
00:12:11,090 --> 00:12:15,185
insured as circus performers,
because they have the same

255
00:12:15,185 --> 00:12:19,320
risks and are playing the same
role as a performance.

256
00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,550
But you're right, that's
one of those things

257
00:12:21,550 --> 00:12:25,590
where it's a persona.

258
00:12:25,590 --> 00:12:28,430
The really, really, good
wrestling networks play around

259
00:12:28,430 --> 00:12:32,140
with what's real
and what's not.

260
00:12:32,140 --> 00:12:35,430
Yeah sure, these two people
are putting on these

261
00:12:35,430 --> 00:12:39,060
ridiculous personalities.

262
00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:42,890
Threatening to kill each other
over the most trivial and

263
00:12:42,890 --> 00:12:47,550
made-up of the offenses, and
crazy accents, and costumes,

264
00:12:47,550 --> 00:12:48,200
and everything.

265
00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,650
But when they're bleeding
they're actually bleeding.

266
00:12:50,650 --> 00:12:55,400
There's no denying and no doubt
they actually get angry

267
00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,980
with each other and people
actually get hurt.

268
00:12:58,980 --> 00:13:02,040
And playing around with that
line is actually some of the

269
00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:06,222
appeal that we get in things
like professional wrestling.

270
00:13:06,222 --> 00:13:09,620
I guess that's what the
terminology that they use.

271
00:13:09,620 --> 00:13:11,270
It's very different from
something like

272
00:13:11,270 --> 00:13:12,520
mixed martial arts.

273
00:13:16,340 --> 00:13:18,080
I don't watch mixed
martial arts.

274
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:18,970
AUDIENCE: No, I don't think
so, I'm pretty sure

275
00:13:18,970 --> 00:13:21,180
it's just flat out.

276
00:13:21,180 --> 00:13:24,070
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] are very
associated with the person.

277
00:13:24,070 --> 00:13:26,021
PROFESSOR: So they
are the persona.

278
00:13:26,021 --> 00:13:27,197
AUDIENCE: They don't have stage
personalities, but they

279
00:13:27,197 --> 00:13:29,350
do have strong personalities.

280
00:13:29,350 --> 00:13:31,180
AUDIENCE: That's definitely
a sport.

281
00:13:31,180 --> 00:13:33,390
I mean, they're actually
fighting.

282
00:13:33,390 --> 00:13:36,100
PROFESSOR: I mean let's
take a look at

283
00:13:36,100 --> 00:13:39,790
Muhammad Ali for instance.

284
00:13:39,790 --> 00:13:42,460
Extremely athletic person but
his personality had a lot to

285
00:13:42,460 --> 00:13:45,620
do with it as well with how
successful that he was.

286
00:13:45,620 --> 00:13:50,420
The way that he taunted people
on TV and on cameras before

287
00:13:50,420 --> 00:13:53,230
the game, so that people would
get all worked up for the

288
00:13:53,230 --> 00:13:54,880
game, made him a star.

289
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,420
Sure he was athletic, but
that was part of it.

290
00:13:58,420 --> 00:14:04,430
So where that line is, and as
designers you get some control

291
00:14:04,430 --> 00:14:07,715
over that through the rules
that you're writing.

292
00:14:07,715 --> 00:14:13,040
And there are a couple of
tactics that you can focus on.

293
00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,060
But I want to segue into--

294
00:14:17,060 --> 00:14:18,120
that's the tension.

295
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,050
That is one thing that's
pulling your

296
00:14:20,050 --> 00:14:21,340
design in one direction.

297
00:14:21,340 --> 00:14:26,260
Which is, how am I going to
figure out what the difference

298
00:14:26,260 --> 00:14:28,640
between the person who's playing
this game and the

299
00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,290
character that they're playing,
or the role that

300
00:14:30,290 --> 00:14:33,030
they're playing,
is going to be.

301
00:14:33,030 --> 00:14:36,830
In your games, for this next
assignment, if you've got

302
00:14:36,830 --> 00:14:39,750
people playing mental patients
then you've got to figure out

303
00:14:39,750 --> 00:14:41,600
how you're going to
draw that line.

304
00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,370
You've got to be clear whether
it's the player who's actually

305
00:14:45,370 --> 00:14:47,080
upset at you or the character
who's actually upset at you.

306
00:14:50,030 --> 00:14:52,840
But if you draw that line too
broadly, then you've got the

307
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,310
situation where both be angry
at you [INAUDIBLE].

308
00:14:56,310 --> 00:14:59,820
Because this is a ridiculous
situation and emotional.

309
00:14:59,820 --> 00:15:04,570
Pretending to be really
emotional can usually make a

310
00:15:04,570 --> 00:15:09,340
lot of people react by laughing
just to release the

311
00:15:09,340 --> 00:15:12,326
tension in space.

312
00:15:12,326 --> 00:15:16,380
In fact, that happened when
Dion was role-playing with

313
00:15:16,380 --> 00:15:17,160
Caesar, right?

314
00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,225
Sure, they were laughing.

315
00:15:19,225 --> 00:15:21,320
They were trying to level that
and take it as seriously as

316
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,640
possible, and everybody else in
the room was cracking up.

317
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:26,800
To release that tension.

318
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,850
And sometimes that's
OK playing games.

319
00:15:29,850 --> 00:15:31,160
In fact, sometimes that's
great for the game.

320
00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,630
And sometimes that's
detrimental.

321
00:15:33,630 --> 00:15:35,270
Depends on what you're
playing for.

322
00:15:35,270 --> 00:15:38,580
But you have to understand
that is something that's

323
00:15:38,580 --> 00:15:42,155
pulling the overall design, why
do rules exist, and why

324
00:15:42,155 --> 00:15:44,870
your game mechanics exist, and
why your game mechanic is

325
00:15:44,870 --> 00:15:46,040
pretending a certain way.

326
00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,347
That's one of the tensions
that's pulling it

327
00:15:47,347 --> 00:15:50,760
in a certain direction.

328
00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,570
And in reality, that's actually

329
00:15:52,570 --> 00:15:53,600
two different tensions.

330
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,900
Because in one sense, they're
trying to make an experience

331
00:15:57,900 --> 00:16:02,020
as aversive, as feeling
like you're

332
00:16:02,020 --> 00:16:04,450
actually doing it as possible.

333
00:16:04,450 --> 00:16:07,240
And on the other hand, you
don't want to make it so

334
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,670
associated with who you are,
and what you're actually

335
00:16:09,670 --> 00:16:12,120
doing, that people start
to think, oh wow.

336
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,120
This person, this player,
is actually mad at me.

337
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,170
Or, this player could actually
hit me at this point.

338
00:16:18,170 --> 00:16:21,050
While as, no the character
[INAUDIBLE].

339
00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:28,300
I call that verisimilitude.

340
00:16:28,300 --> 00:16:32,540
These are just words that I
picked up from dictionaries.

341
00:16:32,540 --> 00:16:33,950
This one, you were in
my masters thesis.

342
00:16:37,180 --> 00:16:44,470
Verisimilitude is basically a
tension when you're designing

343
00:16:44,470 --> 00:16:45,830
a game mechanic.

344
00:16:45,830 --> 00:16:48,200
And that tension is telling
you, I want to make this

345
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:52,930
experience as immersive and as
true to life as possible.

346
00:16:52,930 --> 00:16:57,635
And the opposite of that is
what I call dissociation.

347
00:16:57,635 --> 00:16:58,580
Which is really hard
to pronounce.

348
00:16:58,580 --> 00:17:01,390
It's not like I just
call it separation.

349
00:17:01,390 --> 00:17:04,910
But, how do you draw that line
between who I am and who my

350
00:17:04,910 --> 00:17:06,230
character is?

351
00:17:06,230 --> 00:17:09,640
And I'll give you a couple
of examples just to

352
00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:10,890
get inside this now.

353
00:17:16,290 --> 00:17:18,670
Who doesn't know what
a live-action

354
00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:19,750
role-playing game is?

355
00:17:19,750 --> 00:17:21,819
Or doesn't have a
good clear idea?

356
00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:25,849
OK.

357
00:17:25,849 --> 00:17:29,856
So maybe, a little bit of
background just so that I can

358
00:17:29,856 --> 00:17:31,106
use the examples.

359
00:17:32,950 --> 00:17:36,310
Do you folks know how a
table-top role-playing game

360
00:17:36,310 --> 00:17:37,560
generally works?

361
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:40,150
OK.

362
00:17:40,150 --> 00:17:42,200
So, start from scratch.

363
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,450
Imagine improv theatre.

364
00:17:45,450 --> 00:17:49,100
Imagine you have an environment
where you have a

365
00:17:49,100 --> 00:17:52,030
bunch of people who
want to enact some

366
00:17:52,030 --> 00:17:55,620
sort of scene together.

367
00:17:55,620 --> 00:17:58,010
In theatre, a scene is usually
something like five minutes,

368
00:17:58,010 --> 00:18:00,020
maybe half an hour.

369
00:18:00,020 --> 00:18:02,855
In a live-action role-playing
game, that's more like an hour

370
00:18:02,855 --> 00:18:07,300
to 10 days to 30 days long.

371
00:18:07,300 --> 00:18:10,150
A much longer period of time.

372
00:18:10,150 --> 00:18:11,850
But the motivation
is the same.

373
00:18:11,850 --> 00:18:16,440
We're in this space to enact
some sort of shared reality,

374
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,300
shared creative reality,
together.

375
00:18:20,300 --> 00:18:22,900
In a role-playing game
that's done by the

376
00:18:22,900 --> 00:18:25,560
usual addition of rules.

377
00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,850
And usually some sort of world
setting and some sort of

378
00:18:28,850 --> 00:18:30,370
character description.

379
00:18:30,370 --> 00:18:34,170
And how these things are told
to you could be as simple as

380
00:18:34,170 --> 00:18:36,980
the game master walks up to
each person and explains

381
00:18:36,980 --> 00:18:39,440
what's going on.

382
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:47,750
You are all cats in an alley-way
and some of you are

383
00:18:47,750 --> 00:18:48,620
hungry and looking for food.

384
00:18:48,620 --> 00:18:51,560
Some of you are on top of the
pecking order and make sure

385
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,610
you get all of the food.

386
00:18:53,610 --> 00:18:54,750
Here's how you eat food.

387
00:18:54,750 --> 00:18:56,390
Here's how you move
food around.

388
00:18:56,390 --> 00:18:57,810
Go.

389
00:18:57,810 --> 00:19:00,730
That sort of thing.

390
00:19:00,730 --> 00:19:03,700
A game master could just do it
at that level, and you've got

391
00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:04,720
a live-action role-playing
game.

392
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,486
There's usually some sort of end
condition or at least some

393
00:19:06,486 --> 00:19:08,738
sort of time limit to tell
you when the game's over.

394
00:19:11,390 --> 00:19:14,400
When you get a little bit more
detailed, and when you start

395
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,235
mixing and matching it with the
conventions of other kind

396
00:19:17,235 --> 00:19:19,560
of role-playing games--
computer and table-top

397
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:21,000
role-playing games--

398
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,310
you have things like character
sheets where you're given your

399
00:19:24,310 --> 00:19:26,860
information on a piece of paper,
or you create your

400
00:19:26,860 --> 00:19:29,650
information on a
piece of paper.

401
00:19:29,650 --> 00:19:31,850
And that information is
information that's only

402
00:19:31,850 --> 00:19:35,280
available to you and
the game master.

403
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:36,700
A secret information for all
intents and purposes.

404
00:19:40,790 --> 00:19:43,640
You will use different means
to convey chunks of the

405
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,630
information to the rest
of the world.

406
00:19:45,630 --> 00:19:51,050
Like I'm actually not
female, but I'm

407
00:19:51,050 --> 00:19:52,540
playing a female character.

408
00:19:52,540 --> 00:19:54,930
So maybe I'll wear a badge
or something that has

409
00:19:54,930 --> 00:19:56,290
my gender on it.

410
00:19:56,290 --> 00:20:01,860
And that tells the rest of the
world treat me like a female.

411
00:20:01,860 --> 00:20:04,290
That's one example.

412
00:20:04,290 --> 00:20:08,510
I may actually be psychic, but
the rest of the world can't

413
00:20:08,510 --> 00:20:09,560
necessarily see that.

414
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,300
Except for maybe other
psychic people.

415
00:20:11,300 --> 00:20:14,500
So maybe I'll have a little
Greek symbol or something--

416
00:20:14,500 --> 00:20:16,410
not Psi, that would
be too obvious--

417
00:20:20,380 --> 00:20:23,820
or maybe my badge is just a
different color or something.

418
00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:26,070
And people who are not psychic
have no idea what that means.

419
00:20:26,070 --> 00:20:28,200
And people who are playing other
psychic characters now

420
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,200
see, [INAUDIBLE] has
a red badge.

421
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:31,450
I am sensing psychically.

422
00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:37,960
And then there are other game
mechanics that I can do with

423
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:38,590
that person.

424
00:20:38,590 --> 00:20:40,497
Actually all the psychic people
know each other's cell

425
00:20:40,497 --> 00:20:43,290
phone numbers or something and
can talk to each other.

426
00:20:43,290 --> 00:20:45,140
That's an example.

427
00:20:45,140 --> 00:20:46,410
AUDIENCE: That's awesome.

428
00:20:46,410 --> 00:20:47,945
PROFESSOR: That would be
to your advantage.

429
00:20:53,830 --> 00:20:59,914
So the connection with improv
theatre is actually stronger

430
00:20:59,914 --> 00:21:01,610
than a lot of people may
generally assume.

431
00:21:01,610 --> 00:21:05,550
Because a lot of people think
of live-action role-playing

432
00:21:05,550 --> 00:21:07,630
games and they focus on
the games part of it.

433
00:21:07,630 --> 00:21:11,800
And they think of it as a RPG
in the computer sense.

434
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:16,300
So your role is your character
in the sense of, I have my

435
00:21:16,300 --> 00:21:19,146
character's stats, my
character's abilities, a lot

436
00:21:19,146 --> 00:21:21,860
of these steps and abilities
don't necessarily need to be

437
00:21:21,860 --> 00:21:22,430
written down.

438
00:21:22,430 --> 00:21:24,730
Because, again, you're dealing
with a human body.

439
00:21:24,730 --> 00:21:28,114
So, how strong is
my character?

440
00:21:28,114 --> 00:21:28,598
I don't know.

441
00:21:28,598 --> 00:21:30,730
How strong are you?

442
00:21:30,730 --> 00:21:32,930
How long a sword do I have?

443
00:21:32,930 --> 00:21:36,030
Well, how long is that piece
of foam over there?

444
00:21:36,030 --> 00:21:39,195
That's your sword now.

445
00:21:39,195 --> 00:21:40,445
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

446
00:21:42,288 --> 00:21:43,350
I played a character that
was supposed to

447
00:21:43,350 --> 00:21:44,180
be very, very, strong.

448
00:21:44,180 --> 00:21:45,490
And I am not very,
very, strong.

449
00:21:45,490 --> 00:21:50,902
But I had a disclaimer badge
and the that it manifested

450
00:21:50,902 --> 00:21:52,255
itself in game play was that at
some point they challenged

451
00:21:52,255 --> 00:21:54,346
someone to an arm-wrestling
duel.

452
00:21:54,346 --> 00:21:55,830
And they made sure--

453
00:21:55,830 --> 00:21:57,730
they looked at my stat
and saw, oh I

454
00:21:57,730 --> 00:21:58,605
know what this means.

455
00:21:58,605 --> 00:22:00,173
And so even though they were
about twice my size they

456
00:22:00,173 --> 00:22:02,354
pretended to lose.

457
00:22:02,354 --> 00:22:03,604
It was very entertaining.

458
00:22:06,130 --> 00:22:08,450
PROFESSOR: So the spectrum
of on one hand

459
00:22:08,450 --> 00:22:10,720
there are these games.

460
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:15,840
The type of games that Jeremy
describes allows you to play

461
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,200
things that are physically
very different from you.

