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PROFESSOR: Anyway, today we
have a guest speaker.

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His name is Abe Stein.

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He's the audio director for the
Singapore MIT Initiative.

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And he's going to run through
brainstorming exercises.

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We're not actually planning out
the game that you're going

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to be doing for your first
assignment in this class.

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This is a-- you're
doing other--

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ABE STEIN: Yeah, these will
just be practice.

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PROFESSOR: So basically, there
will be a group activity

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involved in this, but the things
that you're working on,

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those have to be the same
groups that you will

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eventually be using for
your first assignment.

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The idea is just to get
used to the process of

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brainstorming and some of the
general rules of thumb.

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And before I spoil
the entire talk--

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GUEST SPEAKER: That's OK.

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So my name is Abe Stein.

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A little bit of background
on myself.

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I am the audio director here.

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I've been working in sound
design officially for a number

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of years now, five
some odd years.

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Unofficially, way longer than
that doing TV and video game

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sound design.

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And then before that, I was
a high school teacher.

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And so I think to the extent
that talking about creative

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collaboration, I have a fair
amount of experience ranging

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even back to when I was teaching
high school, for

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trying to encourage what we
might call organized ideation.

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I guess first off, I'll thank
you guys for reading the text.

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It is funny.

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It does have these I guess now
a little antiquated, 1950s

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references.

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And some of his scientific
evidence for why brainstorming

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is good is not particularly
well-supported.

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He's like, we got 95 ideas.

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And it's like, well how many
ideas did you get doing

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it the other way?

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He doesn't tell you.

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But hey, 95, that's
a big number.

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So a little bit of background
about Alex Osborn.

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He was an advertising
executive.

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And so you can see where
brainstorming and advertising

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is a creative industry,
as a design industry.

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And so getting multiple people
in interdisciplinary different

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skills working together on a
creative project, it could be

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a challenge.

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And so you can see how
brainstorming came out of the

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work he was doing
in advertising

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So just to get started, I would
say you've read-- and so

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you have a sense-- but forget
what you think you know

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brainstorming is.

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Some of what you think
it is will apply.

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Some of the most fundamental
principles to brainstorming

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maybe you don't realize, or you
didn't realize until you

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did the reading.

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And that's a little bit of what
I want to talk about.

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I think the foundation for his
brainstorming ideas is

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actually really solid.

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It's something that we
should explore today.

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Why brainstorming for
video game design is

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an interesting question.

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But I touched on that a little
bit with its relation to

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advertizing, right?

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I mean we're talking about a
creative industry where you

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have people with various skill
sets, whether they're artists

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or sound designers
or game designers

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explicitly or producers.

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All of these people
existing in a

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collaborative environment together.

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They're bringing different
things to the table.

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How do you get them to
work together and be

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collaboratively creative?

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And so this is a first
step in that process.

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And so this is why brainstorming
is particularly

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useful for game design.

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And then the other thing that
I think is important to

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understand--

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and we'll talk about
it a bit more--

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is the social pressures that
are created in professional

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creative environments, even
non-professional actually.

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I mean it would exist in an
educational environment too.

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You guys are all at MIT.

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It's one of the most prestigious
universities in

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the world, right?

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And so you're probably no
stranger to the idea of social

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pressure in the process
of ideation, right?

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You sit there and you say, if I
say this idea, am I going to

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look like an idiot?

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And usually the outcome from
that is, if I don't say

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anything, maybe I don't get the
gain of presenting a good

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idea, but I don't get the hit
of making a bad idea.

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So it's self-preservation.

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Why take the risk if
it's not worth it.

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And so I think MIT is an
interesting place to talk

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about brainstorming and this
kind of organized ideation

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because there is social and
academic pressure here too,

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pressure to be right, pressure
to not say something that

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would seem wrong.

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And that sort of pressure is
completely antithetical to the

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idea of a brainstorming
session.

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And so that's a basis for why
not only it's good for video

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games, but why it's also good
to talk about here at MIT.

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So there are four basic
principles of brainstorming.

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These were outlined
by Alex Osborn.

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He was an ad agent, and he says
it was 1938 when he first

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started using it.

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People started talking
about it since then.

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And I like when he said that
it spiraled out of control,

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that people ran away with it.

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They were like, oh, this
is a great idea.

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But then they were practicing
it wrong.

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And so in applied imaginations,
which is the

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text you guys read, it's
him reflecting on this

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brainstorming idea and saying
this is really how it should

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be exercised.

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The first principle is
single-handedly the most

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important principle, and
that's no criticism.

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That's a blanket way of saying
it, but really in a more broad

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sense, it's saying judgement
needs to be excluded.

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In some sense, it's both
positive and negative, but

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especially you don't want to
criticize each other's work.

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You also don't want to spend
time during a brainstorming

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session talking about how
good an idea is, right?

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If someone throws out an idea,
and someone's like, oh, this

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is the best idea.

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We don't even need to
keep going anymore.

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Then it's like, whoa, no.

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Wait, now we're not
brainstorming anymore.

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And so really judgement is
absolutely supposed to be

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excluded from the process.

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I think that this is the primary
principle that goes

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against that social
pressure, right?

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Because the social pressure of
judgment, the people who are

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saying what you have, an
executive who's in charge of

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you, a boss who's saying whether
or not the ideas are

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good or bad, or whether you
have colleagues that are

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saying whether or not ideas are
good or bad, that sort of

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social pressure that forces
people to stay quiet and maybe

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hold onto good ideas or
throw away good ideas.

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If everybody's on board with a
lack of criticism, then you

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have more freedom to
express yourself.

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Just pulling back to the text
a little bit, there was this

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great quote from this vice
president I'll read to you

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guys again.

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He said, "It was hard to get
through my head what you were

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trying to do with us.

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My 15 years of conference after
conference in my company

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have conditioned me against
shooting wild.

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Almost all of us officers
rate each other on

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the basis of judgment.

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We are far more apt to look up
to the other fellow if he

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makes no mistakes than if he
suggests lots of ideas." That

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is something that may sound
familiar to you.

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"So I've always kept myself from
spouting any suggestions

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which could be sneered at.

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I wish our people would feel
free to shoot ideas the way we

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have been doing in these
brainstorm sessions.

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And so really, this lack of
criticism, this creating a

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safe environment for ideation,
is the most fundamental

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principle in this
brainstorming.

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And it really goes right at
those social pressures which

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can stop creativity and really
hamper creativity.

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Any questions about that?

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That makes sense right, this
principle of no criticism.

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Cool.

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Principle #2, freewheeling, as
Mr. Osborn likes to call it.

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The wilder idea the better.

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This is also hard
to get used to.

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Again, it was like the guy
said in that quote.

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You resist the urge to throw
out something that's

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absolutely crazy and absolutely

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wild for fear of ridicule.

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Well, if we eliminate the fear
of ridicule, and we understand

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that we're just trying to get
every idea that we can, then

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freewheeling is absolutely
encouraged.

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And you need to get passed that
oh, this will never work.

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Or nobody would ever
like this.

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And I put up a katamari up here
because that's the sort

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of idea that someone throws
out at a meeting, and if

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there's criticism, someone
will be like, that's the

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dumbest thing I ever heard.

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You can't just roll around
picking up stuff for the king

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of the cosmos.

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That's insane.

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And it probably was a synthesis
of a lot of

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different ideas that created
that game, which we'll talk

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about later.

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But really, having these wild,
crazy ideas, you may think

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it's over the edge.

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And it might be over the edge.

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But it is way easier to make
something feasible than it is

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to take something that's pretty
normal and make it

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innovative and interesting.

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It's much easier to go in
that backward direction.

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So really the wilder the
idea you can come

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up with, the stronger.

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Any questions about
principle #2?

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Making sense?

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On board?

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Cool.

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Quantity.

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This is really the goal of
a brainstorming session.

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Come up with as many ideas
as you can, right?

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It stands to reason that if
you have lots of ideas,

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00:10:08,770 --> 00:10:11,590
there's a greater likelihood
that you'll have a useful one.

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That if, say, you have two,
your choices are limited.

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You're going to pick the better
of the two, I suppose,

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but it might not be the
best idea you have.

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And so really, this adds onto
that wild idea, throw

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everything out you can.

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You need to just get everything
out and everything

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on the page in order to even be
able to start judging it.

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And that's the important thing
too that needs to be clarified

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is that brainstorming
is a first step

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in a creative process.

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It's not the whole process.

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It's not like, oh, we have this
creative problem that we

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need to solve.

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We'll have a brainstorming
session, then we'll have it.

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And actually, that's something
that hampers

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brainstorming a lot.

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You have a brainstorming
session.

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You come up with these
great ideas.

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And then everybody leaves, and
you never return to it or you

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never reflect on which these
ideas is going to be best, or

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you just end up picking one.

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And so the judgment needs to
happen as well, but not now.

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00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,440
In the brainstorm session, it's
just get everything out

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00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:06,690
that you can.

237
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:10,450
And really it just
stands to reason.

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And I made fun of Alex Osborn
when he was saying, well, in

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this instance in the government,
they had 95 ideas.

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00:11:16,170 --> 00:11:19,670
And we came up with eight
new [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

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00:11:19,670 --> 00:11:20,670
How many did you come
up with before?

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But it's true.

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The more you have, the better
you're going to do.

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Cool.

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00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,590
And then this one is related to
that, which is the idea of

246
00:11:28,590 --> 00:11:31,575
synthesis, or building
on ideas.

247
00:11:31,575 --> 00:11:34,210
Which is that oftentimes the
best idea, the best creative

248
00:11:34,210 --> 00:11:37,820
idea, is not going to be
something that's just a unique

249
00:11:37,820 --> 00:11:41,426
idea that stands alone in this
corpus of ideas that you've

250
00:11:41,426 --> 00:11:42,950
collected over the brainstorming
It's going to be

251
00:11:42,950 --> 00:11:46,315
an idea that is a synthesis
of one idea an another.

252
00:11:46,315 --> 00:11:48,980
Or someone suggests an idea, and
then that makes you think

253
00:11:48,980 --> 00:11:50,240
of something else that's
related to it.

254
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:51,610
And you build on that.

255
00:11:51,610 --> 00:11:54,270
And you can see, in really
positive, good brainstorming

256
00:11:54,270 --> 00:11:56,170
sessions, there's a momentum.

257
00:11:56,170 --> 00:11:58,150
And one of the things that can
really hurt that momentum is

258
00:11:58,150 --> 00:12:00,190
when people are starting to
riff on an idea, and then

259
00:12:00,190 --> 00:12:05,180
someone is like, oh, but in
other news, we could do this.

260
00:12:05,180 --> 00:12:07,990
And so it's really encouraged
that you synthesize ideas.

261
00:12:07,990 --> 00:12:09,955
If you have that other
left field idea,

262
00:12:09,955 --> 00:12:10,930
don't throw it away.

263
00:12:10,930 --> 00:12:13,770
Jot it down so that you can
bring it up later, but don't

264
00:12:13,770 --> 00:12:17,500
kill the momentum of the
synthesis if that's happening.

265
00:12:17,500 --> 00:12:20,670
It's really important
that you start--

266
00:12:20,670 --> 00:12:23,980
it's the collaborative part
of this creative ideation.

267
00:12:23,980 --> 00:12:27,265
It's this combining of
ideas that's going

268
00:12:27,265 --> 00:12:28,984
to create good ideas.

269
00:12:28,984 --> 00:12:32,580
And I think we can take that
as a given, that if you

270
00:12:32,580 --> 00:12:36,084
collect a bunch of skilled,
thoughtful, creative people

271
00:12:36,084 --> 00:12:39,060
together, combining their
ideas is going to create

272
00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:41,859
something that's better than
just any one idea that one

273
00:12:41,859 --> 00:12:43,585
creative professional
is going to have.

274
00:12:43,585 --> 00:12:47,775
Or at least just a different
solution that might be more

275
00:12:47,775 --> 00:12:49,501
ideal given the problem.

276
00:12:49,501 --> 00:12:53,116
And so you can think of things
like, Lego is pretty awesome.

277
00:12:53,116 --> 00:12:56,950
Star Wars is also
pretty awesome.

278
00:12:56,950 --> 00:13:00,550
But Lego Star Wars [INAUDIBLE]

279
00:13:00,550 --> 00:13:01,550
is also awesome.

280
00:13:01,550 --> 00:13:04,830
Similarly, Marvel is dope.

281
00:13:04,830 --> 00:13:06,768
Capcom is also pretty dope.

282
00:13:06,768 --> 00:13:10,184
Marvel Versus Capcom is
tremendously dope.

283
00:13:10,184 --> 00:13:13,920
So building on ideas can
create obviously really

284
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,240
interesting things.

285
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,890
And it's a good idea to keep
working on that in your

286
00:13:17,890 --> 00:13:20,396
brainstorming sessions, what
can you put together?

287
00:13:23,330 --> 00:13:24,890
So how is it organized?

288
00:13:24,890 --> 00:13:26,390
We talked about the
basic principles.

289
00:13:26,390 --> 00:13:27,870
Any questions about those
four principles?

290
00:13:27,870 --> 00:13:28,800
Did they all make sense?

291
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:31,868
Did they all seem to
be grounded in--

292
00:13:31,868 --> 00:13:32,360
you're nodding yes.

293
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,328
It's the greatest thing
I've ever heard.

294
00:13:34,328 --> 00:13:37,290
OK, cool.

295
00:13:37,290 --> 00:13:41,186
So the question then becomes,
how do you organize your

296
00:13:41,186 --> 00:13:42,120
brainstorm.

297
00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,110
One of the points that Alex
Osborn makes is that it needs

298
00:13:45,110 --> 00:13:47,390
to have a casual spirit or
a casual atmosphere.

299
00:13:47,390 --> 00:13:49,022
He refers to it as a
picnic, which is

300
00:13:49,022 --> 00:13:49,350
another one of those--

301
00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:52,300
I haven't been on a picnic
in a really long time.

302
00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:56,035
But it's like, we brought out
lunches in, and then we talked

303
00:13:56,035 --> 00:13:56,138
afterwards.

304
00:13:56,138 --> 00:13:57,635
We call those lunch
meetings now.

305
00:14:00,629 --> 00:14:04,490
But he has a good point that
if a large part of the

306
00:14:04,490 --> 00:14:08,010
brainstorming session is
intended to combat social

307
00:14:08,010 --> 00:14:11,100
pressures that stop you from
being creative and inhibit

308
00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:14,080
your creativity, then it would
stand to reason that creating

309
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,570
a casual spirit, a casual
environment for this process

310
00:14:18,570 --> 00:14:19,450
is important.

311
00:14:19,450 --> 00:14:26,600
And so most video game processes
and most video game

312
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:28,856
companies have a pretty casual
spirit and environment because

313
00:14:28,856 --> 00:14:30,583
of the nature of the
work in general.

314
00:14:30,583 --> 00:14:32,650
So sometimes this might
not be that hard.

315
00:14:32,650 --> 00:14:35,070
But things to consider
are, what is the

316
00:14:35,070 --> 00:14:36,170
makeup of your team?

317
00:14:36,170 --> 00:14:41,060
If your president of the company
does a really bad job

318
00:14:41,060 --> 00:14:43,860
of putting himself or herself
on the same level as all the

319
00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:46,846
people, you might want to
exclude that person from the

320
00:14:46,846 --> 00:14:47,812
brainstorming session.

321
00:14:47,812 --> 00:14:50,871
Because then everybody is going
to feel the pressure of

322
00:14:50,871 --> 00:14:51,193
the president.

323
00:14:51,193 --> 00:14:51,796
And oh, do we need to
make an idea that

324
00:14:51,796 --> 00:14:53,130
makes that person happiest.

325
00:14:53,130 --> 00:14:55,500
You have to think to think these
things through in terms

326
00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,788
of what the environment is
going to be for your

327
00:14:57,788 --> 00:15:00,320
brainstorming session
and who's involved.

328
00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,379
So it is an important point
and an important step.

329
00:15:04,379 --> 00:15:09,290
Starting with a bad or a
worthless idea encourages that

330
00:15:09,290 --> 00:15:12,320
freewheeling sense.

331
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,240
A lot of times, people
will contribute

332
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,440
ideas that feel safe.

333
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,110
Again, you want to come
up with the most

334
00:15:18,110 --> 00:15:19,790
ideas that you can.

335
00:15:19,790 --> 00:15:23,940
So having someone with the
courage, or even bringing to

336
00:15:23,940 --> 00:15:28,530
the beginning of it a crazy,
worthless, bad, freewheeling

337
00:15:28,530 --> 00:15:32,400
idea can help encourage people
to keep doing that.

338
00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,670
So either starting with some who
has a crazy idea or even

339
00:15:35,670 --> 00:15:39,273
bringing it to the brainstorm at
the very beginning can be a

340
00:15:39,273 --> 00:15:39,980
really good thing as well.

341
00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:41,565
This is a key one.

342
00:15:41,565 --> 00:15:44,400
Don't interrupt anyone.

343
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:46,820
It's really important in an
brainstorming session to

344
00:15:46,820 --> 00:15:48,850
encourage that every
voice is heard.

345
00:15:51,580 --> 00:15:56,112
Let me see if I can find that
quote from that one guy.

346
00:15:56,112 --> 00:15:58,320
Yeah, here we go.

347
00:15:58,320 --> 00:15:59,550
It's great.

348
00:15:59,550 --> 00:16:02,400
AUDIENCE: Think up or shut up.

349
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:04,240
ABE STEIN: Yeah, there's that
one too, which is a good one.

350
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,172
But it's talking about "the
spirit of a brainstorm session

351
00:16:08,172 --> 00:16:09,190
is important.

352
00:16:09,190 --> 00:16:12,300
Self-encouragement is needed
almost as much as mutual

353
00:16:12,300 --> 00:16:12,735
encouragement.

354
00:16:12,735 --> 00:16:15,930
A perfectionism complex will
throttle effort and abort

355
00:16:15,930 --> 00:16:19,090
ideas." He says, "One of the
ablest members kept mum

356
00:16:19,090 --> 00:16:20,270
throughout one of
our sessions.

357
00:16:20,270 --> 00:16:20,840
I button-holed him"--

358
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,280
never heard that expression--

359
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,180
"afterward and begged him to
spout whatever ideas might

360
00:16:25,180 --> 00:16:26,040
come to his mind in
our next meeting."

361
00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:27,200
And this is where
it gets good.

362
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,450
This is the really able member
of this ad team.

363
00:16:30,450 --> 00:16:31,960
He says, all right, I'll try.

364
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,490
But here's what happened.

365
00:16:33,490 --> 00:16:35,800
"After our first meeting, I
jotted down about 15 ideas

366
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:36,974
with the thought that
I would bring

367
00:16:36,974 --> 00:16:38,120
them to our next session.

368
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:39,595
When I looked them over, I
decided that they were

369
00:16:39,595 --> 00:16:42,728
worthless, so I just
tore up the list."

370
00:16:42,728 --> 00:16:45,652
And Alex goes on to to say it
took awhile to encourage this

371
00:16:45,652 --> 00:16:47,360
guy to understand that there's
no such thing as a worthless

372
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,920
idea, that it can either be
expanded upon or revised.

373
00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,340
And that's that synthesis
thing, that

374
00:16:54,340 --> 00:16:56,495
having a wild idea.

375
00:16:56,495 --> 00:16:58,910
And getting back to this idea
of the interruption, nothing

376
00:16:58,910 --> 00:17:03,390
will stop a person from wanting
to contribute more

377
00:17:03,390 --> 00:17:05,970
than not being to even have
their voice be heard.

378
00:17:05,970 --> 00:17:07,485
They're trying to say something,
and then they just

379
00:17:07,485 --> 00:17:09,319
get cut out by somebody else
who is like, oh, this is

380
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,460
better, especially for a shy
person or a person who is

381
00:17:12,460 --> 00:17:14,380
otherwise feeling like my
ideas are worthless.

382
00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:16,540
They won't be able to
get it out because

383
00:17:16,540 --> 00:17:20,060
they've been cut short.

384
00:17:20,060 --> 00:17:23,130
So some of this responsibility
falls on what we might call

385
00:17:23,130 --> 00:17:27,164
the leader, which I'll talk
about later, of the group.

386
00:17:27,164 --> 00:17:31,413
But it's a collective
responsibility that everybody

387
00:17:31,413 --> 00:17:35,832
makes sure that as someone is
expressing an idea, that it's

388
00:17:35,832 --> 00:17:37,305
[INAUDIBLE].

389
00:17:37,305 --> 00:17:40,742
And to that, keep
the description

390
00:17:40,742 --> 00:17:43,700
of your idea short.

391
00:17:43,700 --> 00:17:45,950
If people are sitting here, and
you've now hijacked the

392
00:17:45,950 --> 00:17:47,520
30-minute brainstorming session
with your one idea

393
00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,730
that took five minutes
to explain, that can

394
00:17:50,730 --> 00:17:51,770
also hamper it, right?

395
00:17:51,770 --> 00:17:54,170
Part of it is not only don't
interrupt people, but also

396
00:17:54,170 --> 00:17:56,960
make sure that when you are
contributing, you are allowing

397
00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,672
for other people to contribute
as well, something that maybe

398
00:17:59,672 --> 00:18:02,180
is not considered as much.

399
00:18:02,180 --> 00:18:04,260
For the organization, it
does need a leader.

400
00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:06,410
I hate that term, but that's
what he used in the book.

401
00:18:06,410 --> 00:18:08,995
I tend to use the term clerk,
which is a Quaker idea, which

402
00:18:08,995 --> 00:18:10,520
I grab onto.

403
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,050
A clerk being more
of a facilitator

404
00:18:12,050 --> 00:18:13,440
than an actual leader.

405
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:20,980
Leader suggests boss, which is
not great for everyone's even

406
00:18:20,980 --> 00:18:22,444
brainstorming session.

407
00:18:22,444 --> 00:18:24,590
And then of course the
secretary, or as he calls it,

408
00:18:24,590 --> 00:18:28,566
an associate leader, this is
someone who writes stuff down.