462
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,820
And then there are
some live-action

463
00:22:19,820 --> 00:22:20,520
role-playing games--

464
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,520
AUDIENCE: Where it's just
how strong you are.

465
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,110
PROFESSOR: --Yeah, it's just
how strong you are.

466
00:22:24,110 --> 00:22:26,260
A lot of those are
like [INAUDIBLE]

467
00:22:26,260 --> 00:22:33,591
LARPs, where people will dress
up in actual armor that

468
00:22:33,591 --> 00:22:34,210
they've decided to make out
of leather or duct tape.

469
00:22:34,210 --> 00:22:38,620
And they will swing around
swords instead of foam padded.

470
00:22:38,620 --> 00:22:41,010
They'll go out to a
forest somewhere--

471
00:22:41,010 --> 00:22:43,950
typically in New England--

472
00:22:43,950 --> 00:22:47,550
and spend two days, three
days, in the middle of a

473
00:22:47,550 --> 00:22:51,490
forest sleeping in a cabin
somewhere and pretending to

474
00:22:51,490 --> 00:22:53,000
fantasy adventure it.

475
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,470
And every once in awhile there
will be GM controlled

476
00:22:55,470 --> 00:22:57,170
volunteers who will be wearing
[INAUDIBLE] masks.

477
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,800
That's on the other spectrum.

478
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,330
It's a spectrum.

479
00:23:05,330 --> 00:23:09,855
It's not like the [INAUDIBLE]

480
00:23:09,855 --> 00:23:15,280
LARPs where you run around with
sticks and are Assassins

481
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:20,626
Guild type LARPs where most of
your abilities are governed by

482
00:23:20,626 --> 00:23:22,110
numbers and stats.

483
00:23:22,110 --> 00:23:23,340
Kind of this spectrum.

484
00:23:23,340 --> 00:23:26,880
You can think of assassin guild
type thing as being very

485
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,780
much inspired by what you could
do on a computer or what

486
00:23:29,780 --> 00:23:31,860
you could do on a
table-top LARP.

487
00:23:31,860 --> 00:23:34,190
Because on a table-top LARP, how
strong your character is

488
00:23:34,190 --> 00:23:36,440
has nothing to do with how
strong the player is.

489
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,805
It's what [INAUDIBLE].

490
00:23:39,805 --> 00:23:42,942
AUDIENCE: Playing a game just
recently, I found out that in

491
00:23:42,942 --> 00:23:46,332
New England there are basically
LARPs which get done

492
00:23:46,332 --> 00:23:49,710
with rifles.

493
00:23:49,710 --> 00:23:52,560
AUDIENCE: They're
military level.

494
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,620
AUDIENCE: But they're
not paintball.

495
00:23:54,620 --> 00:23:56,114
So you shoot people.

496
00:23:56,114 --> 00:23:56,612
AUDIENCE: With plastic
pellets?

497
00:23:56,612 --> 00:23:59,110
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

498
00:23:59,110 --> 00:24:01,410
Yeah, air-soft is what
they call them.

499
00:24:01,410 --> 00:24:05,310
And so one team will dress up as
US soldiers, and the other

500
00:24:05,310 --> 00:24:06,990
ones are like middle-eastern
soldiers.

501
00:24:10,548 --> 00:24:12,010
It's elaborate and slightly
distasteful.

502
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,368
You can go and look
at their website.

503
00:24:16,368 --> 00:24:18,997
I think it's the New England
Airsoft Association or

504
00:24:18,997 --> 00:24:19,714
something like that.

505
00:24:19,714 --> 00:24:24,810
And they have excerpts of
a video cam of these.

506
00:24:24,810 --> 00:24:28,876
And there's negotiation
between the two sides

507
00:24:28,876 --> 00:24:29,650
and what have you.

508
00:24:29,650 --> 00:24:33,610
They actually take on the roles
of the insurgents or the

509
00:24:33,610 --> 00:24:35,095
[INAUDIBLE].

510
00:24:35,095 --> 00:24:37,075
Sometimes they're just
shooting each other.

511
00:24:37,075 --> 00:24:39,330
Other times they're trying to
find out who in the town who

512
00:24:39,330 --> 00:24:42,040
is the bad guy.

513
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,200
PROFESSOR: Sometimes it
gets more elaborate.

514
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,690
And some of us are actually
going to be [INAUDIBLE] and

515
00:24:46,690 --> 00:24:49,550
some of us are actually going to
be combatants and you have

516
00:24:49,550 --> 00:24:52,250
to figure out who's who.

517
00:24:52,250 --> 00:24:53,710
That one will be really,
really, interesting

518
00:24:53,710 --> 00:24:54,960
[INAUDIBLE] for IEDs.

519
00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:02,610
That's something that annoys
me about games that involve

520
00:25:02,610 --> 00:25:04,640
Middle Eastern combatants.

521
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:06,680
Is that, they don't have
rules for IEDs.

522
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,260
And that's the primary form of
contact in those states.

523
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,770
That's to the point.

524
00:25:16,770 --> 00:25:20,910
Military exercises a lot of them
are basically live-action

525
00:25:20,910 --> 00:25:22,360
role-playing games.

526
00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:25,830
All the way from I'm actually
running around with a gun full

527
00:25:25,830 --> 00:25:29,940
of blanks or shooting pellets or
shooting a laser beam that

528
00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:33,910
is going to register on some
other soldier's gear.

529
00:25:33,910 --> 00:25:35,666
AUDIENCE: We call
them war games.

530
00:25:35,666 --> 00:25:36,831
PROFESSOR: We call them--

531
00:25:36,831 --> 00:25:38,081
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

532
00:25:40,268 --> 00:25:41,518
PROFESSOR: --Yes, that's
a good thing.

533
00:25:44,010 --> 00:25:45,670
Then you also have the other
end of military simulations

534
00:25:45,670 --> 00:25:48,400
where it's just a bunch
of people in a room

535
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,190
looking at a screen.

536
00:25:50,190 --> 00:25:54,350
Or not even a screen, a white
board with a world map on it,

537
00:25:54,350 --> 00:25:59,140
and they're moving forces around
like a table player.

538
00:25:59,140 --> 00:26:02,330
But those are still considered
live-action action things,

539
00:26:02,330 --> 00:26:06,030
because every person in the room
is representing someone

540
00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:08,100
in the chain of command that
would normally be in a war

541
00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:09,915
room attack.

542
00:26:09,915 --> 00:26:11,895
I am the commander.

543
00:26:11,895 --> 00:26:14,170
You are the lieutenant, or
something like that, and I'm

544
00:26:14,170 --> 00:26:19,930
going to say, get me the status
of Washington D.C. Has

545
00:26:19,930 --> 00:26:22,330
it been nuked yet?

546
00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:25,871
And the lieutenant says we have
three missiles coming in

547
00:26:25,871 --> 00:26:28,230
based on some look up.

548
00:26:28,230 --> 00:26:31,030
The term for that is typically
called creep [INAUDIBLE],

549
00:26:31,030 --> 00:26:35,820
especially when it's
real people playing

550
00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:37,980
against real people.

551
00:26:37,980 --> 00:26:41,910
It's two or more player game
where not everyone is

552
00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:43,050
one the same side.

553
00:26:43,050 --> 00:26:46,940
If it's just on one side then
just the war game terminology

554
00:26:46,940 --> 00:26:49,790
tends to be more a catch all.

555
00:26:49,790 --> 00:26:53,350
But when you have two players on
each side, and are playing

556
00:26:53,350 --> 00:26:55,620
through these things,
how results get

557
00:26:55,620 --> 00:27:00,470
resolved also can vary.

558
00:27:00,470 --> 00:27:03,090
There are obviously digital and

559
00:27:03,090 --> 00:27:04,980
mathematical ways to compute.

560
00:27:04,980 --> 00:27:12,930
OK, I've given an order to fire
a missile at Singapore.

561
00:27:12,930 --> 00:27:17,620
And it's going to take two
hours for it to land.

562
00:27:17,620 --> 00:27:20,310
And there's a percentage
that it might land.

563
00:27:20,310 --> 00:27:20,900
You could do it.

564
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:22,280
You could do that way.

565
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,670
But traditionally, what's
actually been done is that you

566
00:27:25,670 --> 00:27:27,750
say this is what I'm
going to do.

567
00:27:27,750 --> 00:27:30,325
And someone far more experienced
than you, usually

568
00:27:30,325 --> 00:27:33,760
your instructor or one of
several instructors, takes

569
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:38,320
that information, goes into
another room, and talks to the

570
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,390
people who are actually doing
the same thing with your

571
00:27:41,390 --> 00:27:42,660
opposing team.

572
00:27:42,660 --> 00:27:45,540
And they're just saying,
OK in this event

573
00:27:45,540 --> 00:27:46,630
what's going to happen?

574
00:27:46,630 --> 00:27:50,090
And then they go back to
each team and they

575
00:27:50,090 --> 00:27:53,260
report, missile missed.

576
00:27:53,260 --> 00:27:54,600
Or, your troops engaged.

577
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,980
You found your opponent's troops
at this location and

578
00:27:58,980 --> 00:28:00,850
you've lost 50% of
your troops.

579
00:28:00,850 --> 00:28:01,180
That sort of thing.

580
00:28:01,180 --> 00:28:04,860
And that's the traditional
[INAUDIBLE].

581
00:28:04,860 --> 00:28:05,980
The nice thing about that is
that takes advantage of the

582
00:28:05,980 --> 00:28:09,280
fact that not just the players
but everybody is a live-action

583
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:10,550
human being.

584
00:28:10,550 --> 00:28:12,610
Because you have flexibility.

585
00:28:12,610 --> 00:28:17,280
You can do ridiculous things
that programmers or game

586
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,820
designers may not necessarily
have assumed were possible,

587
00:28:21,820 --> 00:28:24,830
but happen to make sense
in the heat of

588
00:28:24,830 --> 00:28:26,170
that particular game.

589
00:28:26,170 --> 00:28:28,420
And you have real people
deciding, this is

590
00:28:28,420 --> 00:28:29,350
what's going to happen.

591
00:28:29,350 --> 00:28:33,760
So we'll make up a
logical solution.

592
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,780
In the military, that's why you
want people who are really

593
00:28:35,780 --> 00:28:37,590
experienced.

594
00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:40,595
In a non-military live-action
role-playing game, like the

595
00:28:40,595 --> 00:28:45,400
kind that's played around MIT,
people will still do that.

596
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:51,000
So I'm in a game where I have
a steampunk setting.

597
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,620
And I don't have all the
equipment I need to build this

598
00:28:56,620 --> 00:28:59,800
machine of death that I'm
supposed to be completing.

599
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,860
But I could take apart some
of the other machines

600
00:29:03,860 --> 00:29:05,130
that are in the world.

601
00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:07,050
And then the game master
says, wait a minute.

602
00:29:07,050 --> 00:29:08,510
We've got to put rules
about that.

603
00:29:08,510 --> 00:29:10,480
Or, we don't want to start
anyone taking apart

604
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:11,130
[INAUDIBLE].

605
00:29:11,130 --> 00:29:13,780
But it makes perfect sense
in this world.

606
00:29:13,780 --> 00:29:17,100
So, OK, it's going to take you
two hours and you have to be

607
00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:17,390
in this room.

608
00:29:17,390 --> 00:29:19,880
But after that, you'll have
the parts you need.

609
00:29:22,380 --> 00:29:24,422
The other side of live-action
role-playing is that often the

610
00:29:24,422 --> 00:29:26,470
people who are controlling the
game of live-action say that

611
00:29:26,470 --> 00:29:28,360
wasn't fair.

612
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:33,720
And again, they can improvise
along with the players.

613
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,210
So you have that bit
of flexibility.

614
00:29:37,210 --> 00:29:40,580
You're limited by how
experienced most people are.

615
00:29:40,580 --> 00:29:44,260
People who don't tend to be
terribly experienced tend to

616
00:29:44,260 --> 00:29:49,154
make rash decisions that
end up hurting the

617
00:29:49,154 --> 00:29:50,580
playability of the game.

618
00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:51,450
Sometimes they get lucky.

619
00:29:51,450 --> 00:29:53,640
Sometimes they don't.

620
00:29:53,640 --> 00:30:01,462
Let me see, one example early
on when I was making

621
00:30:01,462 --> 00:30:05,920
live-action role-playing
games, was I had a game

622
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:12,240
mechanic where if one of the
police officers in this sort

623
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:17,730
of detective scenario wanted to
do a background check they

624
00:30:17,730 --> 00:30:19,840
could ask the game master.

625
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:21,380
Some amount of time--

626
00:30:21,380 --> 00:30:21,990
actually it was fairly
instant.

627
00:30:21,990 --> 00:30:24,660
Because the very molded
kind of system.

628
00:30:24,660 --> 00:30:26,880
The assumption was that they
will find a computer and

629
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:28,070
they'll look it up.

630
00:30:28,070 --> 00:30:30,370
And we'll give them
information.

631
00:30:30,370 --> 00:30:32,740
And that led to two problems
was that, first of all what

632
00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:35,740
happens if I'm not physically
in the same location as the

633
00:30:35,740 --> 00:30:37,050
person who wants the
information?

634
00:30:37,050 --> 00:30:38,980
And this is weird to think
of a computer with

635
00:30:38,980 --> 00:30:40,538
legs walking around.

636
00:30:40,538 --> 00:30:43,870
It sounds very science
fiction.

637
00:30:43,870 --> 00:30:47,200
And on the other hand, it means
that I needed to have

638
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,266
all the information about
everybody at my

639
00:30:50,266 --> 00:30:53,080
finger tips at all times.

640
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,110
Which often wasn't true.

641
00:30:55,110 --> 00:30:57,500
So someone would come in, I
need the information about

642
00:30:57,500 --> 00:30:58,670
this character.

643
00:30:58,670 --> 00:31:00,090
I'm performing a look up.

644
00:31:00,090 --> 00:31:03,488
And it's like, I'll get back
to you in two hours.

645
00:31:03,488 --> 00:31:07,057
Because I don't have the
information here with me I'm

646
00:31:07,057 --> 00:31:09,470
going to look it up and I'll
give it to you later.

647
00:31:09,470 --> 00:31:11,456
Now I don't make that mistake
anymore, but that was the kind

648
00:31:11,456 --> 00:31:15,330
of mistake I made when
I was a [INAUDIBLE].

649
00:31:15,330 --> 00:31:18,440
Because I hadn't really thought
about what that would

650
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,720
require from me as
a game master.

651
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,510
Now that's a different
tension.

652
00:31:24,510 --> 00:31:26,310
I am actually going to read
a chunk of this--

653
00:31:31,570 --> 00:31:32,820
[INAUDIBLE].

654
00:31:35,450 --> 00:31:38,360
I talked about dissociation
or separation.

655
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:47,150
And what I'm talking about with
that mistake that I made

656
00:31:47,150 --> 00:31:50,000
is just plain old feasibility.

657
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,415
Something that you probably have
already run into it with

658
00:31:53,415 --> 00:31:54,390
the games that you've
designed.

659
00:31:54,390 --> 00:31:55,640
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

660
00:31:59,270 --> 00:32:00,880
PROFESSOR: And many of the games
that you've designed

661
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,440
[INAUDIBLE] could have thought
of as just plane of scope.

662
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,410
It's like, how big
is this game?

663
00:32:06,410 --> 00:32:08,550
How long is it going
to take us to put

664
00:32:08,550 --> 00:32:10,962
all these bits together?

665
00:32:10,962 --> 00:32:12,212
[INAUDIBLE].

666
00:32:16,490 --> 00:32:18,480
Can we order these
bits in time?

667
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:20,130
And are they going to
be delivered in

668
00:32:20,130 --> 00:32:21,380
time for the class?

669
00:32:21,380 --> 00:32:25,130
I know multiple teams
had this problem.

670
00:32:25,130 --> 00:32:26,380
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

671
00:32:33,850 --> 00:32:35,030
PROFESSOR: Let me see if
I can combine some

672
00:32:35,030 --> 00:32:38,430
of these ideas together.