409
00:18:28,566 --> 00:18:31,572
There's some of that good,
old-fashioned hierarchy going

410
00:18:31,572 --> 00:18:33,860
on in this text.

411
00:18:33,860 --> 00:18:36,470
But obviously, we'll talk a
little bit more about what the

412
00:18:36,470 --> 00:18:39,011
roles of these people are, but
having those roles defined

413
00:18:39,011 --> 00:18:42,940
early is important.

414
00:18:42,940 --> 00:18:45,530
And then this is something to
talk about a bit, explaining

415
00:18:45,530 --> 00:18:47,573
the process and the principle
question at the

416
00:18:47,573 --> 00:18:49,930
start of the session.

417
00:18:49,930 --> 00:18:52,470
How many of you had heard of
these four principles of

418
00:18:52,470 --> 00:18:54,550
brainstorming explicitly prior
to reading this text?

419
00:18:54,550 --> 00:18:56,458
Anybody?

420
00:18:56,458 --> 00:18:58,366
Well.

421
00:18:58,366 --> 00:18:59,320
I know.

422
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,240
You heard from me.

423
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,940
But the process is something
that needs to be clear.

424
00:19:05,940 --> 00:19:07,490
Otherwise, people won't
remember to do it.

425
00:19:07,490 --> 00:19:09,930
You'll see when we do the
exercise, it's even hard

426
00:19:09,930 --> 00:19:13,275
sometimes to curb your
criticism, especially when

427
00:19:13,275 --> 00:19:13,890
you're comfortable
with people.

428
00:19:13,890 --> 00:19:16,380
And you may not mean it in a
malicious way, or your may not

429
00:19:16,380 --> 00:19:18,680
mean it in a way to stop the
brainstorming session.

430
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:20,560
But you'd just be like,
Oh, that's nuts.

431
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:21,970
You're laughing, and everybody
is having a good time.

432
00:19:21,970 --> 00:19:24,690
And then when you think back,
you're like, wait.

433
00:19:24,690 --> 00:19:27,395
That was me passing judgment
on an idea and possibly

434
00:19:27,395 --> 00:19:30,910
inhibiting the kind of ideation
that we're trying to

435
00:19:30,910 --> 00:19:31,340
get across.

436
00:19:31,340 --> 00:19:33,930
So explaining the process at
the beginning regardless of

437
00:19:33,930 --> 00:19:35,091
the group is really important.

438
00:19:35,091 --> 00:19:36,500
And that is usually a
responsibility that falls on

439
00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:38,216
the leader or the secretary,
whoever is

440
00:19:38,216 --> 00:19:39,802
organizing the session.

441
00:19:39,802 --> 00:19:42,450
They even suggest in the
text, have it posted.

442
00:19:42,450 --> 00:19:45,320
Have the four principles up so
that everybody can remind

443
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,160
themselves through the
process what these

444
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:49,460
four principles are.

445
00:19:49,460 --> 00:19:50,950
But explaining the process
is really important.

446
00:19:50,950 --> 00:19:55,210
And then this is so important.

447
00:19:55,210 --> 00:19:57,750
Having the principal question
and the goal of the

448
00:19:57,750 --> 00:20:01,290
brainstorming session
clear at the start.

449
00:20:01,290 --> 00:20:04,870
Obviously, it's encouraging
freewheeling.

450
00:20:04,870 --> 00:20:06,290
It's encouraging free thought.

451
00:20:06,290 --> 00:20:08,515
It's encouraging all kinds
of wide open creativity.

452
00:20:08,515 --> 00:20:11,740
And at the same time, if you do
that in an unbounded sort

453
00:20:11,740 --> 00:20:15,035
of way, you might end up with
things that really in the end,

454
00:20:15,035 --> 00:20:17,480
you don't have too many
useful ideas.

455
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,925
You have useful ideas for
something else, not for the

456
00:20:19,925 --> 00:20:22,370
actually creative problem
that you have.

457
00:20:22,370 --> 00:20:25,450
So if you take it from an ad
concept, you have a vodka

458
00:20:25,450 --> 00:20:29,270
company that's like, oh, we need
an advertisement for our

459
00:20:29,270 --> 00:20:30,390
awesome vodka or whatever.

460
00:20:30,390 --> 00:20:31,540
And so you're like, all right.

461
00:20:31,540 --> 00:20:32,190
We're going to have a
brainstorm session.

462
00:20:32,190 --> 00:20:33,430
And a bunch of people
come up with ideas.

463
00:20:33,430 --> 00:20:36,470
Now you're selling
dryers because it

464
00:20:36,470 --> 00:20:37,420
was wide open, right?

465
00:20:37,420 --> 00:20:40,465
It's like, oh, we've got these
great ad ideas for dryers, but

466
00:20:40,465 --> 00:20:42,648
they're just really not going
to work for vodka.

467
00:20:42,648 --> 00:20:46,150
Bringing it back to the video
game contract, you've got a

468
00:20:46,150 --> 00:20:48,520
contract with a producer to make
a first person shooter,

469
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,000
and in your brainstorming
session, you've designed a

470
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,360
cool new platform.

471
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,500
Neat, but that's not where the
money is coming from, right?

472
00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:59,135
So bounding the brainstorm
session is important too.

473
00:20:59,135 --> 00:21:01,500
And you'll see that in the
exercises that we do today,

474
00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:02,930
how it's important
to bound that.

475
00:21:09,264 --> 00:21:10,791
Oh, and write down everything.

476
00:21:10,791 --> 00:21:13,100
Sorry, I forgot about that.

477
00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:14,650
This is an important point.

478
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,347
This happens to all of us, but
you have this great idea, and

479
00:21:19,347 --> 00:21:20,525
then you don't write it down.

480
00:21:20,525 --> 00:21:21,942
And then you go to bed, and
then the next day, you're

481
00:21:21,942 --> 00:21:24,570
like, oh, I had this great
idea and you can't

482
00:21:24,570 --> 00:21:25,280
remember it, right?

483
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:29,750
So writing down everything
is absolutely essential.

484
00:21:29,750 --> 00:21:32,120
You'd be amazed the number of
times that a week later,

485
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,790
you're like, oh, we could put
these two ideas together as

486
00:21:35,790 --> 00:21:37,960
long as you can remember
what those ideas were.

487
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,550
And so what you think, it's
hard to not mentally pass

488
00:21:41,550 --> 00:21:43,310
judgment on things during the
brainstorm session, and what

489
00:21:43,310 --> 00:21:45,380
you think might be great
now, may be a week

490
00:21:45,380 --> 00:21:46,535
later not be as great.

491
00:21:46,535 --> 00:21:48,490
And what you didn't
think will be.

492
00:21:48,490 --> 00:21:52,062
And so making sure to have
everything written down is

493
00:21:52,062 --> 00:21:53,050
really important.

494
00:21:53,050 --> 00:21:56,035
And they even suggest having two
secretaries if you need it

495
00:21:56,035 --> 00:21:59,390
if you have a large group with
lot of ideas and they're each

496
00:21:59,390 --> 00:22:00,630
writing every other one.

497
00:22:00,630 --> 00:22:03,050
That can be helpful to make sure
that you get everything.

498
00:22:07,900 --> 00:22:10,930
Next is the question of what
sort of problems are suitable

499
00:22:10,930 --> 00:22:12,120
to a brainstorming session.

500
00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,400
The great example that Alex
Osborn gives is setting up a

501
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,200
brainstorm session on whether or
not to get married is not a

502
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:20,940
particularly suitable
question.

503
00:22:20,940 --> 00:22:23,370
And that was an interesting
concept.

504
00:22:23,370 --> 00:22:26,460
He's like, well, to decide to
get married, you apparently

505
00:22:26,460 --> 00:22:28,285
list the pros and cons.

506
00:22:28,285 --> 00:22:30,185
That's not exactly the process
I went through

507
00:22:30,185 --> 00:22:31,135
before I got married.

508
00:22:31,135 --> 00:22:32,321
I was like, well honey,
I'm going to have

509
00:22:32,321 --> 00:22:33,571
to write this down.

510
00:22:35,410 --> 00:22:38,290
But, fair or not, that was the
suggestion that he came up.

511
00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:39,460
And he had a good
point, right?

512
00:22:39,460 --> 00:22:41,065
The question of whether
or not to get married

513
00:22:41,065 --> 00:22:42,720
is a judgment call.

514
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,370
It is not a creative
ideation process.

515
00:22:45,370 --> 00:22:49,860
And so that's not a particularly
useful problem

516
00:22:49,860 --> 00:22:54,170
that's suitable to the
brainstorming process.

517
00:22:54,170 --> 00:22:57,820
You want a problem that is
going to be benefited by

518
00:22:57,820 --> 00:23:02,060
having a large, selection,
a large corpus of ideas.

519
00:23:02,060 --> 00:23:04,050
And so those are the kind of
problems that are more useful.

520
00:23:04,050 --> 00:23:07,930
And you'll see when we do our
example exercise what some of

521
00:23:07,930 --> 00:23:08,900
those might be.

522
00:23:08,900 --> 00:23:14,300
I also put here that having a
clear definition of the aim is

523
00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:14,690
really essential.

524
00:23:14,690 --> 00:23:16,230
It's what we talked
about before.

525
00:23:16,230 --> 00:23:18,450
You need to make sure that
everybody understands and

526
00:23:18,450 --> 00:23:19,200
everybody's on the same page.

527
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,012
Otherwise, you'll end up with
stuff that might be useful for

528
00:23:22,012 --> 00:23:24,570
something, but not useful for
what you're particularly

529
00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:25,970
trying to do.

530
00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:29,980
And so making that clear for
everybody is really important.

531
00:23:29,980 --> 00:23:32,550
Keeping the problem as
simple as possible

532
00:23:32,550 --> 00:23:33,800
is also really important.

533
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,678
Trying to keep simple language
for the problem.

534
00:23:36,678 --> 00:23:41,370
Keep it constrained in a way
that is simple enough so that

535
00:23:41,370 --> 00:23:45,270
people can work on it as
opposed to just feeling

536
00:23:45,270 --> 00:23:48,030
limited by it, if that
makes any sense.

537
00:23:48,030 --> 00:23:50,240
If something is overly
complicated and overly

538
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,860
constrained, then it becomes,
well, how do I fit

539
00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:54,260
everything into this?

540
00:23:54,260 --> 00:23:56,670
How do I match every single
one of these things?

541
00:23:56,670 --> 00:23:59,760
If its' simpler, then it's a
little bit easier to work on

542
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,920
and try to be creative with.

543
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,560
So keeping problems simple.

544
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,310
Which isn't to say that complex
problems couldn't be

545
00:24:06,310 --> 00:24:10,010
dealt with, but just divide
them into sub-problems.

546
00:24:10,010 --> 00:24:11,550
Divide them into little
sections.

547
00:24:11,550 --> 00:24:13,923
So there might be something
like, how could we

548
00:24:13,923 --> 00:24:15,665
deal with the UI?

549
00:24:15,665 --> 00:24:18,620
How could it look
in this game?

550
00:24:18,620 --> 00:24:20,720
So rather than say, well how
are we going to design our

551
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,100
first person shooter, you've
got a brainstorming session

552
00:24:23,100 --> 00:24:25,600
about what the UI could look
like for the first person

553
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:25,740
shooting game.

554
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,930
You have maybe a brainstorming
session for what the fiction

555
00:24:28,930 --> 00:24:30,400
for this first person
shooter might be.

556
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,935
You're dividing it into
sub-problems rather than

557
00:24:32,935 --> 00:24:36,071
having it be this gigantic
monolith of a thing.

558
00:24:36,071 --> 00:24:37,880
And you can see how that would
be a problem, right?

559
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:39,760
Because if you just brainstorm
on what's our first person

560
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:41,310
shooter going to be,
you're going to get

561
00:24:41,310 --> 00:24:42,430
ideas about the UI.

562
00:24:42,430 --> 00:24:43,590
You're going to get ideas
about the fiction.

563
00:24:43,590 --> 00:24:45,459
You're going to get ideas about
what sort of guns you

564
00:24:45,459 --> 00:24:47,580
should use or what they
should sound like.

565
00:24:47,580 --> 00:24:50,925
And it'll just be lots of
interesting ideas but

566
00:24:50,925 --> 00:24:52,175
all over the place.

567
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,284
And yeah, the problem should
be clearly and simply

568
00:24:58,284 --> 00:24:58,768
articulated.

569
00:24:58,768 --> 00:25:00,460
I think that's what I said
by the shooting example.

570
00:25:00,460 --> 00:25:02,220
Make sure that they're
articulated in a simple way.

571
00:25:02,220 --> 00:25:04,486
Sometimes you can have a simple
problem that's not

572
00:25:04,486 --> 00:25:06,260
articulated particularly
clearly.

573
00:25:06,260 --> 00:25:07,510
So it's just something
to consider.

574
00:25:11,110 --> 00:25:18,150
Responsibilities of the leader,
or whatever, the first

575
00:25:18,150 --> 00:25:21,116
being to understand and explain
the problem and the

576
00:25:21,116 --> 00:25:22,070
aim of the brainstorm session.

577
00:25:22,070 --> 00:25:24,650
I mean a lot of times, people
maybe will write a memo

578
00:25:24,650 --> 00:25:26,200
beforehand.

579
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,140
As the facilitator of the thing,
there's a person who

580
00:25:29,140 --> 00:25:32,910
perhaps wants to see the
brainstorm be a success.

581
00:25:32,910 --> 00:25:36,710
But mostly, having a clear
understanding of the problem.

582
00:25:36,710 --> 00:25:39,040
And explaining that to the group
is an important job for

583
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:40,122
the leader.

584
00:25:40,122 --> 00:25:42,225
I use this term facilitating
the session, encouraging

585
00:25:42,225 --> 00:25:44,230
ideation, discouraging
criticism.

586
00:25:44,230 --> 00:25:49,510
You are the watch guard for the
process, not necessarily--

587
00:25:49,510 --> 00:25:53,245
you can sometimes be a
contributor and a watchdog for

588
00:25:53,245 --> 00:25:53,930
the process.

589
00:25:53,930 --> 00:25:56,558
But most important
is that you are a

590
00:25:56,558 --> 00:25:59,250
watchdog for the process.

591
00:25:59,250 --> 00:26:03,042
You'll see as we do it, it's
just so easy to slip into

592
00:26:03,042 --> 00:26:06,860
these conversational habits
that are contrary to the

593
00:26:06,860 --> 00:26:08,246
brainstorming process.

594
00:26:08,246 --> 00:26:11,402
And so having someone who's
making sure people don't

595
00:26:11,402 --> 00:26:13,080
criticize and encouraging people
like oh, I haven't

596
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:13,660
heard from this person.

597
00:26:13,660 --> 00:26:14,941
Do you have ideas?

598
00:26:14,941 --> 00:26:19,430
Even pulling people
out is important.

599
00:26:19,430 --> 00:26:21,160
And that comes down to ensuring
that no voices are

600
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:22,746
lost during the discussion,
right?

601
00:26:22,746 --> 00:26:25,480
I mean we had that ablest member
who had 15 ideas that

602
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:26,530
he wrote down, and he's like,
they're worthless.

603
00:26:26,530 --> 00:26:29,090
Well, in some ways it's the
part of the leader, either

604
00:26:29,090 --> 00:26:31,910
during the session or after
the session to try to

605
00:26:31,910 --> 00:26:35,680
encourage those able members
to contribute.

606
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,072
Yeah, some of the most crack
pot ideas become the best

607
00:26:39,072 --> 00:26:41,930
ones, so you really want to make
sure ever voice is heard.

608
00:26:41,930 --> 00:26:44,400
And then encouraging the
synthesis, encouraging people

609
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,790
to riff on other ideas, trying
to find ways for people to

610
00:26:48,790 --> 00:26:49,900
build on each other.

611
00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:52,950
Even offering synthesis towards
the directives.

612
00:26:52,950 --> 00:26:54,215
So maybe you have
a couple ideas.

613
00:26:54,215 --> 00:26:57,250
And you're like, oh, 1
and 10 are similar.

614
00:26:57,250 --> 00:26:59,040
Is there any way we could
combine this?

615
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,477
And somebody is like, yeah, we
could give him a helmet.

616
00:27:02,477 --> 00:27:03,950
Awesome.

617
00:27:03,950 --> 00:27:04,950
So it's simple.

618
00:27:04,950 --> 00:27:06,795
I don't know what two
things you can

619
00:27:06,795 --> 00:27:08,120
combine to get a helmet.

620
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:09,520
Can't get shot in the head.

621
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,600
How about a helmet?

622
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:15,780
All right, so responsibilities
for the secretary.

623
00:27:15,780 --> 00:27:17,290
Most obviously, record
every and all ideas.

624
00:27:17,290 --> 00:27:18,712
Write it all down.

625
00:27:18,712 --> 00:27:20,920
You have to write it all down.

626
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:22,240
This is so important.

627
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,546
This one is often overlooked,
monitoring the schedule and

628
00:27:25,546 --> 00:27:28,270
the duration of the session.

629
00:27:28,270 --> 00:27:31,070
Something I learned a long,
long, long, time ago is one of

630
00:27:31,070 --> 00:27:33,626
the worst things that can happen
is meetings that run

631
00:27:33,626 --> 00:27:38,210
over or meetings that start late
or meetings that don't

632
00:27:38,210 --> 00:27:39,770
adhere to a schedule.

633
00:27:39,770 --> 00:27:43,910
No better way to lose your
employees or lose your staff

634
00:27:43,910 --> 00:27:47,850
than to bite into their time.

635
00:27:47,850 --> 00:27:51,666
And so making sure that it's
constrained and that it meets

636
00:27:51,666 --> 00:27:52,760
the duration is really
important.

637
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,260
So, they seem simple, but
timing's a thing.

638
00:27:56,260 --> 00:27:57,990
And then of course, they look
like participating in the

639
00:27:57,990 --> 00:27:58,770
brainstorming.

640
00:27:58,770 --> 00:28:03,230
Like I said, all voices should
be heard, and that oftentimes

641
00:28:03,230 --> 00:28:06,960
will mean that the secretary
is a creative

642
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,530
professional as well.

643
00:28:08,530 --> 00:28:13,300
And so making sure that you
participate [INAUDIBLE].

644
00:28:13,300 --> 00:28:18,927
So we've got a few exercises now
to get you acclimated to

645
00:28:18,927 --> 00:28:21,120
the idea of brainstorming.

646
00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,890
The first one is an actual
individual brainstorm.

647
00:28:23,890 --> 00:28:26,446
So if you have paper,
grab some paper at

648
00:28:26,446 --> 00:28:27,644
the top of the pile.

649
00:28:27,644 --> 00:28:30,039
AUDIENCE: If anyone is lacking
either writing

650
00:28:30,039 --> 00:28:31,476
equipment or paper?

651
00:28:31,476 --> 00:28:33,871
ABE STEIN: You could use
a note card too.

652
00:28:33,871 --> 00:28:36,720
Really just something to write
on other than the table.

653
00:28:49,710 --> 00:28:50,960
Note cards are totally fine.

654
00:28:53,590 --> 00:28:55,590
As you guys are getting ready,
I'll continue to talk.

655
00:28:55,590 --> 00:28:57,724
This is actually something that
I didn't mention in the

656
00:28:57,724 --> 00:28:59,605
process but is actually
very useful to the

657
00:28:59,605 --> 00:29:00,640
brainstorming process.

658
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,060
I think doing warm ups
before you actually

659
00:29:03,060 --> 00:29:04,250
brainstorm is useful.

660
00:29:04,250 --> 00:29:06,482
You know how people show up just
from lunch, especially if

661
00:29:06,482 --> 00:29:09,472
it's one of those
picnic meetings.

662
00:29:09,472 --> 00:29:11,360
People sometimes are tired.

663
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,528
People just might have other
things on the brain.

664
00:29:14,528 --> 00:29:17,653
So getting into the habit,
getting warmed up to being

665
00:29:17,653 --> 00:29:21,080
creative is important.

666
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:26,130
I tend to find it's a rare kind
of person who you just

667
00:29:26,130 --> 00:29:27,920
give a blank piece of
paper to, and you're

668
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,030
like, oh, make something.

669
00:29:29,030 --> 00:29:29,895
Go, be creative.

670
00:29:29,895 --> 00:29:31,715
And they're like, vroom.

671
00:29:31,715 --> 00:29:33,080
They just whip something out.

672
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,160
You have to get warmed up.

673
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,160
Visual artists sketch
constantly,

674
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,360
and that makes sense.

675
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:39,450
And then they build
on sketches.

676
00:29:39,450 --> 00:29:43,533
I just make dumb pieces of music
that I'll maybe never

677
00:29:43,533 --> 00:29:45,132
use for anything, but
maybe I will.

678
00:29:45,132 --> 00:29:45,840
Who knows?

679
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,224
I make stupid sound effects
in the shower.

680
00:29:48,224 --> 00:29:52,080
I consider that warming
up for work actually.

681
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,664
So you have to get warmed up.

682
00:29:55,664 --> 00:29:58,508
And so this is just a really
quick, five-minute warm up.

683
00:29:58,508 --> 00:30:01,060
And the idea is, write anything
that comes to your

684
00:30:01,060 --> 00:30:02,800
mind for this specific
problem, and

685
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:03,270
I'll show you a picture.

686
00:30:03,270 --> 00:30:06,090
Brainstorm possible uses-- it's
not really a brainstorm.

687
00:30:06,090 --> 00:30:08,410
It's more just that you
individually come up with

688
00:30:08,410 --> 00:30:12,220
creative ideas, creative uses,
for the following items.

689
00:30:12,220 --> 00:30:15,090
And I'll give you five
minutes starting now.

690
00:30:20,970 --> 00:30:23,420
All right.

691
00:30:23,420 --> 00:30:24,425
Hopefully it was good
for a warm up.

692
00:30:24,425 --> 00:30:28,305
Quick question by
a show of hand.