673
00:32:38,430 --> 00:32:43,200
One thing that the Assassin
Guild likes to have are people

674
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,010
who have locked memories.

675
00:32:46,010 --> 00:32:50,830
They know something, but they
don't know that they know it.

676
00:32:50,830 --> 00:32:52,990
Little memory packets, little
pieces of paper that they

677
00:32:52,990 --> 00:32:54,850
printed out and folded
up and stapled.

678
00:32:57,435 --> 00:33:02,980
Takes you about 20 seconds
to make one of those.

679
00:33:02,980 --> 00:33:06,090
Now imagine a game that
has maybe 60 people.

680
00:33:06,090 --> 00:33:11,020
And each person maybe has five
locked memories because the

681
00:33:11,020 --> 00:33:13,670
GM's really love the idea.

682
00:33:13,670 --> 00:33:17,200
And 5 times 3 is

683
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,100
AUDIENCE: That's only
about an hour.

684
00:33:19,100 --> 00:33:20,070
Only about an hour.

685
00:33:20,070 --> 00:33:20,860
PROFESSOR: Only about an hour.

686
00:33:20,860 --> 00:33:23,530
Does it ever only actually
take an hour to actually

687
00:33:23,530 --> 00:33:24,330
produce that?

688
00:33:24,330 --> 00:33:31,860
You get staple cuts and you
have to write them all.

689
00:33:31,860 --> 00:33:34,652
AUDIENCE: It's a little less
than two hours actually.

690
00:33:34,652 --> 00:33:35,740
AUDIENCE: No way.

691
00:33:35,740 --> 00:33:38,454
AUDIENCE: 20 seconds
per 60 people.

692
00:33:38,454 --> 00:33:41,260
AUDIENCE: But it's not
20 seconds each.

693
00:33:41,260 --> 00:33:43,110
PROFESSOR: And then what happens
is that oh, wow, we

694
00:33:43,110 --> 00:33:47,610
have 300 pieces of paper all
of which are now folded and

695
00:33:47,610 --> 00:33:49,470
almost indistinguishable
from each other.

696
00:33:49,470 --> 00:33:51,138
And we've got to figure
out who gets which.

697
00:33:53,770 --> 00:33:57,910
And these are the concerns.

698
00:33:57,910 --> 00:34:00,850
That's a feasibility issue.

699
00:34:00,850 --> 00:34:04,660
Doing something like that for
one or two players is

700
00:34:04,660 --> 00:34:05,790
extremely feasible.

701
00:34:05,790 --> 00:34:09,780
It takes almost no time
for the game master.

702
00:34:09,780 --> 00:34:12,820
Doing that for your entire
player base, if you have a 60

703
00:34:12,820 --> 00:34:17,239
person game, on the large scale
becomes the majority of

704
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:19,280
your prep time.

705
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,880
Suddenly you're setting
aside a whole day just

706
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:22,679
to deal with that.

707
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:26,272
And a game's only three days
long or something like that.

708
00:34:26,272 --> 00:34:27,522
With that level of effort.

709
00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,420
Things to preserve the
game master's sanity.

710
00:34:36,670 --> 00:34:42,070
The MIT janitorial staff,
facility staff, are pretty

711
00:34:42,070 --> 00:34:45,090
ruthless when it comes to
picking up stuff that has

712
00:34:45,090 --> 00:34:46,320
fallen on the floor.

713
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,480
So say that's a really important
piece of paper that

714
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,060
you've taped up on the wall
somewhere's here at MIT.

715
00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:56,120
And there's information that
this is the place that your

716
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:57,390
players are looking for.

717
00:34:57,390 --> 00:34:59,410
They've combed all of
campus and they need

718
00:34:59,410 --> 00:35:00,750
to find this location.

719
00:35:00,750 --> 00:35:03,622
And that tape that you
used just wasn't that

720
00:35:03,622 --> 00:35:05,450
strong and it fell.

721
00:35:05,450 --> 00:35:07,530
And the janitorial staff
just picks it up

722
00:35:07,530 --> 00:35:08,830
and throws it away.

723
00:35:08,830 --> 00:35:10,560
Now what happens to your game?

724
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,210
Can your game even end?

725
00:35:14,210 --> 00:35:16,360
Are you just going to have a
whole bunch of really tired

726
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:22,010
players chasing you down
as the game master?

727
00:35:22,010 --> 00:35:27,260
So the way that you resolve
this can be built into the

728
00:35:27,260 --> 00:35:28,510
game mechanics.

729
00:35:28,510 --> 00:35:30,315
You can build things like
multiple redundancy.

730
00:35:30,315 --> 00:35:35,120
Like in addition to a sign there
will usually be this

731
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,460
other thing in this same area.

732
00:35:37,460 --> 00:35:39,730
If you find one and you don't
find the other, it means

733
00:35:39,730 --> 00:35:41,910
something has dropped off.

734
00:35:41,910 --> 00:35:43,910
Involve the game master and the
game master will go and

735
00:35:43,910 --> 00:35:45,448
fix it at some point in
time in the future.

736
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,131
If you have a game that has no
secret locations, and you have

737
00:35:52,131 --> 00:35:55,172
a game that's campus wide, you
could just give people a map

738
00:35:55,172 --> 00:35:57,280
of all the information.

739
00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,430
Sure, you still want stuff on
the wall because it's neat to

740
00:36:00,430 --> 00:36:03,080
be able to walk into a classroom
like this and say,

741
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:04,350
oh mortuary.

742
00:36:04,350 --> 00:36:05,860
That's where I am.

743
00:36:05,860 --> 00:36:10,004
And then suddenly reminded, oh
maybe I should be role-playing

744
00:36:10,004 --> 00:36:12,890
back then and that
sort of thing.

745
00:36:12,890 --> 00:36:17,800
But it's sort of like walking
through a space and you have a

746
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,510
map that told you you're
in a mortuary.

747
00:36:19,510 --> 00:36:20,740
But you weren't looking at your
space, so you just walked

748
00:36:20,740 --> 00:36:23,270
through the space in entry
to the classroom.

749
00:36:23,270 --> 00:36:27,010
Yes, I am going to do my
tutoring in this room.

750
00:36:27,010 --> 00:36:30,790
It's a morgue, why are
you doing tutoring?

751
00:36:30,790 --> 00:36:33,830
So it's neat to be able to
have those things to give

752
00:36:33,830 --> 00:36:36,730
players information about what's
going on in the space.

753
00:36:36,730 --> 00:36:40,630
And to help them make believe,
help them imagine what they

754
00:36:40,630 --> 00:36:41,630
could possibly do
in the space.

755
00:36:41,630 --> 00:36:43,530
Maybe even give them clues about
what they need to be

756
00:36:43,530 --> 00:36:45,710
doing in order to advance
their goals.

757
00:36:45,710 --> 00:36:50,450
But then you also want to be
able to have backup plans for

758
00:36:50,450 --> 00:36:51,860
when those things fail.

759
00:36:51,860 --> 00:36:53,860
That's part of feasibility.

760
00:36:53,860 --> 00:36:56,310
You don't want the game to break
halfway just because

761
00:36:56,310 --> 00:37:01,280
janitorial staff came through or
the wind blew or something

762
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:02,744
and now your game sucks.

763
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:08,210
That's another type
of information.

764
00:37:12,340 --> 00:37:15,730
And that's not entirely unlike
the information that we've

765
00:37:15,730 --> 00:37:20,190
discussed in this class back
earlier this semester.

766
00:37:20,190 --> 00:37:26,370
But with live-action games,
especially live-action games

767
00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:28,435
that don't have any kind of
turn based thing, they're

768
00:37:28,435 --> 00:37:32,790
happening in real time and
they're moving in real-time.

769
00:37:32,790 --> 00:37:36,880
Information overload on the
player becomes something that

770
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,007
you have to be very careful of
when you're designing your

771
00:37:39,007 --> 00:37:39,510
game mechanic.

772
00:37:39,510 --> 00:37:44,390
How much is someone expected
to know at any given time?

773
00:37:44,390 --> 00:37:46,380
This is going to be very
applicable for any of the

774
00:37:46,380 --> 00:37:49,370
games that you design for
the third assignment.

775
00:37:49,370 --> 00:37:52,760
If you decide to do a
live-action game, think about

776
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,720
here's somebody who's moving
around in a space.

777
00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:59,010
Maybe it's a hospital or it may
be the doctor's office.

778
00:37:59,010 --> 00:38:05,010
And this person is trying
to remember X numbers of

779
00:38:05,010 --> 00:38:07,880
statistics about their
character.

780
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:15,550
How agitated I am, the number
that determines how many drugs

781
00:38:15,550 --> 00:38:21,090
are part of me right now,
and that sort of thing.

782
00:38:21,090 --> 00:38:22,630
You've got these stats.

783
00:38:22,630 --> 00:38:26,330
And once again, too high, then
what happens is you've got a

784
00:38:26,330 --> 00:38:28,640
character that's standing there
trying to do all the

785
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,630
math in their head and
not role-playing.

786
00:38:31,630 --> 00:38:33,270
If they're role-playing
anything, they're role-playing

787
00:38:33,270 --> 00:38:36,160
a mathematician or a [INAUDIBLE]
in their minds.

788
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,435
And you're losing the immersion,
you're losing the

789
00:38:40,435 --> 00:38:43,300
[INAUDIBLE] to be I'm supposed
to be an angry person.

790
00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:44,910
But I'm standing here
trying to do math

791
00:38:44,910 --> 00:38:48,310
about how angry I am.

792
00:38:48,310 --> 00:38:51,720
And you've got attention
of information and very

793
00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:52,970
[INAUDIBLE].

794
00:38:54,470 --> 00:38:57,940
There are times when you
actually want that though.

795
00:38:57,940 --> 00:39:00,350
There are ways to take
that and turn

796
00:39:00,350 --> 00:39:01,600
it into your advantage.

797
00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:08,290
In particular, when the
thing that you want

798
00:39:08,290 --> 00:39:09,550
people to be doing--

799
00:39:09,550 --> 00:39:12,930
the kind of activity that you
want people to engage in--

800
00:39:12,930 --> 00:39:14,940
are the things that players
would generally be

801
00:39:14,940 --> 00:39:16,350
uncomfortable doing
with each other.

802
00:39:16,350 --> 00:39:19,360
Physical violence would be
a good example of that.

803
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:23,800
I want to be able to hurt this
other character, but I don't

804
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:25,950
want to hurt this
other player.

805
00:39:25,950 --> 00:39:30,120
So what are the things that I
can do to bridge that gap?

806
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:32,310
AUDIENCE: Insult his mother.

807
00:39:32,310 --> 00:39:35,170
PROFESSOR: Verbally, sure, there
are ways to do that.

808
00:39:35,170 --> 00:39:39,160
But you might need rules or at
least some guidance from the

809
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:42,280
GM to say, take that
seriously.

810
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:46,040
Because that can very easily
drift into the realm of, yeah

811
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:47,290
that's just a joke.

812
00:39:49,490 --> 00:39:50,630
AUDIENCE: Rock, paper,
scissors?

813
00:39:50,630 --> 00:39:52,550
PROFESSOR: Rock, paper,
scissors?

814
00:39:52,550 --> 00:39:56,670
That could be a mechanic for
a fist fight, for instance.

815
00:39:56,670 --> 00:39:57,990
Or [INAUDIBLE]

816
00:39:57,990 --> 00:40:00,070
that you start see them
avoiding that.

817
00:40:00,070 --> 00:40:01,890
AUDIENCE: Nerf guns.

818
00:40:01,890 --> 00:40:02,650
PROFESSOR: Nerf guns?

819
00:40:02,650 --> 00:40:04,965
Things that shoot little
pieces of plastic.

820
00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:11,015
But odds and evens.

821
00:40:11,015 --> 00:40:12,512
AUDIENCE: How about tokens
like in [INAUDIBLE].

822
00:40:12,512 --> 00:40:13,380
PROFESSOR: Say what?

823
00:40:13,380 --> 00:40:16,680
AUDIENCE: Health tokens
like in [INAUDIBLE].

824
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:17,930
PROFESSOR: Give me
some more detail.

825
00:40:20,260 --> 00:40:23,300
AUDIENCE: Like if someone was a
certain number of flags, and

826
00:40:23,300 --> 00:40:25,160
so you hurt them
by taking one.

827
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:26,260
PROFESSOR: So the player
might have

828
00:40:26,260 --> 00:40:27,855
multiple flags for instance.

829
00:40:27,855 --> 00:40:29,900
OK, gets them angry.

830
00:40:29,900 --> 00:40:31,150
It's like health bar
almost, actually.

831
00:40:36,620 --> 00:40:37,870
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

832
00:40:43,370 --> 00:40:46,470
PROFESSOR: So dice rolling is
under the general term like

833
00:40:46,470 --> 00:40:49,530
things randomizing numbers.

834
00:40:49,530 --> 00:40:52,750
In fact, rock, paper, scissors,
is randomizing

835
00:40:52,750 --> 00:40:53,340
things almost.

836
00:40:53,340 --> 00:40:57,040
And then you have toy
weapons, right?

837
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:01,120
Probably not so relevant
for the game violence.

838
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:05,330
But you could imagine setting up
a room full of foam things

839
00:41:05,330 --> 00:41:09,240
which you will be quite happy
to throw at each other.

840
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:13,620
You know that this cylinder of
foam, of pipe-insulating

841
00:41:13,620 --> 00:41:17,260
material, is not going to hurt
anyone when you throw it.

842
00:41:17,260 --> 00:41:20,000
Which makes it more likely that
I'm going to pick it up

843
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:21,950
and throw it at someone.

844
00:41:21,950 --> 00:41:24,835
Clearly it's something that's
designed for me to throw that

845
00:41:24,835 --> 00:41:26,670
the GMs put there.

846
00:41:26,670 --> 00:41:29,560
And if you want your players to
be engaging in that kind of

847
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,700
activity that's technically--

848
00:41:31,700 --> 00:41:33,090
you could have put a
real bottle there.

849
00:41:33,090 --> 00:41:37,640
You could have put a real mug
or computer or something.

850
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,540
That's the reason why you as
the GM could have, but they

851
00:41:39,540 --> 00:41:43,610
are deliberately designing to
put something fake there to

852
00:41:43,610 --> 00:41:47,040
clue the player into maybe
there's something I can do

853
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:49,220
with that I wouldn't necessarily
want to do if it

854
00:41:49,220 --> 00:41:50,774
was the real thing.

855
00:41:50,774 --> 00:41:53,264
I wouldn't want to throw a real
bottle at somebody, but I

856
00:41:53,264 --> 00:41:56,760
would easily throw a foam
bottle at somebody.

857
00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:03,600
Same thing for Nerf guns, dart
guns, this guns, it's like you

858
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:06,320
put something with a trigger
in somebody's hands that's

859
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,670
going to launch a little cheap
piece of plastic at someone?

860
00:42:09,670 --> 00:42:12,160
They're itching for a chance
to use it, really.

861
00:42:15,740 --> 00:42:19,840
Let's see, what else?

862
00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:21,060
Dice are difficult.

863
00:42:21,060 --> 00:42:23,240
The problem with dice is you
need a flat surface to roll

864
00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:26,304
them on, and you might
not have that.

865
00:42:26,304 --> 00:42:27,554
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

866
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,350
PROFESSOR: Still a little bit
risky, because they could end

867
00:42:34,350 --> 00:42:35,230
up going all over the floor.

868
00:42:35,230 --> 00:42:37,725
AUDIENCE: Another thing that
I've seen people do is some

869
00:42:37,725 --> 00:42:40,220
kind of [INAUDIBLE]
style thing.

870
00:42:40,220 --> 00:42:44,461
Where essentially they have
[INAUDIBLE] or something, you

871
00:42:44,461 --> 00:42:45,709
might have created them.