693
00:30:28,305 --> 00:30:29,275
Be honest.

694
00:30:29,275 --> 00:30:32,185
This is a safe environment.

695
00:30:32,185 --> 00:30:35,730
How many of you had an idea that
you did not write down?

696
00:30:35,730 --> 00:30:39,625
How many of you self-censored
yourself with an idea?

697
00:30:39,625 --> 00:30:42,060
Yeah, Tommy, you were like,
oh, that's dumb.

698
00:30:42,060 --> 00:30:44,690
See, it's hard to get out of
the habit of doing that.

699
00:30:44,690 --> 00:30:48,380
It's hard to get out of this
habit of self-judgement.

700
00:30:48,380 --> 00:30:51,600
And it's really important.

701
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,580
That dumb idea that you
think was worthless

702
00:30:53,580 --> 00:30:54,760
might be a good one.

703
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,260
Does anyone who raised their
hand want to share what their

704
00:30:57,260 --> 00:31:00,236
censored idea was just
to exorcise the

705
00:31:00,236 --> 00:31:03,866
demons, so to speak?

706
00:31:03,866 --> 00:31:06,770
No, no one?

707
00:31:06,770 --> 00:31:08,667
All right, who wants to
share some ideas that

708
00:31:08,667 --> 00:31:09,840
they did write down?

709
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,440
AUDIENCE: See, I have a lot.

710
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,680
ABE STEIN: Yeah, well
throw us a couple

711
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:13,600
that are your favorites.

712
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,120
AUDIENCE: C, lock pick,
MacGyver, connecting circuits.

713
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:17,870
ABE STEIN: There you go.

714
00:31:17,870 --> 00:31:21,680
AUDIENCE: Caring hurts, a
knife, clothes hanger,

715
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:27,826
chopsticks, dowser, stirrer,
connect batteries, let air out

716
00:31:27,826 --> 00:31:30,896
of tires, emo tool,
nose picker.

717
00:31:30,896 --> 00:31:31,880
ABE STEIN: Sure.

718
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,482
AUDIENCE: Staple.

719
00:31:34,482 --> 00:31:35,790
And a paper weight.

720
00:31:35,790 --> 00:31:36,810
I have a lot of things.

721
00:31:36,810 --> 00:31:38,594
ABE STEIN: Yeah, good,
that's awesome.

722
00:31:38,594 --> 00:31:39,040
Try it out?

723
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,660
AUDIENCE: All right, I got,
let's see, fingernail cleaner,

724
00:31:42,660 --> 00:31:46,900
an eyelash straightener,
basically rail gun ammo, a

725
00:31:46,900 --> 00:31:49,750
balloon annihilator,
and an official

726
00:31:49,750 --> 00:31:51,560
Tamagotchi TM resetter.

727
00:31:55,570 --> 00:31:57,080
ABE STEIN: It resets a lot
of things actually.

728
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:58,010
Over to this side.

729
00:31:58,010 --> 00:31:59,852
Owen, go ahead.

730
00:31:59,852 --> 00:32:04,250
AUDIENCE: I had [INAUDIBLE].

731
00:32:04,250 --> 00:32:05,700
I had scratch messaging tool.

732
00:32:05,700 --> 00:32:08,930
I had used as a key ring,
conducted electricity with it.

733
00:32:08,930 --> 00:32:11,550
Made it into jewelry.

734
00:32:11,550 --> 00:32:12,880
Fixed umbrellas and what
have you with it,

735
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,285
which I've done before.

736
00:32:15,285 --> 00:32:16,050
A money clip.

737
00:32:16,050 --> 00:32:19,520
Use it as a screw for cooking.

738
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,046
Put it on top of the door, and
so when people open it and it

739
00:32:22,046 --> 00:32:24,008
falls on the ground, you
know that somebody has

740
00:32:24,008 --> 00:32:25,258
been in your room.

741
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,060
Lance boils, poke eyes out.

742
00:32:33,135 --> 00:32:34,982
Hair accessory.

743
00:32:34,982 --> 00:32:35,886
[INAUDIBLE].

744
00:32:35,886 --> 00:32:37,360
ABE STEIN: That was
a good question.

745
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:38,610
Did you have a whole paper?

746
00:32:40,904 --> 00:32:42,752
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

747
00:32:42,752 --> 00:32:46,720
AUDIENCE: I had hairstyling
accessory, projectile,

748
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:51,830
something you could melt down
for metal and other stuff.

749
00:32:51,830 --> 00:32:52,616
Something you could bend and
then put on chairs, and then

750
00:32:52,616 --> 00:32:53,866
when people sit down,
it pokes them.

751
00:32:56,150 --> 00:32:58,210
Modern art.

752
00:32:58,210 --> 00:33:01,980
I thought you could get a bunch
and fill a dorm room

753
00:33:01,980 --> 00:33:04,560
with it as a prank
or something.

754
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,280
Toothpick.

755
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,385
Hold stuff open for
emergency surgery.

756
00:33:12,618 --> 00:33:13,104
ABE STEIN: Cool.

757
00:33:13,104 --> 00:33:14,076
Some other ideas?

758
00:33:14,076 --> 00:33:17,478
AUDIENCE: I thought you could
bend it into an interesting

759
00:33:17,478 --> 00:33:20,880
flat shape, and then put it in
ink and use it as a stamp.

760
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,350
ABE STEIN: Very nice,
very good.

761
00:33:22,350 --> 00:33:24,524
Cool, yeah, go ahead.

762
00:33:24,524 --> 00:33:26,150
AUDIENCE: Game bits
and tokens.

763
00:33:26,150 --> 00:33:29,990
Holder for dipping something
into liquids.

764
00:33:29,990 --> 00:33:34,319
Tie clips and keeping small
boards together.

765
00:33:34,319 --> 00:33:34,800
ABE STEIN: Very good.

766
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:36,724
Sure, yes?

767
00:33:36,724 --> 00:33:40,572
AUDIENCE: A mini rock
garden rake.

768
00:33:40,572 --> 00:33:42,015
Also a [INAUDIBLE].

769
00:33:42,015 --> 00:33:43,000
ABE STEIN: That is very good.

770
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:43,620
Go ahead.

771
00:33:43,620 --> 00:33:45,140
AUDIENCE: Heat generator.

772
00:33:45,140 --> 00:33:48,322
If you work hard on it by
bending it and unbending it,

773
00:33:48,322 --> 00:33:49,735
then it gets hots.

774
00:33:49,735 --> 00:33:50,206
ABE STEIN: Very nice.

775
00:33:50,206 --> 00:33:51,150
AUDIENCE: As long as
it doesn't break.

776
00:33:51,150 --> 00:33:51,445
ABE STEIN: Yes?

777
00:33:51,445 --> 00:33:54,452
AUDIENCE: I think about a
souvenir as a bulletin for a

778
00:33:54,452 --> 00:33:55,926
lost robot.

779
00:33:55,926 --> 00:33:58,341
ABE STEIN: That's good.

780
00:33:58,341 --> 00:33:59,950
Say that again.

781
00:33:59,950 --> 00:34:02,774
AUDIENCE: I was going to say
that it's a robot that is made

782
00:34:02,774 --> 00:34:04,470
by humans, but it's
lost in space.

783
00:34:04,470 --> 00:34:07,338
Then we have this thing that
reminded us of [INAUDIBLE]

784
00:34:07,338 --> 00:34:09,730
a secret thing.

785
00:34:09,730 --> 00:34:12,530
ABE STEIN: My favorite use for
a paper clip is cleaning the

786
00:34:12,530 --> 00:34:15,730
lint out of my iPhone ear
jack, which drives me

787
00:34:15,730 --> 00:34:16,050
absolutely crazy.

788
00:34:16,050 --> 00:34:18,606
So I'm running on reserve
battery power, and my slide

789
00:34:18,606 --> 00:34:20,798
show has been suspended.

790
00:34:20,798 --> 00:34:27,130
In my office, there's a air
powered connector thing.

791
00:34:27,130 --> 00:34:29,210
So yeah, how did we feel
about that exercise?

792
00:34:29,210 --> 00:34:30,310
It got you to loosen
up a little bit?

793
00:34:30,310 --> 00:34:31,820
It got you thinking
about some ideas?

794
00:34:31,820 --> 00:34:35,070
It got you feeling the creative
juices flowing?

795
00:34:35,070 --> 00:34:38,370
We have three more exercises
that we're going to do.

796
00:34:38,370 --> 00:34:41,430
So much brainstorming.

797
00:34:41,430 --> 00:34:43,730
This is the hardest work
I've ever done at MIT.

798
00:34:43,730 --> 00:34:46,795
No, so we have a few more
exercises to get you guys

799
00:34:46,795 --> 00:34:49,020
comfortable, to get you
guys relaxed with this

800
00:34:49,020 --> 00:34:50,418
brainstorming process.

801
00:34:50,418 --> 00:34:52,282
The next one is going to
be a group exercise.

802
00:34:52,282 --> 00:34:55,596
I'm going to wait to describe
it until I can get

803
00:34:55,596 --> 00:34:56,989
my slide show up.

804
00:34:56,989 --> 00:34:58,210
Anybody else have
any particularly

805
00:34:58,210 --> 00:35:00,990
choice paper clip ideas?

806
00:35:00,990 --> 00:35:02,460
AUDIENCE: Oh, I just
thought of one.

807
00:35:02,460 --> 00:35:03,300
ABE STEIN: What?

808
00:35:03,300 --> 00:35:05,250
AUDIENCE: A sine
wave generator.

809
00:35:05,250 --> 00:35:06,860
ABE STEIN: Oh, very good.

810
00:35:06,860 --> 00:35:08,110
AUDIENCE: Wire frame doll.

811
00:35:12,212 --> 00:35:14,933
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] shaker.

812
00:35:14,933 --> 00:35:16,640
ABE STEIN: Oh yeah, totally.

813
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:17,890
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

814
00:35:25,110 --> 00:35:26,595
ABE STEIN: Hold up
a second guys.

815
00:35:26,595 --> 00:35:29,565
AUDIENCE: If we stop looking at
it as an [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

816
00:35:29,565 --> 00:35:32,535
Take it apart like an Army man
and use it as a spear.

817
00:35:32,535 --> 00:35:37,010
ABE STEIN: Yeah, like Man Vs.
Wild catching fish with it.

818
00:35:37,010 --> 00:35:37,750
Bear Grylls.

819
00:35:37,750 --> 00:35:37,890
Something

820
00:35:37,890 --> 00:35:40,269
AUDIENCE: To chew on.

821
00:35:40,269 --> 00:35:42,738
AUDIENCE: You could use it
as a catapult if you

822
00:35:42,738 --> 00:35:43,988
bend the top part.

823
00:35:46,126 --> 00:35:47,376
AUDIENCE: Rubber
band launcher.

824
00:35:49,590 --> 00:35:51,890
AUDIENCE: Letting air
out of tires.

825
00:35:51,890 --> 00:35:53,140
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

826
00:36:04,242 --> 00:36:05,492
ABE STEIN: There we go.