872
00:42:45,709 --> 00:42:48,810
You can beat a challenge by
giving one to the other player

873
00:42:48,810 --> 00:42:51,021
that you're fighting with.

874
00:42:51,021 --> 00:42:52,271
And then [INAUDIBLE].

875
00:42:55,310 --> 00:42:56,898
PROFESSOR: So it's like the
amount of energy you've got.

876
00:42:56,898 --> 00:42:58,850
AUDIENCE: Yeah, it's like the
amount of energy you've got.

877
00:42:58,850 --> 00:43:03,040
And also, if you discard them or
give them to another player

878
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:07,960
then it's the difference between
these things are just

879
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,236
gone and they circulate
around.

880
00:43:12,236 --> 00:43:12,728
PROFESSOR: [INAUDIBLE].

881
00:43:12,728 --> 00:43:16,418
AUDIENCE: Yeah, so if there's
the circulation thing than you

882
00:43:16,418 --> 00:43:18,140
can get whooped a few times.

883
00:43:18,140 --> 00:43:19,616
But after being whooped then
suddenly you get a chance to

884
00:43:19,616 --> 00:43:21,092
whoop back.

885
00:43:21,092 --> 00:43:25,028
And then it becomes
less [INAUDIBLE].

886
00:43:25,028 --> 00:43:26,012
PROFESSOR: That was
interesting.

887
00:43:26,012 --> 00:43:29,456
This is the good part that I
want to talk about which is

888
00:43:29,456 --> 00:43:31,460
[INAUDIBLE].

889
00:43:31,460 --> 00:43:34,570
A topic that you guys are
already very familiar with.

890
00:43:34,570 --> 00:43:39,580
But, at what point do your
game mechanics--

891
00:43:39,580 --> 00:43:42,270
are you designing your game
mechanics not necessarily to

892
00:43:42,270 --> 00:43:46,260
enhance the realism or to
encourage certain behaviors or

893
00:43:46,260 --> 00:43:48,790
to give the player enough
information about what they're

894
00:43:48,790 --> 00:43:51,110
allowed to do or what they
should be doing?

895
00:43:51,110 --> 00:43:53,880
And you're just going into the
realm of how do I make this

896
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,410
competitively interesting?

897
00:43:56,410 --> 00:43:59,080
Real fights, if you get
a bunch of blows,

898
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:00,330
you do not get stronger.

899
00:44:03,190 --> 00:44:07,825
Well, if you're Bruce
[? Bannon ?] maybe.

900
00:44:07,825 --> 00:44:14,510
But from a competitive point of
view, or from a traditional

901
00:44:14,510 --> 00:44:17,860
game play point of view, that
sounds like a great idea.

902
00:44:17,860 --> 00:44:24,730
That gets you back into the
game, whereas any very

903
00:44:24,730 --> 00:44:27,481
realistic fight mechanic is
really probably going to be a

904
00:44:27,481 --> 00:44:28,690
positive feedback mechanic.

905
00:44:28,690 --> 00:44:30,270
You win, you keep winning.

906
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:40,340
You can think of these five
different things as--its not

907
00:44:40,340 --> 00:44:43,280
like game balance, but these are
decisions that you have to

908
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,785
make either as an individual
designer or as a team about

909
00:44:46,785 --> 00:44:50,010
what any given mechanic in
your game is trying to

910
00:44:50,010 --> 00:44:50,720
accomplish.

911
00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:52,585
It's rarely mutually
exclusive.

912
00:44:52,585 --> 00:44:55,310
It's usually trying to involve
multiple one of these things.

913
00:44:55,310 --> 00:44:58,230
You don't want to fall down on
any of these, especially not

914
00:44:58,230 --> 00:44:59,400
feasibility.

915
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,330
It's like, yes this is the
perfect game mechanic!

916
00:45:01,330 --> 00:45:05,540
And we had two years to be able
to put together all the

917
00:45:05,540 --> 00:45:07,930
things that we had.

918
00:45:07,930 --> 00:45:09,790
And for the games that
have failed to run

919
00:45:09,790 --> 00:45:12,280
because of that idea.

920
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,925
Especially live-action games
that have a hidden computer

921
00:45:14,925 --> 00:45:19,100
component, especially if
they're designed by MIT

922
00:45:19,100 --> 00:45:22,460
students, rapidly designed into
a software engineering

923
00:45:22,460 --> 00:45:25,680
project that never finishes.

924
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,070
The game kind of disappears and
it's all about this damn

925
00:45:28,070 --> 00:45:31,890
website that would have solved
everything else.

926
00:45:31,890 --> 00:45:33,750
It's completely realistic
because of the hacking

927
00:45:33,750 --> 00:45:36,100
mechanic that actually happens
on the computer.

928
00:45:36,100 --> 00:45:39,800
And the skills scale to your
ability as a character which

929
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:41,900
the computer already knows,
and you don't have to

930
00:45:41,900 --> 00:45:45,120
remember, so you can
feel really neat.

931
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,420
And it's competitive because
you know what the opponents

932
00:45:48,420 --> 00:45:51,493
are doing, but not everything
they're doing, and it's going

933
00:45:51,493 --> 00:45:53,734
to take us five years
to write this code.

934
00:45:53,734 --> 00:45:55,198
The game's never going
to happen.

935
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:02,160
Let's see, let me think about an
example just to sort of put

936
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:05,820
some ideas in your head.

937
00:46:05,820 --> 00:46:08,650
Back to the idea of things
that players might be

938
00:46:08,650 --> 00:46:11,060
uncomfortable doing
with each other.

939
00:46:11,060 --> 00:46:14,600
Seduction is one of those
things that's--

940
00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:18,160
if you don't have a game
mechanic for it, it never

941
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,380
happens in the way that
you want it to

942
00:46:21,380 --> 00:46:23,530
that helps the game.

943
00:46:23,530 --> 00:46:26,540
If it happens, it's happening
between the players and that

944
00:46:26,540 --> 00:46:29,080
causes all kinds of problems.

945
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:32,180
So you come up with a rule, come
up with a game mechanic,

946
00:46:32,180 --> 00:46:34,660
that feels nothing like
real-life seduction.

947
00:46:34,660 --> 00:46:37,827
We're going to play a game of
blackjack now, if I win you're

948
00:46:37,827 --> 00:46:38,935
now in love with me.

949
00:46:38,935 --> 00:46:42,690
And it's like, that's not how
seduction actually works, but

950
00:46:42,690 --> 00:46:44,910
it actually makes it easier
for players to

951
00:46:44,910 --> 00:46:47,630
say, I can do that.

952
00:46:47,630 --> 00:46:48,440
I can play a game
of blackjack.

953
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:49,690
There's no social
awkwardness in

954
00:46:49,690 --> 00:46:50,400
playing a game of blackjack.

955
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:54,460
AUDIENCE: You can associate that
with, I win this game so

956
00:46:54,460 --> 00:46:57,281
I slipped inside your glass a
love potion so now you're in

957
00:46:57,281 --> 00:46:58,109
love with me.

958
00:46:58,109 --> 00:46:59,359
Something like that.

959
00:47:02,036 --> 00:47:04,260
PROFESSOR: But see, in that
particular case you're

960
00:47:04,260 --> 00:47:10,360
describing an action that people
might be more actually

961
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:13,820
willing to do through some
sort of simple mechanic.

962
00:47:13,820 --> 00:47:15,800
Like OK, instead of love potion
we're going to mechanic

963
00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:18,100
that enables you to something.

964
00:47:18,100 --> 00:47:20,220
I'm going to actually
give you a file.

965
00:47:20,220 --> 00:47:24,010
And if you drink something in
the tea, like maple syrup,

966
00:47:24,010 --> 00:47:24,870
talk to the GM.

967
00:47:24,870 --> 00:47:30,540
Because you probably just
drank some magic potion.

968
00:47:30,540 --> 00:47:32,740
But if the goal is, all
right we're playing

969
00:47:32,740 --> 00:47:33,870
a film noire game.

970
00:47:33,870 --> 00:47:38,330
And you're supposed to be
engaging in constant witty

971
00:47:38,330 --> 00:47:43,460
banter, laden with sexual
innuendo, a lot of people have

972
00:47:43,460 --> 00:47:46,570
a lot of difficulty with that.

973
00:47:46,570 --> 00:47:48,120
Sometimes it works.

974
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,970
I made it work in some games.

975
00:47:50,970 --> 00:47:54,750
But it makes it a lot easier if
the success or failure in

976
00:47:54,750 --> 00:48:00,020
that is not going to be
bottlenecked by whether the

977
00:48:00,020 --> 00:48:03,210
players feel comfortable
doing it.

978
00:48:03,210 --> 00:48:06,030
So creating a game mechanic that
actually feels a little

979
00:48:06,030 --> 00:48:12,060
bit less than what activity
you're trying to represent may

980
00:48:12,060 --> 00:48:14,790
make it easier for people to
engage in the activity.

981
00:48:14,790 --> 00:48:16,680
Same thing goes in combat,
playing rock, paper, scissors,

982
00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:18,890
feels nothing like
an actual fight.

983
00:48:18,890 --> 00:48:21,110
But people will be much more
willing to play rock, paper,

984
00:48:21,110 --> 00:48:23,170
scissors with each other than
to punch each other.

985
00:48:23,170 --> 00:48:28,040
So come up a rule, give them a
little plastic gun, give them

986
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,914
something to make it easier,
and they'll be willing to

987
00:48:30,914 --> 00:48:34,000
engage in that activity
more often.

988
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,817
Violence in the rule will
probably be the thing that

989
00:48:36,817 --> 00:48:38,067
comes up a lot in
this setting.

990
00:48:44,730 --> 00:48:51,208
So, let me see what else
we can get into.

991
00:48:51,208 --> 00:48:54,620
It's about 2 o'clock.

992
00:48:54,620 --> 00:48:59,050
How many folks here have played
some variant of Mafia

993
00:48:59,050 --> 00:49:04,050
or Werewolf or?

994
00:49:04,050 --> 00:49:06,770
Who's played Mafia
in particular?

995
00:49:06,770 --> 00:49:08,470
OK, who's played Werewolf?

996
00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:15,815
So those are live-action
games too.

997
00:49:15,815 --> 00:49:18,630
And those are live-action games
that specifically don't

998
00:49:18,630 --> 00:49:23,860
try to draw too sharp a division
between who you are

999
00:49:23,860 --> 00:49:25,350
and who your player is.

1000
00:49:25,350 --> 00:49:30,625
You are given a role, a card,
that basically says whether

1001
00:49:30,625 --> 00:49:34,960
you're Mafia or whether you're
a villager I think.

1002
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:36,290
AUDIENCE: Civilian.

1003
00:49:36,290 --> 00:49:40,250
PROFESSOR: And the whole idea
is that everybody who's--

1004
00:49:40,250 --> 00:49:43,690
that's a character sheet that
gives you private, secret,

1005
00:49:43,690 --> 00:49:46,840
information about the role that
you're supposed to play.

1006
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:53,010
But in my opinion, these
particular games-- and we're

1007
00:49:53,010 --> 00:49:54,940
going to play some variants
of them--

1008
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:02,020
what you are told by the
cards is only what

1009
00:50:02,020 --> 00:50:03,720
you're allowed to do.

1010
00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:08,520
What actually gives you the role
is what you decide to do.

1011
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:13,140
I play Mafia and I'm going to
say, Patrick needs to die.

1012
00:50:13,140 --> 00:50:19,179
And other people in the room
agree with me, and Patrick's

1013
00:50:19,179 --> 00:50:20,610
character gets taken
out of the game.

1014
00:50:20,610 --> 00:50:23,800
That decision is the decision
that made me Mafia.

1015
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,540
And that decision is the
decision that other people are

1016
00:50:26,540 --> 00:50:33,650
trying to catch, because they
are trying to find a person

1017
00:50:33,650 --> 00:50:36,090
who's actually responsible for
various acts when everybody's

1018
00:50:36,090 --> 00:50:37,560
eyes are closed.

1019
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:42,290
The general model for these
games is there are cycles.

1020
00:50:42,290 --> 00:50:45,120
For Werewolf it's a day and
night cycle, and for Mafia

1021
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:46,560
it's also day and night.

1022
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:51,090
But the idea is that during the
night everybody who's not

1023
00:50:51,090 --> 00:50:54,270
Mafia gets to have
their eyes open.

1024
00:50:54,270 --> 00:50:56,180
Everybody who is Mafia--

1025
00:50:56,180 --> 00:50:58,280
everybody who's not Mafia
keeps their eyes closed.

1026
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,080
Everyone who is Mafia keeps
their eyes open.

1027
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:05,550
And people who are Mafia can
communicate through some GM

1028
00:51:05,550 --> 00:51:09,090
mediator, some game master
mediated way, to specify the

1029
00:51:09,090 --> 00:51:11,650
player to be taken out of
the game at this point.

1030
00:51:11,650 --> 00:51:12,950
It's usually a point.

1031
00:51:15,710 --> 00:51:18,400
I see things with blinks.

1032
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,770
Because as the GM moves around
sometimes that gives you

1033
00:51:20,770 --> 00:51:22,460
clues, because you can hear.

1034
00:51:22,460 --> 00:51:25,110
Even with your eyes closed you
can hear where the GM is.

1035
00:51:29,410 --> 00:51:32,180
And then that's like
the night cycle.

1036
00:51:32,180 --> 00:51:36,985
And during the day cycle
everyone opens their eyes and

1037
00:51:36,985 --> 00:51:39,940
whoever's been taken out of
the game informs you.

1038
00:51:39,940 --> 00:51:43,670
And everyone knows and everybody
starts discussing

1039
00:51:43,670 --> 00:51:46,160
and accusing each other of
being responsible for it.

1040
00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:49,132
And the whole point of the game
is for the villagers to

1041
00:51:49,132 --> 00:51:51,380
identify who all the Mafia is
before everyone finishes.

1042
00:51:58,380 --> 00:52:01,210
It's a live-action game that
doesn't have a lot of action.

1043
00:52:01,210 --> 00:52:03,570
I would say, it's one action.

1044
00:52:03,570 --> 00:52:04,910
There's closing your
eyes, opening your

1045
00:52:04,910 --> 00:52:07,990
eyes, and there's pointing.

1046
00:52:07,990 --> 00:52:10,330
There are variants where

1047
00:52:10,330 --> 00:52:13,590
sometimes there is a Godfather.

1048
00:52:13,590 --> 00:52:16,430
AUDIENCE: I've seen websites
with whole lists of different

1049
00:52:16,430 --> 00:52:18,000
roles that are just
ridiculous.

1050
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:21,640
Like there's grave keeper,
there's necromancers.

1051
00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:23,170
PROFESSOR: There's people
who can bring characters

1052
00:52:23,170 --> 00:52:24,480
back from the dead.

1053
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:26,730
There are people who
can basically do

1054
00:52:26,730 --> 00:52:28,170
a background check.

1055
00:52:28,170 --> 00:52:28,910
I think that's--

1056
00:52:28,910 --> 00:52:30,260
AUDIENCE: Oh, that's
right you told us.

1057
00:52:30,260 --> 00:52:31,510
PROFESSOR: -- angels and cops.

1058
00:52:34,810 --> 00:52:38,470
And you go from two cycles to
three cycles per round.

1059
00:52:38,470 --> 00:52:39,802
Four cycles per round where
different people

1060
00:52:39,802 --> 00:52:41,290
have their eyes open.

1061
00:52:41,290 --> 00:52:46,620
And you get different bits of
information about what the

1062
00:52:46,620 --> 00:52:49,090
world state is like.

1063
00:52:49,090 --> 00:52:53,830
The fact that killing somebody
is pointing at them, that's a

1064
00:52:53,830 --> 00:52:55,260
dissociation mechanic right?

1065
00:52:55,260 --> 00:52:57,365
It's not like you're actually
being asked to engage in

1066
00:52:57,365 --> 00:52:59,378
physical combat.

1067
00:52:59,378 --> 00:53:01,745
Even though the fiction of
the game is that you're

1068
00:53:01,745 --> 00:53:03,200
assassinating this person in
the middle of the night.

1069
00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:10,435
The verisimilitude, and
competition, will largely come

1070
00:53:10,435 --> 00:53:12,870
down to the discussion phase.

1071
00:53:12,870 --> 00:53:17,970
They are trying to put players
in an environment where you've

1072
00:53:17,970 --> 00:53:22,660
got a paranoid of villagers, a
paranoid town, and they're all

1073
00:53:22,660 --> 00:53:27,390
mutually accusing each other.

1074
00:53:27,390 --> 00:53:34,240
And both the act of trying to
not be accused, and trying to

1075
00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:40,210
deduce who is the right person
to accuse, is a compelling

1076
00:53:40,210 --> 00:53:41,730
competitive experience.

1077
00:53:41,730 --> 00:53:45,360
That's what all these games
are really about.

1078
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,820
So all the emphasis, all the
time of the game frankly, is

1079
00:53:48,820 --> 00:53:52,520
devoted to that phase when
everyone sits down and

1080
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:56,820
discusses with each other
who could be the Mafia.

1081
00:53:56,820 --> 00:54:01,126
You want to walk us through
one of the variants maybe?

1082
00:54:01,126 --> 00:54:03,260
GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah, do you
want to actually play it?

1083
00:54:03,260 --> 00:54:05,640
Or just describe it?

1084
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:09,540
PROFESSOR: We have 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

1085
00:54:09,540 --> 00:54:11,890
10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

1086
00:54:11,890 --> 00:54:14,050
We could have two groups
or one big group.

1087
00:54:14,050 --> 00:54:15,690
GUEST SPEAKER: One big group
may take awhile.

1088
00:54:18,424 --> 00:54:22,220
PROFESSOR: Let's do two
groups but how many

1089
00:54:22,220 --> 00:54:23,840
different rule variants?

1090
00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:25,740
GUEST SPEAKER: I only found one
that I thought was really

1091
00:54:25,740 --> 00:54:28,192
interesting, although we can
certainly-- even the Wikipedia

1092
00:54:28,192 --> 00:54:30,210
page has a million variants.

1093
00:54:30,210 --> 00:54:32,620
AUDIENCE: The one I normally
would play would be one where

1094
00:54:32,620 --> 00:54:34,950
there's mafia and
there's cops.

1095
00:54:34,950 --> 00:54:36,490
There might be a medic.

1096
00:54:36,490 --> 00:54:40,718
AUDIENCE: Inspector, angel,
and prostitute.

1097
00:54:40,718 --> 00:54:42,160
AUDIENCE: What's the prostitute
do again?

1098
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:42,656
AUDIENCE: If you sleep
with the mafia

1099
00:54:42,656 --> 00:54:43,420
they don't kill anybody.

1100
00:54:43,420 --> 00:54:46,070
If you sleep with an inspector
they get incorrect

1101
00:54:46,070 --> 00:54:46,560
information.

1102
00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:48,770
If you sleep with a nurse
they don't heal.

1103
00:54:54,570 --> 00:54:56,370
PROFESSOR: This is it's very
important to make sure you

1104
00:54:56,370 --> 00:54:57,980
know what rules that
you're playing with

1105
00:54:57,980 --> 00:55:00,500
before the game starts.

1106
00:55:00,500 --> 00:55:04,220
So walk us through the roles,
and then what we'll do is

1107
00:55:04,220 --> 00:55:06,450
we'll break this into
two groups.

1108
00:55:06,450 --> 00:55:13,030
And we'll have two groups play
separately and that's probably

1109
00:55:13,030 --> 00:55:16,800
the end of the class activity.

1110
00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:20,760
GUEST SPEAKER: I had found a
variant called Thing, which is

1111
00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:23,200
based on the John
Carpenter movie.

1112
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:25,440
Which is interesting because it
takes out one of the roles.

1113
00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:30,260
The idea is one person is the
shape shifting thing, and at

1114
00:55:30,260 --> 00:55:33,300
night they infect someone else
and that person becomes a

1115
00:55:33,300 --> 00:55:34,980
thing as well.

1116
00:55:34,980 --> 00:55:37,860
So they're not knocked
out, out right.

1117
00:55:37,860 --> 00:55:40,930
And then during the day the
group votes and decides on one

1118
00:55:40,930 --> 00:55:42,580
person to test.

1119
00:55:42,580 --> 00:55:45,720
And if they test a thing that
person is killed and they get

1120
00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:47,020
to test another one.

1121
00:55:47,020 --> 00:55:49,410
And the idea is that the things
are trying to outnumber

1122
00:55:49,410 --> 00:55:51,810
the people.

1123
00:55:51,810 --> 00:55:53,540
Which is interesting because
it takes away

1124
00:55:53,540 --> 00:55:56,840
that inspector role.

1125
00:55:56,840 --> 00:56:00,552
AUDIENCE: Do you know who
gets thinged in the

1126
00:56:00,552 --> 00:56:02,120
middle of the night?

1127
00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:03,520
GUEST SPEAKER: So, I was
thinking about this.

1128
00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:07,140
What you would need is for the
person who is the thing to

1129
00:56:07,140 --> 00:56:08,810
indicate to the moderator.

1130
00:56:08,810 --> 00:56:12,460
And then maybe the moderator
could tap them or something.

1131
00:56:12,460 --> 00:56:14,526
AUDIENCE: Ok, so if you're a
thing you know you're a thing.

1132
00:56:14,526 --> 00:56:16,770
GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah.

1133
00:56:16,770 --> 00:56:19,020
The things are spreading
as opposed to just--

1134
00:56:19,020 --> 00:56:21,060
AUDIENCE: And then if there's
two things, do they both just

1135
00:56:21,060 --> 00:56:22,290
agree on another?

1136
00:56:22,290 --> 00:56:22,530
On a third?

1137
00:56:22,530 --> 00:56:23,460
GUEST SPEAKER: Presumably.

1138
00:56:23,460 --> 00:56:27,360
So this is really interesting
because apparently this is

1139
00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,210
played at a conference for
science fiction writers.

1140
00:56:30,210 --> 00:56:34,155
So there's little snippets of it
on the web about the rules

1141
00:56:34,155 --> 00:56:35,590
from different blogs
and stuff.

1142
00:56:35,590 --> 00:56:37,510
And it's not as interesting, but
of course the problem is

1143
00:56:37,510 --> 00:56:39,810
how do you Google
for mafia thing?

1144
00:56:44,590 --> 00:56:47,370
It's not interesting to me, and
then it seems like there's

1145
00:56:47,370 --> 00:56:48,620
[INAUDIBLE].

1146
00:56:52,020 --> 00:56:55,100
PROFESSOR: So it might be fine
actually to have two groups

1147
00:56:55,100 --> 00:56:58,296
figure out how to play that game
just from the description

1148
00:56:58,296 --> 00:56:59,940
that you've just been given.

1149
00:56:59,940 --> 00:57:01,490
I think [INAUDIBLE]

1150
00:57:01,490 --> 00:57:02,872
there's going to be enough
people who've played

1151
00:57:02,872 --> 00:57:05,100
traditional Mafia to
know how it works.

1152
00:57:05,100 --> 00:57:09,580
And then we'll just reconvene at
the end of it and see what

1153
00:57:09,580 --> 00:57:12,330
each version people
came up with.

1154
00:57:12,330 --> 00:57:15,670
What were the similarities and
what were the differences.

1155
00:57:15,670 --> 00:57:18,160
Again, that's the flexibility
of doing a live-action game

1156
00:57:18,160 --> 00:57:19,670
when the people who are actually
coming up the the

1157
00:57:19,670 --> 00:57:23,070
rules are actually in the same
room as the players, or are

1158
00:57:23,070 --> 00:57:24,595
the players themselves.

1159
00:57:24,595 --> 00:57:26,250
You get to make stuff
up on the fly as

1160
00:57:26,250 --> 00:57:27,500
long as everyone agrees.

1161
00:57:29,870 --> 00:57:31,530
So let's give it a shot.

1162
00:57:31,530 --> 00:57:36,516
While Jason is sorting out, any
questions about the stuff?

1163
00:57:42,578 --> 00:57:45,554
AUDIENCE: The two biggest
challenges that I've come

1164
00:57:45,554 --> 00:57:52,810
across in the block mechanics
have to do with surgical

1165
00:57:52,810 --> 00:57:57,610
challenges and intellectual
skill.

1166
00:57:57,610 --> 00:58:00,076
So let's go intellectual.

1167
00:58:00,076 --> 00:58:02,580
It's easy to play a character
that's stupider than you.

1168
00:58:02,580 --> 00:58:04,710
It's really hard to play
a character that's

1169
00:58:04,710 --> 00:58:05,820
smarter than you.

1170
00:58:05,820 --> 00:58:08,390
In particular, it's really
hard to play a character

1171
00:58:08,390 --> 00:58:11,980
that's smarter than you if you
don't have a GM around all the

1172
00:58:11,980 --> 00:58:15,770
time to tell you, stop.

1173
00:58:18,686 --> 00:58:21,225
So, if you have any ideas about
how to deal with that.

1174
00:58:21,225 --> 00:58:26,306
The other one is, I'm creating
social conflicts.

1175
00:58:26,306 --> 00:58:29,810
Like, this is harder than any
role-playing game because it

1176
00:58:29,810 --> 00:58:33,120
feels like if you want to be
able to persuade a character

1177
00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:35,768
or something you just want to
persuade them because you're

1178
00:58:35,768 --> 00:58:37,640
role-playing right?

1179
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:39,960
But you're supposed to be
playing a character who is

1180
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:41,990
more persuasive than you.

1181
00:58:41,990 --> 00:58:44,870
But it feels really cheap.

1182
00:58:44,870 --> 00:58:46,620
If you can just sort of.

1183
00:58:46,620 --> 00:58:49,480
PROFESSOR: You believe me now!

1184
00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:53,190
AUDIENCE: It also ties into
another area that frequently

1185
00:58:53,190 --> 00:58:55,635
pops up in LARP's and
role-playing games in general

1186
00:58:55,635 --> 00:58:58,210
which is use of metagame
knowledge.

1187
00:58:58,210 --> 00:59:03,030
So frequently if you've been
persuaded to do something then

1188
00:59:03,030 --> 00:59:07,400
you've come across players using
their metagame knowledge

1189
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:09,420
that they don't want to do the
thing that they're being

1190
00:59:09,420 --> 00:59:11,720
mechanically forced to do.

1191
00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:15,100
And they're trying to find
loopholes constantly.

1192
00:59:15,100 --> 00:59:20,490
I don't know if you can really
force people to abandon their

1193
00:59:20,490 --> 00:59:21,960
metagame knowledge
mechanically?

1194
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:24,410
But I don't know.

1195
00:59:24,410 --> 00:59:28,090
PROFESSOR: I have some examples
on how the Assassin's

1196
00:59:28,090 --> 00:59:32,690
Guild in particular has
dealt with that.

1197
00:59:32,690 --> 00:59:36,580
And in some ways it's cheating,
because we're not

1198
00:59:36,580 --> 00:59:39,370
going to try to do some
of those things.

1199
00:59:39,370 --> 00:59:41,650
In particular, let's
take persuasion for

1200
00:59:41,650 --> 00:59:43,450
one of those things.

1201
00:59:43,450 --> 00:59:47,020
The problem with persuasion is
that whatever mechanic you

1202
00:59:47,020 --> 00:59:51,110
come to, other than what you
see is what you get--

1203
00:59:51,110 --> 00:59:52,360
[INAUDIBLE]--

1204
00:59:56,750 --> 00:59:59,900
any other mechanic that you come
up with runs that risk of

1205
00:59:59,900 --> 01:00:01,640
the, wait a minute this
is not what I really,

1206
01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:03,460
really, want to do.

1207
01:00:03,460 --> 01:00:07,190
So the Assassin's Guild
has replaced that with

1208
01:00:07,190 --> 01:00:07,810
brainwashing.

1209
01:00:07,810 --> 01:00:12,790
Which is the whole idea of,
you're not being persuaded.

1210
01:00:12,790 --> 01:00:16,870
You goals are being forcibly
changed, but now you have

1211
01:00:16,870 --> 01:00:18,470
other goals.

1212
01:00:18,470 --> 01:00:19,720
And that's the big difference.

1213
01:00:23,390 --> 01:00:26,300
Your old goals are no longer
your win conditions.

1214
01:00:26,300 --> 01:00:29,160
Your new goals are now
your win conditions.

1215
01:00:29,160 --> 01:00:33,247
You can still win the game by
obeying your new goals.

1216
01:00:33,247 --> 01:00:35,430
AUDIENCE: That's cool.

1217
01:00:35,430 --> 01:00:37,144
PROFESSOR: The brainwashing
mechanism.

1218
01:00:37,144 --> 01:00:39,154
AUDIENCE: So you've aligned the
interests of the player

1219
01:00:39,154 --> 01:00:41,410
with the interest of
the character.

1220
01:00:41,410 --> 01:00:46,680
PROFESSOR:You want to go with
your new goals now because--

1221
01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:50,110
how this came up, typically in
the Assassin's Guild, the

1222
01:00:50,110 --> 01:00:51,940
Assassin's Guild actually
grew out from

1223
01:00:51,940 --> 01:00:53,250
circle of death games.

1224
01:00:53,250 --> 01:00:54,950
Which is, getting to know you.

1225
01:00:54,950 --> 01:00:57,175
I have the name of somebody, and
I need to shoot them with

1226
01:00:57,175 --> 01:00:58,430
this water gun.

1227
01:00:58,430 --> 01:00:59,950
Who is this person again?

1228
01:00:59,950 --> 01:01:00,450
I don't know.

1229
01:01:00,450 --> 01:01:01,230
I'm a freshman.

1230
01:01:01,230 --> 01:01:02,010
I haven't met everyone
on campus.

1231
01:01:02,010 --> 01:01:03,180
I'm going to figure out
who this person is.

1232
01:01:03,180 --> 01:01:05,560
That's where those
games came from.

1233
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:07,440
The Assassin's Guild kind
of grew up from that.

1234
01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:09,200
Then it became teams.

1235
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:14,190
And brainwashing was basically
the set of game mechanics that

1236
01:01:14,190 --> 01:01:16,140
was used for recruiting
people to your team.

1237
01:01:16,140 --> 01:01:19,010
So it's like, all right
everyone's got one target.

1238
01:01:19,010 --> 01:01:22,490
But there are a few people out
there who's job is destroying

1239
01:01:22,490 --> 01:01:25,730
everybody on this opposing
faction.

1240
01:01:25,730 --> 01:01:27,820
And there's only one person
in that opposing

1241
01:01:27,820 --> 01:01:28,430
faction right now.

1242
01:01:28,430 --> 01:01:29,060
There's only one of me.

1243
01:01:29,060 --> 01:01:31,750
But I have this brainwashing
mechanic that recruits more

1244
01:01:31,750 --> 01:01:32,320
and more people.

1245
01:01:32,320 --> 01:01:35,810
So what you thought was one,
I'm just against another

1246
01:01:35,810 --> 01:01:40,500
individual, becomes my group
is against that group.

1247
01:01:40,500 --> 01:01:42,160
And it feels pretty
awesome, actually.

1248
01:01:42,160 --> 01:01:43,820
Because what it actually
feels--

1249
01:01:43,820 --> 01:01:48,620
it's a weird game mechanic way
of making your character have

1250
01:01:48,620 --> 01:01:50,960
some sort of development
in the game.

1251
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:53,960
If you think about a
role-playing game, character

1252
01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:57,210
development means your goals
now change somehow.

1253
01:01:57,210 --> 01:02:01,340
But it's really difficult to
give players a means of doing

1254
01:02:01,340 --> 01:02:02,840
that themselves.

1255
01:02:02,840 --> 01:02:04,270
Brainwashing was one of the
few ways that seems to

1256
01:02:04,270 --> 01:02:05,570
actually have worked.