827
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:09,760
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

828
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:11,440
AUDIENCE: Do you remember that
guy who had an oversized red

829
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:16,040
paper clip and ended up trading
it for a house?

830
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:17,290
Currency towards a house.

831
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,010
ABE STEIN: Cool, so hopefully
that got you loosened up.

832
00:36:23,010 --> 00:36:26,106
I do want to just emphasize
again, for those of you who

833
00:36:26,106 --> 00:36:27,750
raised your hand, and even
though of you who did not

834
00:36:27,750 --> 00:36:29,830
raise your hand because you
were censoring the truth

835
00:36:29,830 --> 00:36:32,830
because you were afraid,
try not to self-censor.

836
00:36:32,830 --> 00:36:34,330
Really, it's important
to brainstorming.

837
00:36:34,330 --> 00:36:34,830
AUDIENCE: It sounds
like the military.

838
00:36:34,830 --> 00:36:37,330
ABE STEIN: Yeah, stop
self-censoring.

839
00:36:37,330 --> 00:36:41,330
I bet those crappy ideas that
you didn't write down are

840
00:36:41,330 --> 00:36:42,400
actually really awesome.

841
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:46,100
So activity #2, we're going to
work as one large group.

842
00:36:46,100 --> 00:36:47,300
This is our conch shell.

843
00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:48,588
It doesn't look like
one, I know.

844
00:36:48,588 --> 00:36:51,840
But the principle
still applies.

845
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:56,010
This is just to get us in the
habit, in the shape of

846
00:36:56,010 --> 00:36:59,670
speaking one at a time, not
interrupting each other.

847
00:36:59,670 --> 00:37:02,652
And in some senses building on
each other's ideas too, right?

848
00:37:02,652 --> 00:37:05,360
There's something in the
physical passing of the ball

849
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,080
after you've heard someone's
idea that might encourage that

850
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,040
sort of synthesis of ideas
as you're going.

851
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,566
I will be your fearless
leader.

852
00:37:13,566 --> 00:37:15,641
All that means is that I just
make sure you're not

853
00:37:15,641 --> 00:37:17,980
interrupting each other.

854
00:37:17,980 --> 00:37:23,230
And we're going to brainstorm
solutions to a design problem.

855
00:37:23,230 --> 00:37:25,666
This one I think is actually
a lot of fun.

856
00:37:25,666 --> 00:37:27,390
So, I will show you the
design problem.

857
00:37:27,390 --> 00:37:30,830
I will maybe throw out an idea,
and then I will toss the

858
00:37:30,830 --> 00:37:33,190
conch shell to the first
person who wants it.

859
00:37:33,190 --> 00:37:34,570
And then it doesn't have
to go back to me.

860
00:37:34,570 --> 00:37:36,730
Just anyone who wants it,
throw up your hand.

861
00:37:36,730 --> 00:37:38,630
And we'll keep moving around.

862
00:37:38,630 --> 00:37:40,140
Please close the lids
on your drinks.

863
00:37:42,750 --> 00:37:47,530
Put away your crystal stuff that
you don't want shattered.

864
00:37:47,530 --> 00:37:50,110
So we'll take approximately
15 minutes on this.

865
00:37:50,110 --> 00:37:52,330
We'll see how our
momentum goes.

866
00:37:52,330 --> 00:37:53,970
So you've just finished
updating Tetris

867
00:37:53,970 --> 00:37:55,510
for Xbox Live Arcade.

868
00:37:55,510 --> 00:37:56,400
Awesome.

869
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:58,400
I don't know how you got the
rights, but that's great.

870
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:00,580
Microsoft is demanding a set of
achievement for integrating

871
00:38:00,580 --> 00:38:03,826
the game into their online
service, because unless you

872
00:38:03,826 --> 00:38:06,800
have achievements, it's
not a real game.

873
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,570
So, we are going to brainstorm
possible player achievements

874
00:38:09,570 --> 00:38:11,860
for your new version
of Tetris.

875
00:38:11,860 --> 00:38:13,300
You know what achievements
are, right?

876
00:38:13,300 --> 00:38:16,142
Those little things that pop up
on your Xbox every time you

877
00:38:16,142 --> 00:38:16,930
do anything?

878
00:38:16,930 --> 00:38:20,110
So that is our idea for
Tetris achievements.

879
00:38:20,110 --> 00:38:21,443
And I'll start.

880
00:38:21,443 --> 00:38:25,147
How about for actually getting
four lines, you get a Tetris

881
00:38:25,147 --> 00:38:26,780
achievement.

882
00:38:26,780 --> 00:38:28,610
Who wants to be next?

883
00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:30,420
AUDIENCE: You get an achievement
for losing as

884
00:38:30,420 --> 00:38:32,910
quickly as possibly, which
they think will be like,

885
00:38:32,910 --> 00:38:34,160
really obvious.

886
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:40,630
AUDIENCE: Getting three
lines with an S-piece.

887
00:38:40,630 --> 00:38:43,410
AUDIENCE: Drawing some sort of
unique little picture with the

888
00:38:43,410 --> 00:38:47,890
Tetris blocks, like something
new perhaps.

889
00:38:47,890 --> 00:38:49,280
AUDIENCE: Putting one
of each block down.

890
00:38:53,340 --> 00:38:54,980
AUDIENCE: Lasting for a certain
amount of time without

891
00:38:54,980 --> 00:38:56,542
ever getting above
a certain height.

892
00:38:56,542 --> 00:38:57,792
ABE STEIN: Very cool.

893
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,450
AUDIENCE: Lasting a certain
amount of time without ever

894
00:39:03,450 --> 00:39:05,890
locating a piece.

895
00:39:05,890 --> 00:39:08,835
AUDIENCE: Modern Tetris games
have a system where you can

896
00:39:08,835 --> 00:39:10,759
rotate indefinitely when
your piece is down.

897
00:39:10,759 --> 00:39:13,164
So you rotate indefinitely for
a minute or two or three.

898
00:39:16,050 --> 00:39:18,260
AUDIENCE: Lasting a certain
amount of time without ever

899
00:39:18,260 --> 00:39:20,110
clearing a line with
a straight piece.

900
00:39:24,290 --> 00:39:27,910
AUDIENCE: Putting your piece
down underneath another piece

901
00:39:27,910 --> 00:39:29,823
into a little hole.

902
00:39:29,823 --> 00:39:30,769
ABE STEIN: Sliding it in?

903
00:39:30,769 --> 00:39:32,019
AUDIENCE: The T-spin.

904
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:35,729
AUDIENCE: Spelling USSR
with your pieces.

905
00:39:40,130 --> 00:39:42,086
That was a bad throw.

906
00:39:42,086 --> 00:39:45,020
AUDIENCE: Making a
conglomeration of all pieces

907
00:39:45,020 --> 00:39:46,976
into a shape of a
regular piece.

908
00:39:46,976 --> 00:39:50,399
So the whole board
is one L-shape.

909
00:39:50,399 --> 00:39:53,340
ABE STEIN: Very cool.

910
00:39:53,340 --> 00:39:55,320
AUDIENCE: Basically only moving
the pieces in beat to

911
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:56,570
the music that's playing.

912
00:39:58,780 --> 00:40:03,390
AUDIENCE: Spelling USA with
your pieces, but doing it.

913
00:40:03,390 --> 00:40:04,640
ABE STEIN: Capitalist
centered.

914
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,974
AUDIENCE: High score and high
score without pairing lines.

915
00:40:13,390 --> 00:40:16,318
AUDIENCE: Managing to clear
the entire board in a game

916
00:40:16,318 --> 00:40:17,782
that has already reached the
top line, but not quite

917
00:40:17,782 --> 00:40:19,032
overflowed.

918
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:25,760
AUDIENCE: Putting a piece down
without actually looking at

919
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,010
the piece at all.

920
00:40:31,003 --> 00:40:34,979
AUDIENCE: Most pieces per
time, so [INAUDIBLE].

921
00:40:34,979 --> 00:40:36,229
ABE STEIN: Sure.

922
00:40:37,980 --> 00:40:40,365
AUDIENCE: One day of continuous
Tetris play.

923
00:40:43,335 --> 00:40:44,820
ABE STEIN: Marathon challenge.

924
00:40:44,820 --> 00:40:47,620
AUDIENCE: Breaking the
previous high score.

925
00:40:47,620 --> 00:40:49,150
AUDIENCE: Only ever shifting the
pieces either to the right

926
00:40:49,150 --> 00:40:50,646
or to the left the
entire game.

927
00:40:50,646 --> 00:40:52,780
ABE STEIN: Ah.

928
00:40:52,780 --> 00:40:54,560
AUDIENCE: Doing the marathon
challenge but only listening

929
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:55,810
to one piece of music
the entire time.

930
00:41:01,260 --> 00:41:04,760
AUDIENCE: Clearing a level by
dropping pieces before they

931
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:06,540
fall five spaces.

932
00:41:06,540 --> 00:41:07,790
ABE STEIN: Oh, all
right, cool.

933
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,100
AUDIENCE: Rotating every single
piece that you play.

934
00:41:15,100 --> 00:41:17,500
ABE STEIN: Oh, very good.

935
00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:19,200
AUDIENCE: Never going above a
certain line for a certain

936
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:20,072
amount of time.

937
00:41:20,072 --> 00:41:24,507
ABE STEIN: Ooh, a sustaining
effort.

938
00:41:24,507 --> 00:41:25,318
AUDIENCE: All of the
above, but on

939
00:41:25,318 --> 00:41:26,568
different difficulty levels.

940
00:41:30,850 --> 00:41:33,665
AUDIENCE: Clearing three lines
with a T, I guess.

941
00:41:33,665 --> 00:41:34,070
ABE STEIN: There you go.

942
00:41:34,070 --> 00:41:35,590
Sure.

943
00:41:35,590 --> 00:41:38,590
AUDIENCE: Starting
up the game.

944
00:41:38,590 --> 00:41:41,120
AUDIENCE: Clearing
an entire screen.

945
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,381
AUDIENCE: Using the L-block.

946
00:41:44,381 --> 00:41:47,790
It doesn't matter how.

947
00:41:47,790 --> 00:41:48,764
AUDIENCE: [? Turning ?] a
box a different color.

948
00:41:48,764 --> 00:41:51,686
So clearing lines always
with the same color.

949
00:41:57,530 --> 00:42:01,450
AUDIENCE: Rotating a
piece 720 degrees.

950
00:42:01,450 --> 00:42:04,980
AUDIENCE: Only matching pieces
such that the U-blocks that

951
00:42:04,980 --> 00:42:07,340
fall down are touching blocks
of the same color.

952
00:42:07,340 --> 00:42:08,720
ABE STEIN: Cool.

953
00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:11,870
AUDIENCE: Clear two, four
block segments with two

954
00:42:11,870 --> 00:42:16,200
consecutive lines.

955
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:17,890
AUDIENCE: Clearing a level
using only tetrices.

956
00:42:22,890 --> 00:42:26,458
AUDIENCE: Sorry, you
can't talk anymore.

957
00:42:26,458 --> 00:42:28,197
AUDIENCE: Challenging somebody
on your friends

958
00:42:28,197 --> 00:42:31,428
list to beat the score.