1257
01:02:05,570 --> 01:02:08,780
I'm actively going to knock out
this character, put this

1258
01:02:08,780 --> 01:02:12,130
blinky helmet on them for five
seconds, and if nobody catches

1259
01:02:12,130 --> 01:02:14,570
me in this process I give
them new goals.

1260
01:02:14,570 --> 01:02:17,260
And the person who's
[INAUDIBLE], dude this is way

1261
01:02:17,260 --> 01:02:19,074
more exciting than anything
[INAUDIBLE].

1262
01:02:21,790 --> 01:02:25,770
And you also avoid the metagame
problem of loyalty.

1263
01:02:25,770 --> 01:02:28,370
It's like, I got this
information from this other

1264
01:02:28,370 --> 01:02:30,720
group but I've been brainwashed
and I don't want

1265
01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:32,090
to tell you.

1266
01:02:32,090 --> 01:02:33,250
It's like, no you want to tell
me now because it'll actually

1267
01:02:33,250 --> 01:02:34,500
help you win.

1268
01:02:36,260 --> 01:02:42,320
But metagaming in all
kinds of live-action

1269
01:02:42,320 --> 01:02:43,740
games is a big thing.

1270
01:02:43,740 --> 01:02:47,850
You know things about the player
or you know things

1271
01:02:47,850 --> 01:02:49,506
about the game state
that you're not

1272
01:02:49,506 --> 01:02:51,260
really supposed to know.

1273
01:02:51,260 --> 01:02:54,096
If a person is supposed to be
able to teleport from one end

1274
01:02:54,096 --> 01:02:56,610
of campus to the other end of
campus, the character may be

1275
01:02:56,610 --> 01:02:57,810
able to do that.

1276
01:02:57,810 --> 01:03:00,286
But the damn player's got to
walk all the way in between.

1277
01:03:00,286 --> 01:03:03,100
And you have to drive the player
halfway to the, I now

1278
01:03:03,100 --> 01:03:05,980
know that player is probably
on this side of campus.

1279
01:03:05,980 --> 01:03:08,298
Even though your character
really had no idea how

1280
01:03:08,298 --> 01:03:09,480
to deal with that.

1281
01:03:09,480 --> 01:03:12,345
That's just one of those--

1282
01:03:12,345 --> 01:03:16,880
there are ways to design game
mechanics to avoid those

1283
01:03:16,880 --> 01:03:17,560
situations.

1284
01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:21,630
But in many, many, live-action
role playing there is a honor

1285
01:03:21,630 --> 01:03:24,710
system that really
has to kick in.

1286
01:03:24,710 --> 01:03:26,580
The nice thing about it is that
if everyone decides to go

1287
01:03:26,580 --> 01:03:29,280
by the honor system, and agrees
that this honor system

1288
01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:32,750
is necessary for the world to
be reinforced, it actually

1289
01:03:32,750 --> 01:03:35,586
helps reinforce that mutual
illusion that

1290
01:03:35,586 --> 01:03:38,500
this world is real.

1291
01:03:38,500 --> 01:03:40,940
By saying, I know that I'm not
supposed to know those things.

1292
01:03:40,940 --> 01:03:48,330
But I am going to play this game
as hard as I can in a way

1293
01:03:48,330 --> 01:03:50,000
that's [INAUDIBLE].

1294
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:52,590
Actually reinforces the world
for everybody else.

1295
01:03:52,590 --> 01:03:53,915
It's the same for
improv theatre.

1296
01:03:56,454 --> 01:04:00,850
Anyone here involved in improv
theatre or improv comedy?

1297
01:04:00,850 --> 01:04:03,100
So, you know yes, and?

1298
01:04:03,100 --> 01:04:04,130
AUDIENCE: Sure.

1299
01:04:04,130 --> 01:04:07,370
PROFESSOR: What would be the
concept behind that?

1300
01:04:07,370 --> 01:04:10,010
AUDIENCE: Yes, and, is an idea
where if you give someone an

1301
01:04:10,010 --> 01:04:13,580
offer they'll take your offer.

1302
01:04:13,580 --> 01:04:18,220
So if I say, man we're
all out of tomatoes.

1303
01:04:18,220 --> 01:04:22,700
Someone will say, yes and the
big tomato cook-off is

1304
01:04:22,700 --> 01:04:24,880
tomorrow or something
like this.

1305
01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:26,350
PROFESSOR: You cannot contradict
what was said.

1306
01:04:26,350 --> 01:04:28,410
AUDIENCE: Not only do you not
contradict, you always add

1307
01:04:28,410 --> 01:04:28,930
information.

1308
01:04:28,930 --> 01:04:30,943
Every line, at least at the
beginning of the scene, should

1309
01:04:30,943 --> 01:04:32,552
be adding information
to the scene.

1310
01:04:32,552 --> 01:04:35,300
And then after a few lines you
have a very, very, elaborate

1311
01:04:35,300 --> 01:04:37,950
set up that's kind
of ridiculous.

1312
01:04:37,950 --> 01:04:40,070
PROFESSOR: But, mutually
shared?

1313
01:04:40,070 --> 01:04:41,760
AUDIENCE: Exactly.

1314
01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:44,220
PROFESSOR: So, in that
same situation.

1315
01:04:44,220 --> 01:04:47,570
Metagaming is one of those
things that's actively working

1316
01:04:47,570 --> 01:04:49,340
to destroy the reality
of your world.

1317
01:04:49,340 --> 01:04:54,740
And if all the players agree to
try their damn hardest to

1318
01:04:54,740 --> 01:04:57,160
not let it interfere with
the world [INAUDIBLE].

1319
01:04:57,160 --> 01:05:02,040
The illusion in a way that it
strengthens the scene for

1320
01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:04,838
improv theatre.

1321
01:05:04,838 --> 01:05:07,900
PROFESSOR: Hold on, just one
sec, the other concern that

1322
01:05:07,900 --> 01:05:11,630
you had before persuasion
issue which was?

1323
01:05:11,630 --> 01:05:17,042
AUDIENCE: Characters who, in
particular this comes up a lot

1324
01:05:17,042 --> 01:05:19,994
in this [INAUDIBLE] type
situations or what have you,

1325
01:05:19,994 --> 01:05:22,990
where you have somebody's who
either a super genius.

1326
01:05:22,990 --> 01:05:25,140
AUDIENCE: Oh, so someone who's
better than you at something.

1327
01:05:25,140 --> 01:05:28,020
AUDIENCE: Much better
than you.

1328
01:05:28,020 --> 01:05:30,900
How do you mechanic that?

1329
01:05:33,920 --> 01:05:36,600
PROFESSOR: The best way that you
can do that is to cast the

1330
01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:37,530
right person.

1331
01:05:37,530 --> 01:05:44,000
But what I have generally found
is that old role-playing

1332
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:47,510
game chestnut of separating
intelligence from wisdom makes

1333
01:05:47,510 --> 01:05:48,970
it a little bit easier.

1334
01:05:48,970 --> 01:05:51,034
There's intelligence, which is
the ability to think on the

1335
01:05:51,034 --> 01:05:52,550
feet, and there's wisdom
which is how much you

1336
01:05:52,550 --> 01:05:54,790
know about the world.

1337
01:05:54,790 --> 01:06:00,990
And you as the game master
designing a game can figure

1338
01:06:00,990 --> 01:06:03,995
out, when I say someone's really
smart, what do I mean?

1339
01:06:03,995 --> 01:06:05,090
Intelligence or wisdom?

1340
01:06:05,090 --> 01:06:08,410
It helps you a little bit on
thinking how I can use game

1341
01:06:08,410 --> 01:06:11,940
mechanics or game writing
to fix that problem.

1342
01:06:11,940 --> 01:06:15,360
So if it's intelligence it's
just like, oh I have the

1343
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:18,190
ability to do stuff that
other people can't do

1344
01:06:18,190 --> 01:06:20,010
because I'm so smart.

1345
01:06:20,010 --> 01:06:24,740
And you can literally just give
them abilities to act on

1346
01:06:24,740 --> 01:06:28,440
things that other people
do not have.

1347
01:06:28,440 --> 01:06:31,730
I'm able to build a telephone
out of this Coke because I'm a

1348
01:06:31,730 --> 01:06:34,900
professor of Gilligan's
Island.

1349
01:06:34,900 --> 01:06:36,330
I'm smart.

1350
01:06:36,330 --> 01:06:37,920
It doesn't mean I have to
act terribly smart.

1351
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:40,083
I'm capable of doing things
that other people can't

1352
01:06:40,083 --> 01:06:42,060
because I've been told
specifically

1353
01:06:42,060 --> 01:06:43,330
I have these abilities.

1354
01:06:43,330 --> 01:06:44,860
But that's the intelligence
side of it.

1355
01:06:44,860 --> 01:06:46,120
The wisdom side of it is
a little bit harder.

1356
01:06:46,120 --> 01:06:48,410
Which is basically, you
dump a whole bunch of

1357
01:06:48,410 --> 01:06:50,100
information on somebody.

1358
01:06:50,100 --> 01:06:53,600
And you hope that they are
capable of making associations

1359
01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:56,580
between what's happening in
game and what they read.

1360
01:06:56,580 --> 01:06:57,830
That's a lot harder.

1361
01:06:57,830 --> 01:07:02,890
It is a problem, but I find that
by separating those two

1362
01:07:02,890 --> 01:07:06,635
it makes it an easier problem.

1363
01:07:06,635 --> 01:07:08,132
Patrick?

1364
01:07:08,132 --> 01:07:10,770
AUDIENCE: Yeah, this is a bit
of a noobish question.

1365
01:07:10,770 --> 01:07:12,640
Are LARPs usually played
in real time?

1366
01:07:12,640 --> 01:07:15,860
PROFESSOR: Typically, they have
rules about when to hit

1367
01:07:15,860 --> 01:07:16,910
the pause button.

1368
01:07:16,910 --> 01:07:20,800
Basically at MIT those are
usually enacted when safety

1369
01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:21,780
becomes an issue.

1370
01:07:21,780 --> 01:07:25,170
People are running too fast.

1371
01:07:25,170 --> 01:07:27,650
Somebody just fell down and you
want to be able to stop

1372
01:07:27,650 --> 01:07:30,710
everyone from running, and
so they shout halt.

1373
01:07:33,295 --> 01:07:37,000
Typically they're happening in
real time because it's really

1374
01:07:37,000 --> 01:07:41,980
hard to do turn based stuff that
doesn't quickly feel like

1375
01:07:41,980 --> 01:07:42,390
a board game.

1376
01:07:42,390 --> 01:07:44,199
AUDIENCE: I mean like, when you
say someone would want to

1377
01:07:44,199 --> 01:07:46,260
do a background check and you'd
say I don't know, come

1378
01:07:46,260 --> 01:07:47,010
back in two hours.

1379
01:07:47,010 --> 01:07:49,080
You'd literally wait
two hours?

1380
01:07:49,080 --> 01:07:52,000
PROFESSOR: So, yeah,
often that really

1381
01:07:52,000 --> 01:07:52,990
means just two hours.

1382
01:07:52,990 --> 01:07:55,530
And that's an interesting thing
of that it's real time

1383
01:07:55,530 --> 01:07:58,000
but it's kind of a time delay
at the same time.

1384
01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:03,060
So as a game master you can
build in game mechanics that

1385
01:08:03,060 --> 01:08:06,740
take advantage of real time
delays to be able to give you

1386
01:08:06,740 --> 01:08:09,920
as game master some
time to breathe.

1387
01:08:09,920 --> 01:08:11,900
Typically they're happening
in real time.

1388
01:08:11,900 --> 01:08:16,609
I wrote a game where the clock
stopped somewhere between

1389
01:08:16,609 --> 01:08:19,590
midnight and 8:00 AM.

1390
01:08:19,590 --> 01:08:22,965
The game world literally froze,
well not literally

1391
01:08:22,965 --> 01:08:24,215
figuratively froze, as well.

1392
01:08:28,170 --> 01:08:32,630
And one minute after 8:00 the
clock would practically, in

1393
01:08:32,630 --> 01:08:37,604
game terms, have moved one
minute even though there were

1394
01:08:37,604 --> 01:08:39,020
eight intervening hours in
between so that people could

1395
01:08:39,020 --> 01:08:40,270
go and take a break.

1396
01:08:42,990 --> 01:08:45,220
Which would be great
for an Army of

1397
01:08:45,220 --> 01:08:47,460
Darkness type of scenario.

1398
01:08:47,460 --> 01:08:48,710
[INAUDIBLE].

1399
01:08:50,439 --> 01:08:52,770
But those three films as opposed
to it all happened

1400
01:08:52,770 --> 01:08:56,439
within 48 hours.

1401
01:08:56,439 --> 01:08:58,040
So Andrew?

1402
01:08:58,040 --> 01:08:59,200
[INAUDIBLE].

1403
01:08:59,200 --> 01:09:00,510
AUDIENCE: So I guess
two things, one

1404
01:09:00,510 --> 01:09:02,120
is in terms of wisdom.

1405
01:09:02,120 --> 01:09:04,198
Could you possibly have little
note cards that are flipped

1406
01:09:04,198 --> 01:09:04,694
over everywhere?

1407
01:09:04,694 --> 01:09:06,678
And then the wisdom person, the
person with high wisdom,

1408
01:09:06,678 --> 01:09:09,700
could read about information
in there?

1409
01:09:09,700 --> 01:09:13,248
PROFESSOR: You could certainly
have taken advantage of a

1410
01:09:13,248 --> 01:09:14,020
piece of paper taped on
the wall just put

1411
01:09:14,020 --> 01:09:15,270
in the back, right?

1412
01:09:16,800 --> 01:09:18,936
Some people can arguably be able
to read off the back of

1413
01:09:18,936 --> 01:09:20,569
the paper, some people aren't.

1414
01:09:20,569 --> 01:09:23,960
Which will be a little bit
easier than trying to keep it

1415
01:09:23,960 --> 01:09:25,740
all in your head at once.

1416
01:09:25,740 --> 01:09:27,990
You can also give very limited
wisdom, like the whole psychic

1417
01:09:27,990 --> 01:09:30,050
example, right?

1418
01:09:30,050 --> 01:09:32,240
I am sensitive in some way.

1419
01:09:32,240 --> 01:09:35,850
I can tell when certain
things are cursed.

1420
01:09:35,850 --> 01:09:39,920
By giving them clues on printed
pieces of paper that

1421
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:42,569
nobody else knows how
to interpret.

1422
01:09:42,569 --> 01:09:47,249
I see there is a number
associated with each one of

1423
01:09:47,249 --> 01:09:47,410
these rooms.

1424
01:09:47,410 --> 01:09:49,580
That number happens
to be even.

1425
01:09:49,580 --> 01:09:53,029
This is not a place that any
sane person would want to be.

1426
01:09:53,029 --> 01:09:55,374
And there are people who have
the wisdom to tell that and

1427
01:09:55,374 --> 01:09:58,240
there are some people
who don't.

1428
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:01,000
That's another way to put those
environmental clues.

1429
01:10:06,010 --> 01:10:12,510
Particularly in MIT, hiding
clues in plain sight, and

1430
01:10:12,510 --> 01:10:14,220
every single way that
you can possibly do

1431
01:10:14,220 --> 01:10:17,720
that, is really exploited.

1432
01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:20,080
So the numbers for instance.

1433
01:10:20,080 --> 01:10:24,130
I've seen games where
everyone has five

1434
01:10:24,130 --> 01:10:24,875
digits on their badge.

1435
01:10:24,875 --> 01:10:28,120
And every single one of those
digits means something.

1436
01:10:28,120 --> 01:10:33,805
If you happen to have the
ability to interpret them, but

1437
01:10:33,805 --> 01:10:36,910
each one of the digits means
something different.

1438
01:10:36,910 --> 01:10:40,736
So that's an example.

1439
01:10:40,736 --> 01:10:42,220
AUDIENCE: And just
really quickly.

1440
01:10:42,220 --> 01:10:44,130
In terms of space, how much
space do Assassin's Guild

1441
01:10:44,130 --> 01:10:47,320
games take?

1442
01:10:47,320 --> 01:10:49,210
PROFESSOR: MIT Assassin's Guild
has the advantage of the

1443
01:10:49,210 --> 01:10:50,210
MIT campus.

1444
01:10:50,210 --> 01:10:56,152
So it can go anywhere from main
campus mounted by Mass

1445
01:10:56,152 --> 01:11:02,600
Ave. and Main Street,
to all over campus.

1446
01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:04,740
But players hate that.

1447
01:11:04,740 --> 01:11:06,060
Players hate walking
all over campus.

1448
01:11:06,060 --> 01:11:07,680
It kills their feet.

1449
01:11:07,680 --> 01:11:12,770
So often it just turns out to
be the few rooms that they

1450
01:11:12,770 --> 01:11:15,820
could get room reservations for,
the MIT campus activities

1451
01:11:15,820 --> 01:11:18,770
complex, and the sort of general
vicinity around there.

1452
01:11:18,770 --> 01:11:21,520
Outdoors is really not used
much, because MIT Assassin's

1453
01:11:21,520 --> 01:11:24,270
Guild loves shooting little
plastic things at each other.

1454
01:11:24,270 --> 01:11:25,630
And when the wind blows
that just sucks.

1455
01:11:28,908 --> 01:11:29,884
Jeremy?

1456
01:11:29,884 --> 01:11:33,450
AUDIENCE: Do those eight
story [INAUDIBLE]

1457
01:11:33,450 --> 01:11:37,135
games that have gone way
horribly, fallen apart.

1458
01:11:37,135 --> 01:11:39,576
PROFESSOR: Oh, absolutely.

1459
01:11:39,576 --> 01:11:41,986
How much time have we got?

1460
01:11:41,986 --> 01:11:44,560
AUDIENCE: Can you highlight
what are the mistakes that

1461
01:11:44,560 --> 01:11:45,966
have made--

1462
01:11:45,966 --> 01:11:48,310
everyone who's doing these,
especially on my team, they're

1463
01:11:48,310 --> 01:11:48,880
all smart people.

1464
01:11:48,880 --> 01:11:50,980
And they're written
by smart people.

1465
01:11:50,980 --> 01:11:53,435
So what hazard mistakes do smart
people still make that

1466
01:11:53,435 --> 01:11:55,190
results in these games
falling apart?

1467
01:11:55,190 --> 01:11:57,350
Or bad things happen?

1468
01:11:57,350 --> 01:11:59,020
PROFESSOR: Well, the most common
thing that happens is

1469
01:11:59,020 --> 01:12:03,760
not even an issue of how smart
the game writers were but how

1470
01:12:03,760 --> 01:12:05,033
much experience they've
had in seeing

1471
01:12:05,033 --> 01:12:08,345
things go horribly wrong.

1472
01:12:08,345 --> 01:12:09,570
AUDIENCE: Right, which
is why I'm asking.

1473
01:12:09,570 --> 01:12:12,180
PROFESSOR: Just like this class
has given you experience

1474
01:12:12,180 --> 01:12:15,420
making games, you've seen how
some projects can go wrong.

1475
01:12:15,420 --> 01:12:20,030
A lot of it is just system
dynamics, right?

1476
01:12:20,030 --> 01:12:21,490
I put together a
bunch of rules.

1477
01:12:21,490 --> 01:12:24,540
I didn't expect those rules
to interact in that way.

1478
01:12:24,540 --> 01:12:28,090
But because a live-action game
is difficult to run multiple

1479
01:12:28,090 --> 01:12:31,460
times, the first
time you see--

1480
01:12:31,460 --> 01:12:33,020
AUDIENCE: How do you play
a live-action game

1481
01:12:33,020 --> 01:12:35,040
that lasts to a month?

1482
01:12:35,040 --> 01:12:36,090
PROFESSOR: That actually came
up in the forums I believe.

1483
01:12:36,090 --> 01:12:38,950
Somebody was asking
about this.

1484
01:12:38,950 --> 01:12:41,650
You can at best to a test--

1485
01:12:41,650 --> 01:12:42,870
AUDIENCE: Give them mechanics?

1486
01:12:42,870 --> 01:12:44,280
PROFESSOR: --You can play the
sort of game mechanics.

1487
01:12:44,280 --> 01:12:46,860
Write down the stripped down
version which takes out all of

1488
01:12:46,860 --> 01:12:50,030
the plot motivations and
just has the combat.

1489
01:12:50,030 --> 01:12:51,150
This is how combat plays.

1490
01:12:51,150 --> 01:12:53,160
I did that for a Matrix
game once.

1491
01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:55,280
And it's like, I'm writing
a game of a Matrix.

1492
01:12:55,280 --> 01:12:58,860
Combat is really freaking
important.

1493
01:12:58,860 --> 01:13:02,960
So I just made an entire game
where all it was, you want to

1494
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:05,030
go in and get this thing
and get out.

1495
01:13:05,030 --> 01:13:06,110
That was the whole rule.

1496
01:13:06,110 --> 01:13:08,880
And here's your three pages
of contact notes.

1497
01:13:08,880 --> 01:13:10,170
And people were like holy shit,

1498
01:13:10,170 --> 01:13:11,420
this is a lot to remember.

1499
01:13:13,770 --> 01:13:16,950
And that showed me the
problems that I had.

1500
01:13:16,950 --> 01:13:20,420
Unfortunately, it wasn't so
catastrophic that I would use

1501
01:13:20,420 --> 01:13:22,284
it as a catastrophic
game example.

1502
01:13:22,284 --> 01:13:24,100
AUDIENCE: Tell us about
a catastrophic.

1503
01:13:24,100 --> 01:13:27,250
PROFESSOR: Catastrophic
game examples.

1504
01:13:27,250 --> 01:13:27,610
OK.

1505
01:13:27,610 --> 01:13:29,090
AUDIENCE: Tell us someone
tripped and hurt themselves.

1506
01:13:29,090 --> 01:13:29,890
[INAUDIBLE].

1507
01:13:29,890 --> 01:13:35,117
PROFESSOR: No, that's not what
you're looking for I

1508
01:13:35,117 --> 01:13:35,710
understand.

1509
01:13:35,710 --> 01:13:43,580
It was a game where everyone
was playing undead.

1510
01:13:43,580 --> 01:13:44,950
I think they were vampires.

1511
01:13:44,950 --> 01:13:49,810
So they could get knocked down
if they got shot, and they

1512
01:13:49,810 --> 01:13:51,420
would get up again
in five minutes

1513
01:13:51,420 --> 01:13:52,260
because they were immortal.

1514
01:13:52,260 --> 01:13:54,247
Unless they got staked
or something they

1515
01:13:54,247 --> 01:13:55,980
would get up again.

1516
01:13:55,980 --> 01:13:58,530
Unfortunately, there were a lot
of vampires in the game.

1517
01:13:58,530 --> 01:14:01,790
Often many of them were
in different factions.

1518
01:14:01,790 --> 01:14:04,940
So they were going after
each other with guns.

1519
01:14:04,940 --> 01:14:08,350
So when two people who were
obviously against each other

1520
01:14:08,350 --> 01:14:11,830
shot each other, fell over,
they would get up in five

1521
01:14:11,830 --> 01:14:13,456
minutes and shoot each
other again.

1522
01:14:16,860 --> 01:14:23,035
Repeatedly begging for someone
to show up and do something to

1523
01:14:23,035 --> 01:14:25,060
break this deadlock.

1524
01:14:25,060 --> 01:14:26,910
And that's one of those things
where it's like game

1525
01:14:26,910 --> 01:14:28,553
mechanically you know
what's supposed to

1526
01:14:28,553 --> 01:14:29,910
happen, and it sucks.

1527
01:14:34,180 --> 01:14:35,140
So that's one example.

1528
01:14:35,140 --> 01:14:36,560
AUDIENCE: Do we have to
wait five minutes?

1529
01:14:36,560 --> 01:14:39,960
Can we just continue to
shoot each other?

1530
01:14:39,960 --> 01:14:42,944
PROFESSOR: But the issue is,
again, these games are

1531
01:14:42,944 --> 01:14:43,590
happening in real time.

1532
01:14:43,590 --> 01:14:46,635
So the five minute rule is there
possibly for a reason.

1533
01:14:49,320 --> 01:14:52,320
While you are down for five
minutes those five minutes

1534
01:14:52,320 --> 01:14:54,870
become very valuable for someone
who wants you down for

1535
01:14:54,870 --> 01:14:56,120
those five minutes.

1536
01:14:57,940 --> 01:14:58,300
You can kill me.

1537
01:14:58,300 --> 01:14:59,240
I can kill you.

1538
01:14:59,240 --> 01:15:01,250
But both of us can knock each
other down for five minutes.

1539
01:15:01,250 --> 01:15:02,920
And that's a great
delaying tactic.

1540
01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:05,640
And I can send one of my friends
and do something that

1541
01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:08,640
I don't want you interfering
with.

1542
01:15:08,640 --> 01:15:10,120
And if that's the case
then that's great.

1543
01:15:10,120 --> 01:15:12,220
But often it was just, oh
crap there's no way

1544
01:15:12,220 --> 01:15:13,572
to break the deadlock.

1545
01:15:13,572 --> 01:15:15,620
AUDIENCE: You'd figure the
limiting factor would be

1546
01:15:15,620 --> 01:15:17,280
ammunition though.

1547
01:15:17,280 --> 01:15:19,070
PROFESSOR: I think that game
actually let you pick up your

1548
01:15:19,070 --> 01:15:20,320
ammunition all you want.

1549
01:15:23,260 --> 01:15:25,960
Because it can be a really
annoying limitation to run out

1550
01:15:25,960 --> 01:15:26,990
of ammunition.

1551
01:15:26,990 --> 01:15:29,315
Especially if you are playing
with the little rubber dart

1552
01:15:29,315 --> 01:15:31,970
guns because carrying
a whole pile of

1553
01:15:31,970 --> 01:15:32,550
them is really annoying.

1554
01:15:32,550 --> 01:15:37,090
So if the rule is, I get to pick
them up, then you have

1555
01:15:37,090 --> 01:15:39,176
the allusion of having a lot of
ammunition without having

1556
01:15:39,176 --> 01:15:43,160
to carry a lot of ammunition.

1557
01:15:43,160 --> 01:15:45,290
So that's one example of
a catastrophic failure.

1558
01:15:45,290 --> 01:15:48,720
There's a really funny quote
regarding brainwashing

1559
01:15:48,720 --> 01:15:55,160
actually, which is
where were you?

1560
01:15:55,160 --> 01:15:56,830
I was not being brainwashed.

1561
01:15:56,830 --> 01:15:58,440
Who were you with?

1562
01:15:58,440 --> 01:16:01,625
Not with the people who
were brainwashing me.

1563
01:16:01,625 --> 01:16:04,200
Back to the problem with
the persuasion, right?

1564
01:16:04,200 --> 01:16:07,900
It's like, I want to tell you
something because my goals

1565
01:16:07,900 --> 01:16:10,950
haven't changed far enough
to want to align

1566
01:16:10,950 --> 01:16:12,240
me to my new goals.

1567
01:16:12,240 --> 01:16:14,190
So I'm going to do everything
that I can without

1568
01:16:14,190 --> 01:16:15,160
breaking the rules.

1569
01:16:15,160 --> 01:16:17,590
I'm not allowed to tell you that
I was being brainwashed.

1570
01:16:17,590 --> 01:16:19,236
So I can say that I wasn't
being brainwashed.

1571
01:16:23,470 --> 01:16:24,720
Other catastrophic?

1572
01:16:26,800 --> 01:16:29,132
How long do you think the thing
will take probably?

1573
01:16:29,132 --> 01:16:30,545
GUEST SPEAKER: I don't know.

1574
01:16:30,545 --> 01:16:33,371
Probably about as long
as a game of Mafia.

1575
01:16:33,371 --> 01:16:35,740
PROFESSOR: OK, so like
half an hour?

1576
01:16:35,740 --> 01:16:37,010
GUEST SPEAKER: Depends
on the people.

1577
01:16:37,010 --> 01:16:41,040
AUDIENCE: If you put a time
limit on discussions then,

1578
01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:42,960
because I've played in the past
where it's lasted hours.

1579
01:16:42,960 --> 01:16:45,530
Because there's no cap and
people just went into these

1580
01:16:45,530 --> 01:16:48,160
long discussions in
between rounds.

1581
01:16:48,160 --> 01:16:50,730
So if you put a cap like OK,
it's going to be this long a

1582
01:16:50,730 --> 01:16:52,270
discussion and then we're going
to kill someone off.

1583
01:16:55,250 --> 01:16:57,540
PROFESSOR: Let's see, I
had wanted to read.

1584
01:16:57,540 --> 01:16:58,830
AUDIENCE: Played online Mafia?

1585
01:16:58,830 --> 01:17:01,535
It's a totally different
experience.

1586
01:17:01,535 --> 01:17:02,990
PROFESSOR: Chat involved
or something?

1587
01:17:02,990 --> 01:17:04,240
AUDIENCE: Forums usually.

1588
01:17:09,300 --> 01:17:11,250
So basically, when you can look
at the history of what

1589
01:17:11,250 --> 01:17:12,975
people have said and who they've
accused and what order

1590
01:17:12,975 --> 01:17:15,350
they did it in, it completely
changes how

1591
01:17:15,350 --> 01:17:17,730
Mafia turns out, right?

1592
01:17:17,730 --> 01:17:20,362
Because all of a sudden, people
start going, back in

1593
01:17:20,362 --> 01:17:23,890
the history and compiling
statistics [INAUDIBLE].

1594
01:17:23,890 --> 01:17:26,445
And who said what and then who
must be on their side if

1595
01:17:26,445 --> 01:17:28,030
that's the case.

1596
01:17:28,030 --> 01:17:30,755
But there's this kind of meta
knowledge that you can use

1597
01:17:30,755 --> 01:17:37,030
with this if you are Mafia
because you can tell

1598
01:17:37,030 --> 01:17:38,280
[INAUDIBLE].

1599
01:17:41,085 --> 01:17:43,770
We were able to communicate
at the Mafia privately.

1600
01:17:46,910 --> 01:17:49,267
That meant we could for instance
do things like, make

1601
01:17:49,267 --> 01:17:52,440
sure we were never the first
people to accuse anyone.

1602
01:17:52,440 --> 01:17:54,490
So that's a Mafia truth,
never do that.

1603
01:17:54,490 --> 01:17:57,415
Because it immediately makes you
look suspicious later on

1604
01:17:57,415 --> 01:18:01,320
if somebody turns out
to be the Mafia.

1605
01:18:01,320 --> 01:18:04,280
There's no way that you can be
the first person who accuses.

1606
01:18:04,280 --> 01:18:07,070
But bandwagoning somebody who's
not in the Mafia is

1607
01:18:07,070 --> 01:18:08,940
always great.

1608
01:18:08,940 --> 01:18:13,040
So you can coordinate to do the
sort of thing to try and

1609
01:18:13,040 --> 01:18:15,090
defeat the statistical
analysis that

1610
01:18:15,090 --> 01:18:16,740
somebody else is doing.

1611
01:18:16,740 --> 01:18:17,530
PROFESSOR: You've
got this whole

1612
01:18:17,530 --> 01:18:18,970
shadow governance theory.

1613
01:18:18,970 --> 01:18:23,670
AUDIENCE: That's a great
[INAUDIBLE] tactic to try and

1614
01:18:23,670 --> 01:18:26,575
get you away from my team
is to actually accuse

1615
01:18:26,575 --> 01:18:28,020
someone on your team.

1616
01:18:28,020 --> 01:18:33,180
And hope that they don't
actually vote them off.

1617
01:18:33,180 --> 01:18:36,825
I've definitely been in a game
where we purposely killed off

1618
01:18:36,825 --> 01:18:39,180
one of the people on our
team just so that

1619
01:18:39,180 --> 01:18:42,580
we wouldn't be accused.