959
00:42:31,428 --> 00:42:32,919
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

960
00:42:32,919 --> 00:42:35,901
someone on your friends
list to lose faster.

961
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,290
AUDIENCE: Having no holes in the
golf course at all times.

962
00:42:43,290 --> 00:42:46,050
ABE STEIN: Oh cool.

963
00:42:46,050 --> 00:42:49,110
AUDIENCE: Inviting one of
your Xbox Live friends

964
00:42:49,110 --> 00:42:51,600
to play with you.

965
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,030
AUDIENCE: Five consecutive
line clears.

966
00:42:55,030 --> 00:42:56,920
AUDIENCE: Beating one of your
friends on Xbox Live when you

967
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,315
play with them.

968
00:43:00,315 --> 00:43:05,660
AUDIENCE: Losing to a
friend on Xbox Live.

969
00:43:05,660 --> 00:43:07,912
AUDIENCE: Playing with
a friend for one hour

970
00:43:07,912 --> 00:43:08,896
continuously.

971
00:43:08,896 --> 00:43:10,146
Plus one day.

972
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,800
AUDIENCE: Beating a
score set by the

973
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,330
original creator of Tetris.

974
00:43:18,330 --> 00:43:21,106
AUDIENCE: Clearing a line
somewhere above the first line

975
00:43:21,106 --> 00:43:23,998
when the first line only has
one block filled in.

976
00:43:31,710 --> 00:43:33,090
AUDIENCE: I think
it's possible.

977
00:43:33,090 --> 00:43:34,588
It definitely is.

978
00:43:34,588 --> 00:43:37,576
You get the flat ones.

979
00:43:37,576 --> 00:43:38,074
ABE STEIN: Someone has
to have ideas.

980
00:43:38,074 --> 00:43:40,066
There's an idea.

981
00:43:40,066 --> 00:43:43,552
AUDIENCE: Lose more than
10 levels to a friend.

982
00:43:43,552 --> 00:43:44,802
[INAUDIBLE].

983
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,252
AUDIENCE: Play the original
creator of

984
00:43:49,252 --> 00:43:52,870
Tetris on Xbox Live.

985
00:43:52,870 --> 00:43:54,640
AUDIENCE: Losing 100 times.

986
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:55,890
ABE STEIN: Yeah, there you go.

987
00:43:58,090 --> 00:43:59,430
AUDIENCE: Playing on
increasingly ridiculous

988
00:43:59,430 --> 00:44:01,710
difficulties with achievements
for each.

989
00:44:01,710 --> 00:44:04,840
Or speeds, increasingly
difficult speeds.

990
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,436
AUDIENCE: Completing the Tetris
challenge, which is

991
00:44:07,436 --> 00:44:10,350
presumably some kind of game
where you have to throw a box

992
00:44:10,350 --> 00:44:13,640
in the right sequence in order
to clear all the lines.

993
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,680
AUDIENCE: Clearing
1,000 lines.

994
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,800
AUDIENCE: Playing
invisible mode.

995
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,070
AUDIENCE: Playing for a certain
amount of time while

996
00:44:24,070 --> 00:44:25,968
holding down the Down
key continuously.

997
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:31,530
ABE STEIN: Only rotating in
one direction, always.

998
00:44:31,530 --> 00:44:34,953
I don't know if someone
said that already.

999
00:44:34,953 --> 00:44:37,398
AUDIENCE: Getting 10
achievements in Tetris.

1000
00:44:47,090 --> 00:44:50,526
AUDIENCE: Getting every
achievement in Tetris.

1001
00:44:50,526 --> 00:44:52,008
ABE STEIN: Oh no, how
can you get it?

1002
00:44:52,008 --> 00:44:52,502
AUDIENCE: It's a paradox.

1003
00:44:52,502 --> 00:44:55,470
It's impossible.

1004
00:44:55,470 --> 00:44:58,277
AUDIENCE: Always have lost on
the far left and on the far

1005
00:44:58,277 --> 00:44:59,522
right column.

1006
00:44:59,522 --> 00:45:02,510
Oh yeah, sure.

1007
00:45:02,510 --> 00:45:05,560
ABE STEIN: Cool, I think that
had some decent momentum, but

1008
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,040
I think our mission
was accomplished.

1009
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:10,080
We were really only giving one
idea at a time because it was

1010
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:11,310
only the person who had the
ball that was talking.

1011
00:45:11,310 --> 00:45:14,505
That, probably with a little bit
more speed and momentum,

1012
00:45:14,505 --> 00:45:15,400
but it was nice.

1013
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:17,040
We had a little building
on ideas.

1014
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:20,200
We're starting to get
this brainstorm.

1015
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,128
There was still some
shyness, which is--

1016
00:45:23,128 --> 00:45:24,586
people have different
personalities,

1017
00:45:24,586 --> 00:45:27,016
but stop being shy.

1018
00:45:27,016 --> 00:45:27,826
You're allowed to
have different

1019
00:45:27,826 --> 00:45:28,960
personalities, but stop it.

1020
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,110
No, so that's activity #2.

1021
00:45:34,420 --> 00:45:35,580
Any questions about
that process?

1022
00:45:35,580 --> 00:45:36,330
How did we feel about it?

1023
00:45:36,330 --> 00:45:40,074
Any thoughts on it before we
go on to the next activity?

1024
00:45:40,074 --> 00:45:41,421
All right.

1025
00:45:41,421 --> 00:45:42,864
Next activity.

1026
00:45:42,864 --> 00:45:44,880
Actually, this is our
last activity.

1027
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,240
Sorry, I said there were four,
but there are only three.

1028
00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:49,350
[INAUDIBLE]

1029
00:45:49,350 --> 00:45:51,070
I screwed up.

1030
00:45:51,070 --> 00:45:56,460
OK, so this one is a more
formal brainstorm.

1031
00:45:56,460 --> 00:45:58,165
And actually, I screwed
up that last one.

1032
00:45:58,165 --> 00:45:59,988
We didn't have a secretary, so
all of those great Tetris

1033
00:45:59,988 --> 00:46:02,916
ideas are now lost because I
can't remember any of them.

1034
00:46:02,916 --> 00:46:03,892
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1035
00:46:03,892 --> 00:46:06,820
ABE STEIN: Oh yes.

1036
00:46:06,820 --> 00:46:09,748
Did we not have that?

1037
00:46:09,748 --> 00:46:10,998
Let me just get these
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

1038
00:46:13,470 --> 00:46:16,770
So what we're going to do is
we're going to separate into

1039
00:46:16,770 --> 00:46:18,272
two design teams.

1040
00:46:18,272 --> 00:46:20,694
So it will just totally
be by location.

1041
00:46:20,694 --> 00:46:22,395
We'll just get half of
you over here and

1042
00:46:22,395 --> 00:46:24,510
half of you over there.

1043
00:46:24,510 --> 00:46:26,770
I want the two to designate
one leader.

1044
00:46:26,770 --> 00:46:28,710
That's going to be the person
who's responsible--

1045
00:46:28,710 --> 00:46:29,660
clerk--

1046
00:46:29,660 --> 00:46:31,060
for facilitating it.

1047
00:46:31,060 --> 00:46:31,730
Did I say clerk there?

1048
00:46:31,730 --> 00:46:32,710
A leader and a secretary.

1049
00:46:32,710 --> 00:46:36,800
It's supposed to a clerk
leader and a secretary.

1050
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,010
So one person to write
everything down, and one

1051
00:46:39,010 --> 00:46:40,770
person to obviously
facilitate.

1052
00:46:40,770 --> 00:46:44,330
And we're going to do
20 or so minute

1053
00:46:44,330 --> 00:46:47,670
brainstorm for a game pitch.

1054
00:46:47,670 --> 00:46:49,120
What do I mean by game pitch?

1055
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:53,670
Think of the, you're in an
elevator with Miyamoto or

1056
00:46:53,670 --> 00:46:56,940
you're in an elevator with
[? Philip Haas ?], and you

1057
00:46:56,940 --> 00:46:59,210
have this game idea that
you need to pitch.

1058
00:46:59,210 --> 00:47:02,180
But you're only going to
the 10th floor or so.

1059
00:47:02,180 --> 00:47:04,550
And so really, you have 30
seconds, a minute, two

1060
00:47:04,550 --> 00:47:08,770
minutes, to get the
core information

1061
00:47:08,770 --> 00:47:09,930
about this game out.

1062
00:47:09,930 --> 00:47:12,960
So that can be something like
a title, maybe a tagline for

1063
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:18,090
it, any main features you
might have for it.

1064
00:47:18,090 --> 00:47:21,690
Of course, it would be way too
easy, or way actually crazy

1065
00:47:21,690 --> 00:47:24,836
for me to be like, any game at
all, because there are lots of

1066
00:47:24,836 --> 00:47:25,770
different types of
games obviously.

1067
00:47:25,770 --> 00:47:28,080
So it's going to be a game
based on the following

1068
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:28,400
constraint.

1069
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,255
So what I'd like to do first
before I give you the

1070
00:47:30,255 --> 00:47:31,930
constraint is let's divide
ourselves in half.

1071
00:47:31,930 --> 00:47:37,210
We can draw this imaginary line
diagonally dividing the

1072
00:47:37,210 --> 00:47:41,228
two of you back there, and we'll
just get one half here,

1073
00:47:41,228 --> 00:47:42,224
one half there.

1074
00:47:42,224 --> 00:47:43,474
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1075
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:49,680
ABE STEIN: And once I give you
the constraints, we'll

1076
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:50,930
actually find a separate room
for the other team.

1077
00:47:54,900 --> 00:47:55,950
AUDIENCE: You're stuck
on that wire.

1078
00:47:55,950 --> 00:47:58,250
That's an achievement there.

1079
00:47:58,250 --> 00:47:59,500
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1080
00:48:13,950 --> 00:48:15,167
ABE STEIN: If someone has a
piece of paper, they can jot

1081
00:48:15,167 --> 00:48:17,360
down their ideas.

1082
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,300
Just write on a piece
of paper.

1083
00:48:19,300 --> 00:48:20,566
So these are your teams.

1084
00:48:20,566 --> 00:48:21,070
You guys will go in that room.

1085
00:48:21,070 --> 00:48:22,850
You guys stay out here.

1086
00:48:22,850 --> 00:48:25,410
As soon as I give you the
constraint, designate a

1087
00:48:25,410 --> 00:48:29,430
clerk/leader, a fearless leader,
and a secretary,

1088
00:48:29,430 --> 00:48:30,840
someone to write everything
down.

1089
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,220
Because our groups are
relatively small, right, we

1090
00:48:33,220 --> 00:48:36,960
can have the leader and the
secretary involved in the

1091
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:37,770
brainstorming process.

1092
00:48:37,770 --> 00:48:39,720
Please don't be afraid
of contributing.

1093
00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:42,970
But if you are designated as the
leader, keep in mind your

1094
00:48:42,970 --> 00:48:46,720
primary responsibility is
facilitating the brainstorm.

1095
00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:48,124
You want to make sure
it runs smoothly.