1620
01:18:42,580 --> 01:18:46,860
Oh, he cannot be on Mafia
because he killed off a Mafia.

1621
01:18:46,860 --> 01:18:50,620
OK, and then we end up winning
because no one

1622
01:18:50,620 --> 01:18:52,190
figured that out.

1623
01:18:52,190 --> 01:18:55,080
PROFESSOR: I mean, that's one
of the best things about all

1624
01:18:55,080 --> 01:18:58,480
kinds of live-action games is
that it almost encourages

1625
01:18:58,480 --> 01:19:00,980
people to look for
these slightly

1626
01:19:00,980 --> 01:19:02,594
out of the box illusions.

1627
01:19:02,594 --> 01:19:05,029
These sort of emergent I'm not
really going to expect that

1628
01:19:05,029 --> 01:19:06,330
but it still fits within
the rules.

1629
01:19:06,330 --> 01:19:08,420
Because we are dealing with real
people for the most part

1630
01:19:08,420 --> 01:19:11,098
and you're not limited to the
cards you're allowed to play

1631
01:19:11,098 --> 01:19:13,014
or the turns you're
allowed to take.

1632
01:19:13,014 --> 01:19:14,264
So taking advantage of that.

1633
01:19:17,330 --> 01:19:21,520
I have one more disaster
story.

1634
01:19:21,520 --> 01:19:24,520
AUDIENCE: I want to hear it.

1635
01:19:24,520 --> 01:19:26,150
PROFESSOR: I'll limit
it to just one for

1636
01:19:26,150 --> 01:19:27,400
the people who don't.

1637
01:19:29,430 --> 01:19:31,360
This was a game where
there was a

1638
01:19:31,360 --> 01:19:33,940
virus that was spreading.

1639
01:19:33,940 --> 01:19:36,940
People who are in Assassin's
Guild might have

1640
01:19:36,940 --> 01:19:38,460
already heard this one.

1641
01:19:38,460 --> 01:19:43,140
The whole basic idea is that
there was a explosive

1642
01:19:43,140 --> 01:19:44,850
nano-virus.

1643
01:19:44,850 --> 01:19:48,515
People who got infected after a
certain amount of time would

1644
01:19:48,515 --> 01:19:52,120
explode and anybody in
the room with them

1645
01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:54,880
would now be infected.

1646
01:19:54,880 --> 01:19:57,354
Of course this was a game--

1647
01:19:57,354 --> 01:19:59,540
a game set in science fiction
kind of thing--

1648
01:19:59,540 --> 01:20:02,430
and we've got doctors
who are capable.

1649
01:20:02,430 --> 01:20:06,830
Who have mechanics to be
able to research cures.

1650
01:20:06,830 --> 01:20:08,570
However when the doctor happened
to be one of the

1651
01:20:08,570 --> 01:20:14,760
first people to die, what
rapidly happens is that what

1652
01:20:14,760 --> 01:20:18,545
should have been a one night
game turned out to be a one

1653
01:20:18,545 --> 01:20:19,795
hour game and everybody
exploded.

1654
01:20:27,690 --> 01:20:29,800
I guess that might come
down to feasibility.

1655
01:20:29,800 --> 01:20:33,530
But you can think about it as
you need a certain amount of

1656
01:20:33,530 --> 01:20:36,800
redundancy when you're designing
any game, but

1657
01:20:36,800 --> 01:20:38,400
particularly live-actions
games.

1658
01:20:38,400 --> 01:20:41,050
Because shit happens.

1659
01:20:41,050 --> 01:20:43,920
And you've got to expect
that to happen.

1660
01:20:43,920 --> 01:20:46,100
There's always this fear about,
oh I put in too many

1661
01:20:46,100 --> 01:20:47,900
resources into this game and the
players are going to find

1662
01:20:47,900 --> 01:20:48,950
it too easy.

1663
01:20:48,950 --> 01:20:52,000
And more often than not, yeah,
there's some players that that

1664
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:53,830
are going to say we breezed
through that.

1665
01:20:53,830 --> 01:20:57,125
But, rarely do people get
terribly upset in a

1666
01:20:57,125 --> 01:20:59,900
live-action game when something
is really too easy.

1667
01:20:59,900 --> 01:21:03,798
They get really upset when it
comes to the end and it seems

1668
01:21:03,798 --> 01:21:05,470
to be impossible.

1669
01:21:05,470 --> 01:21:11,410
Oh, so the GMs only made it
possible for one person to fix

1670
01:21:11,410 --> 01:21:12,070
this problem?

1671
01:21:12,070 --> 01:21:15,330
And they didn't think about that
person just dying in the

1672
01:21:15,330 --> 01:21:17,440
beginning of the game?

1673
01:21:17,440 --> 01:21:20,730
So that was another example.

1674
01:21:20,730 --> 01:21:22,240
That [INAUDIBLE], I'm sorry.

1675
01:21:22,240 --> 01:21:25,476
I feel really bad about bringing
up examples from my

1676
01:21:25,476 --> 01:21:29,016
games, but I don't know which
ones are the ones that I

1677
01:21:29,016 --> 01:21:29,650
genuinely--

1678
01:21:29,650 --> 01:21:32,530
Oh, I do have one more.

1679
01:21:32,530 --> 01:21:34,380
So, this was after The
Sims came out.

1680
01:21:34,380 --> 01:21:38,960
And people should really
be worried about that.

1681
01:21:38,960 --> 01:21:40,860
I thought having a bladder stat
would be a really good

1682
01:21:40,860 --> 01:21:42,110
idea for a game.

1683
01:21:45,520 --> 01:21:47,033
This was a game that
was set in a train

1684
01:21:47,033 --> 01:21:47,490
that was steam pumped.

1685
01:21:47,490 --> 01:21:49,120
So tea was the game.

1686
01:21:49,120 --> 01:21:50,990
Tea was in fact the
combat drug.

1687
01:21:50,990 --> 01:21:54,520
If you drank tea, your combat
status would increase but so

1688
01:21:54,520 --> 01:21:56,770
would your bladder stat.

1689
01:21:56,770 --> 01:21:59,670
Once your bladder stat was
passed a certain point all

1690
01:21:59,670 --> 01:22:02,730
your combat stats went down and
you really had to go to

1691
01:22:02,730 --> 01:22:04,470
the restroom.

1692
01:22:04,470 --> 01:22:08,200
Which was really interesting,
most people just

1693
01:22:08,200 --> 01:22:10,970
reviled that game.

1694
01:22:10,970 --> 01:22:14,800
Because there was one more
number they had to hit that

1695
01:22:14,800 --> 01:22:19,490
was stupid annoying and really
didn't do terribly much for

1696
01:22:19,490 --> 01:22:21,120
the immersion of the game.

1697
01:22:21,120 --> 01:22:24,100
I was thinking, it's a game
about travelling on the train.

1698
01:22:24,100 --> 01:22:25,360
So you use the restroom
all the time.

1699
01:22:25,360 --> 01:22:26,905
That's the only thing I do
when I'm travelling.

1700
01:22:26,905 --> 01:22:29,490
I use the restroom.

1701
01:22:29,490 --> 01:22:30,740
[INAUDIBLE].

1702
01:22:33,870 --> 01:22:35,600
But that led to some interesting
emergent

1703
01:22:35,600 --> 01:22:36,740
situations.

1704
01:22:36,740 --> 01:22:39,380
Because when this train gets
attacked, and everybody needs

1705
01:22:39,380 --> 01:22:42,350
to find a safe place to hide,
what they all do is they head

1706
01:22:42,350 --> 01:22:46,690
into the washroom, barricade
it, and drink tea until all

1707
01:22:46,690 --> 01:22:50,595
their combat stats go out the
roof and then win the fight.

1708
01:22:50,595 --> 01:22:53,020
Because they were right there
in the restroom they could

1709
01:22:53,020 --> 01:22:54,960
afford to do that.

1710
01:22:54,960 --> 01:22:56,210
It was hilarious.

1711
01:22:59,325 --> 01:23:03,750
AUDIENCE: Some of these people
come up with exploits.

1712
01:23:03,750 --> 01:23:05,270
PROFESSOR: They may hate the
rules, but once they

1713
01:23:05,270 --> 01:23:07,080
understand how the systems work
they're going to come up

1714
01:23:07,080 --> 01:23:09,270
with ways to use it to
their advantage.

1715
01:23:09,270 --> 01:23:12,622
And that can be some of the
most enjoyable moments.

1716
01:23:12,622 --> 01:23:15,274
AUDIENCE: I saw a squirrel
this past weekend, and he

1717
01:23:15,274 --> 01:23:20,942
figured out if he stood under a
bird feeding thing up in the

1718
01:23:20,942 --> 01:23:24,562
tree it could just get free food
because when the birds

1719
01:23:24,562 --> 01:23:26,724
ate it once every two to three
minutes they would drop a

1720
01:23:26,724 --> 01:23:27,556
grain inevitably.

1721
01:23:27,556 --> 01:23:32,047
And there was this really fat
squirrel just sitting there.

1722
01:23:32,047 --> 01:23:36,890
He spent the entire day sitting
right [INAUDIBLE].

1723
01:23:36,890 --> 01:23:38,852
So it's like it's so natural
to try and find exploits of

1724
01:23:38,852 --> 01:23:40,820
everything and work it
to your advantage.

1725
01:23:40,820 --> 01:23:41,920
PROFESSOR: There is a moral--

1726
01:23:41,920 --> 01:23:43,113
AUDIENCE: It doesn't work
for [INAUDIBLE] but

1727
01:23:43,113 --> 01:23:44,310
you still do it anyway.

1728
01:23:44,310 --> 01:23:46,140
PROFESSOR: There is
a moral to that.

1729
01:23:46,140 --> 01:23:49,620
Is that the live-action games,
especially if you're playing

1730
01:23:49,620 --> 01:23:53,090
in the live-action game
community, there is whatever

1731
01:23:53,090 --> 01:23:56,776
you write down as a rule we put
it up on the wall and they

1732
01:23:56,776 --> 01:23:58,270
put it on a piece of paper.

1733
01:23:58,270 --> 01:23:59,880
Someone's going to
try to do it.

1734
01:23:59,880 --> 01:24:04,904
And you have to think of, I'm
going to put in a rule that's

1735
01:24:04,904 --> 01:24:08,324
so ridiculous that people are
not going to want to try and

1736
01:24:08,324 --> 01:24:10,980
do it because it's going to
hurt them or something.

1737
01:24:10,980 --> 01:24:14,098
Like jump on this spot
100 times and you

1738
01:24:14,098 --> 01:24:14,930
will unlock this door.

1739
01:24:14,930 --> 01:24:18,220
Or you could find someone with
lock picking, and you'll just

1740
01:24:18,220 --> 01:24:19,196
assume that person's
going to find

1741
01:24:19,196 --> 01:24:20,490
someone with lock picking.

1742
01:24:20,490 --> 01:24:22,980
No, someone's going to jump on
the spot 100 times and they're

1743
01:24:22,980 --> 01:24:25,160
going to hate you for
it because you

1744
01:24:25,160 --> 01:24:26,300
put the rule in there.

1745
01:24:26,300 --> 01:24:32,530
So try not to hurt your players,
would be the moral,

1746
01:24:32,530 --> 01:24:34,115
because they will do what
you tell them to do.

1747
01:24:34,115 --> 01:24:37,680
AUDIENCE: Do you guys sign
disclosure forms?

1748
01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:39,116
PROFESSOR: All right, that's
a [INAUDIBLE].

1749
01:24:42,246 --> 01:24:44,947
GUEST SPEAKER: Before we go,
I want to just clarify this

1750
01:24:44,947 --> 01:24:46,420
version of the investigation
mechanic.

1751
01:24:46,420 --> 01:24:52,390
So, the group of scientists
gets to test two people.

1752
01:24:52,390 --> 01:24:56,430
If you catch the thing then
they're dead and out.

1753
01:24:56,430 --> 01:24:58,600
If you catch them on the second
time-- this is what

1754
01:24:58,600 --> 01:25:00,690
I've read-- if you catch them
on second guess you get

1755
01:25:00,690 --> 01:25:03,030
another guess.

1756
01:25:03,030 --> 01:25:04,764
I'm not sure if that
means you can have

1757
01:25:04,764 --> 01:25:06,210
infinite guesses or not.

1758
01:25:06,210 --> 01:25:07,180
So that's something to
play around with.

1759
01:25:07,180 --> 01:25:09,180
AUDIENCE: If you test the wrong
person who's not the

1760
01:25:09,180 --> 01:25:09,780
thing they don't die?

1761
01:25:09,780 --> 01:25:12,660
GUEST SPEAKER: No.

1762
01:25:12,660 --> 01:25:14,122
AUDIENCE: So I test someone the
first time, they're the

1763
01:25:14,122 --> 01:25:15,430
thing, then they're out.

1764
01:25:15,430 --> 01:25:17,384
But I test someone the second
time, regardless of whether or

1765
01:25:17,384 --> 01:25:19,170
not I tested a thing
the first time.

1766
01:25:19,170 --> 01:25:19,990
GUEST SPEAKER: Yes.

1767
01:25:19,990 --> 01:25:22,370
So you always get at
least two guesses.

1768
01:25:22,370 --> 01:25:23,420
AUDIENCE: But if you test
someone on the second

1769
01:25:23,420 --> 01:25:25,206
one they don't die?

1770
01:25:25,206 --> 01:25:26,870
GUEST SPEAKER: If they're
the thing they're dead.

1771
01:25:26,870 --> 01:25:27,830
AUDIENCE: The thing dies.

1772
01:25:27,830 --> 01:25:29,680
If you test someone on the first
time and they're the

1773
01:25:29,680 --> 01:25:31,210
thing you don't get
an extra guess?

1774
01:25:31,210 --> 01:25:32,025
AUDIENCE: Well, not
necessarily.

1775
01:25:32,025 --> 01:25:33,320
GUEST SPEAKER: You get two.

1776
01:25:33,320 --> 01:25:35,420
AUDIENCE: You always get two.

1777
01:25:35,420 --> 01:25:37,720
AUDIENCE: So if you guess
any time [INAUDIBLE]

1778
01:25:40,770 --> 01:25:42,425
but if you guess a thing
and then not a

1779
01:25:42,425 --> 01:25:43,560
thing you get a player.

1780
01:25:43,560 --> 01:25:44,090
AUDIENCE: I think you
can catch the

1781
01:25:44,090 --> 01:25:45,366
thing really quickly.

1782
01:25:45,366 --> 01:25:47,245
AUDIENCE: I think you can
catch the thing without

1783
01:25:47,245 --> 01:25:50,575
actually doing anything sort of
like making a system where

1784
01:25:50,575 --> 01:25:52,350
you automatically
catch the thing.

1785
01:25:52,350 --> 01:25:56,200
You're getting two guesses so
in the ratio of randomly

1786
01:25:56,200 --> 01:25:56,960
guessing you'll--

1787
01:25:56,960 --> 01:25:59,490
GUEST SPEAKER: And you can
certainly change it right?

1788
01:25:59,490 --> 01:26:00,750
This is just what I've found.

1789
01:26:00,750 --> 01:26:02,710
And it seemed like an
interesting thing, the whole

1790
01:26:02,710 --> 01:26:04,160
point of the part was.

1791
01:26:04,160 --> 01:26:05,660
AUDIENCE: Which thing
do you start with?

1792
01:26:05,660 --> 01:26:07,020
AUDIENCE: No, you're
not [INAUDIBLE].

1793
01:26:07,020 --> 01:26:10,060
Because as I recall you would
infect someone first.

1794
01:26:10,060 --> 01:26:11,984
AUDIENCE: Because you're going
to have two unprescribed.

1795
01:26:14,940 --> 01:26:18,720
AUDIENCE: This seems really
like biased towards

1796
01:26:18,720 --> 01:26:20,330
non-infected.

1797
01:26:20,330 --> 01:26:21,580
AUDIENCE: Well we'll find out.