1096
00:48:48,124 --> 00:48:50,932
You want to make sure people
are not criticizing ideas.

1097
00:48:50,932 --> 00:48:52,810
You want to make sure
that it's going OK.

1098
00:48:52,810 --> 00:48:56,330
Any questions on this before I
give you your constraints?

1099
00:48:56,330 --> 00:48:57,300
Everything makes sense?

1100
00:48:57,300 --> 00:48:57,785
All good?

1101
00:48:57,785 --> 00:48:58,610
OK.

1102
00:48:58,610 --> 00:48:59,890
Here are the constraints
for the game.

1103
00:48:59,890 --> 00:49:01,770
It must have zombies.

1104
00:49:01,770 --> 00:49:04,240
It must have a love story.

1105
00:49:04,240 --> 00:49:06,590
It must be massively
multiplayer.

1106
00:49:06,590 --> 00:49:08,170
So those are the constraints
for the game.

1107
00:49:08,170 --> 00:49:11,480
That's what the publisher is
going to give you money for.

1108
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:15,890
So you need to develop a pitch
for this game idea.

1109
00:49:15,890 --> 00:49:19,810
Title, tagline, what have you.

1110
00:49:19,810 --> 00:49:21,530
All right, so you guys,
we'll take you into

1111
00:49:21,530 --> 00:49:22,450
this room over here.

1112
00:49:22,450 --> 00:49:23,944
You guys stay here.

1113
00:49:23,944 --> 00:49:26,932
Designate a leader and a
secretary, and then start

1114
00:49:26,932 --> 00:49:28,182
brainstorming.

1115
00:49:30,420 --> 00:49:31,390
Oh, I love this.

1116
00:49:31,390 --> 00:49:32,940
It's like, I don't want
to be the leader.

1117
00:49:32,940 --> 00:49:34,776
I don't want to be
the secretary.

1118
00:49:34,776 --> 00:49:36,275
AUDIENCE: I said I'll do it.

1119
00:49:36,275 --> 00:49:40,040
AUDIENCE: But you wanted
to be the secretary.

1120
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:40,755
AUDIENCE: One of you
is secretary.

1121
00:49:40,755 --> 00:49:41,600
One of you is leader.

1122
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,580
Be a leader then.

1123
00:49:43,580 --> 00:49:44,680
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1124
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:45,930
and you lost.

1125
00:49:47,330 --> 00:49:49,820
AUDIENCE: It brings up
the age-old question.

1126
00:49:49,820 --> 00:49:51,867
If they're both vampires or
they're both zombies, does it

1127
00:49:51,867 --> 00:49:55,160
count as necrophilia?

1128
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:58,060
AUDIENCE: Fun, let's see.

1129
00:49:58,060 --> 00:50:01,310
AUDIENCE: Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies manages to have--

1130
00:50:01,310 --> 00:50:03,115
AUDIENCE: It encompasses all
of those except the massive

1131
00:50:03,115 --> 00:50:04,500
and multiplayer part.

1132
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:06,660
Licensed title right there.

1133
00:50:06,660 --> 00:50:08,370
AUDIENCE: Make it
Nazi zombies.

1134
00:50:08,370 --> 00:50:09,485
Two Nazi zombies.

1135
00:50:09,485 --> 00:50:11,580
No, a forbidden love.

1136
00:50:11,580 --> 00:50:15,210
A Nazi zombie is in love
with an Allied zombie.

1137
00:50:15,210 --> 00:50:15,780
AUDIENCE: Jewish.

1138
00:50:15,780 --> 00:50:16,120
AUDIENCE: Yes.

1139
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:18,660
AUDIENCE: Yes, and then so
there are two factions.

1140
00:50:18,660 --> 00:50:21,910
Well, they are all
people online.

1141
00:50:21,910 --> 00:50:23,500
One group-- there are
two factions.

1142
00:50:23,500 --> 00:50:26,530
There's the Allied group
and the Axis group.

1143
00:50:26,530 --> 00:50:29,955
AUDIENCE: What if there
are two factions.

1144
00:50:29,955 --> 00:50:32,760
There are the zombies and the
humans, and they're drawn into

1145
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:36,445
war because there's a love story
between a zombie and a

1146
00:50:36,445 --> 00:50:38,980
human, and and the leaders
get pissed over this.

1147
00:50:38,980 --> 00:50:42,370
And so we're at war because
of Romeo and

1148
00:50:42,370 --> 00:50:43,970
Juliet-esque zombie human--

1149
00:50:43,970 --> 00:50:45,100
AUDIENCE: So what you're
saying is we're having

1150
00:50:45,100 --> 00:50:46,285
intelligent zombies.

1151
00:50:46,285 --> 00:50:47,910
AUDIENCE: Yeah, intelligent
zombies.

1152
00:50:47,910 --> 00:50:49,580
AUDIENCE: So clearly they're
Nazi zombies.

1153
00:50:49,580 --> 00:50:50,700
AUDIENCE: Semi-intelligent
zombies.

1154
00:50:50,700 --> 00:50:53,875
AUDIENCE: The zombies should
decide to become Nazis.

1155
00:50:53,875 --> 00:50:55,690
AUDIENCE: We need a tagline.

1156
00:50:55,690 --> 00:50:56,320
AUDIENCE: Title.

1157
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:58,620
AUDIENCE: We have to somehow
bring Hitler into this though.

1158
00:50:58,620 --> 00:51:02,380
Because if Nazis, there must
be a zombie Hitler.

1159
00:51:02,380 --> 00:51:05,780
AUDIENCE: What is your name?

1160
00:51:05,780 --> 00:51:06,683
AUDIENCE: Jason.

1161
00:51:06,683 --> 00:51:07,650
AUDIENCE: I'm Brian.

1162
00:51:07,650 --> 00:51:11,070
On Jason's idea of is it
necrophilia, I think we could

1163
00:51:11,070 --> 00:51:12,210
do a love story.

1164
00:51:12,210 --> 00:51:14,696
The title could be
Necrophilia?

1165
00:51:14,696 --> 00:51:16,400
AUDIENCE: Is it necrophlia?

1166
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:17,650
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1167
00:51:22,773 --> 00:51:24,650
AUDIENCE: I like
it as a title.

1168
00:51:24,650 --> 00:51:25,305
AUDIENCE: They say it
is a love story,

1169
00:51:25,305 --> 00:51:26,555
but is it a sex story.

1170
00:51:28,996 --> 00:51:29,870
AUDIENCE: How about this?

1171
00:51:29,870 --> 00:51:31,435
Or maybe even zombies
strippers that fall

1172
00:51:31,435 --> 00:51:31,950
in love with them.

1173
00:51:31,950 --> 00:51:33,400
AUDIENCE: Have you seen
Zombie Strippers?

1174
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:33,890
AUDIENCE: No, I haven't.

1175
00:51:33,890 --> 00:51:36,156
AUDIENCE: It's a terrible,
wonderful, terrible movie.

1176
00:51:36,156 --> 00:51:36,780
AUDIENCE: Well, I'll
watch it then.

1177
00:51:36,780 --> 00:51:38,258
AUDIENCE: You should,
not, should.

1178
00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:47,260
Actually, how about we have the
zombies as the good guys.

1179
00:51:47,260 --> 00:51:51,070
That way, the Allies are trying
to make a weapon that

1180
00:51:51,070 --> 00:51:54,470
will destroy half the world, and
the zombies are like, no,

1181
00:51:54,470 --> 00:51:55,370
that would be bad.

1182
00:51:55,370 --> 00:51:56,610
Let's make everyone
else zombies so

1183
00:51:56,610 --> 00:51:58,750
they can be with us.

1184
00:51:58,750 --> 00:52:01,750
AUDIENCE: What if you're just
a zombie, and everyone is

1185
00:52:01,750 --> 00:52:02,740
trying to kill you.

1186
00:52:02,740 --> 00:52:04,942
So you want to make everyone
zombies so that the world will

1187
00:52:04,942 --> 00:52:05,914
be peaceful and happy.

1188
00:52:05,914 --> 00:52:07,530
AUDIENCE: And you want
everyone to love you.

1189
00:52:07,530 --> 00:52:08,940
AUDIENCE: I like that a lot.

1190
00:52:08,940 --> 00:52:11,950
AUDIENCE: And then it'd
be a love story.

1191
00:52:11,950 --> 00:52:13,365
AUDIENCE: Even better,
love zombies.

1192
00:52:13,365 --> 00:52:15,100
Who says they have
to be in bed?

1193
00:52:15,100 --> 00:52:16,350
They can be infected
by emotions.

1194
00:52:19,670 --> 00:52:23,180
That's the tagline right there,
"Infected by Emotions."

1195
00:52:23,180 --> 00:52:24,310
AUDIENCE: Nudist zombies.

1196
00:52:24,310 --> 00:52:28,560
AUDIENCE: What if 95% of the
world is zombie, and so then

1197
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:32,550
the weird creatures that are
scary are the humans.

1198
00:52:32,550 --> 00:52:34,660
And they're sentient and they
do weird things, but the

1199
00:52:34,660 --> 00:52:36,590
zombies all are happy
and love each other.

1200
00:52:36,590 --> 00:52:39,604
AUDIENCE: Maybe the humans
have the love disease.

1201
00:52:39,604 --> 00:52:42,300
AUDIENCE: They're trying
to hump zombies?

1202
00:52:42,300 --> 00:52:44,780
AUDIENCE: Like they're infecting
zombies with love.

1203
00:52:47,300 --> 00:52:50,606
AUDIENCE: So then each person
would either start as a zombie

1204
00:52:50,606 --> 00:52:50,950
or a human.

1205
00:52:50,950 --> 00:52:52,690
They'd have to complete a bunch
of little taks so they

1206
00:52:52,690 --> 00:52:53,910
can come [INAUDIBLE].

1207
00:52:53,910 --> 00:52:56,708
They challenge each other, so
it'd be like, zombie against

1208
00:52:56,708 --> 00:52:59,700
zombie, and one of the is
infected and one isn't.

1209
00:52:59,700 --> 00:53:02,320
AUDIENCE: So humans can infect
zombies with love that makes

1210
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:03,985
them not zombies?

1211
00:53:03,985 --> 00:53:07,370
AUDIENCE: No, they are
just love zombies.

1212
00:53:07,370 --> 00:53:09,100
AUDIENCE: What is the dynamic
between-- so there are the two

1213
00:53:09,100 --> 00:53:10,350
factions, obviously humans.

1214
00:53:10,350 --> 00:53:12,710
And every player is
given a match.

1215
00:53:12,710 --> 00:53:15,910
And in this massive multiplayer
world, one of

1216
00:53:15,910 --> 00:53:18,790
their main objectives is to find
their match who's in the

1217
00:53:18,790 --> 00:53:21,825
opposing faction very deep among
hostile hoards of either

1218
00:53:21,825 --> 00:53:22,750
humans or zombies.

1219
00:53:22,750 --> 00:53:25,000
Find them and live happily
ever after together.

1220
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,120
AUDIENCE: And become either
zombies or humans together.

1221
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:27,810
AUDIENCE: Correct.

1222
00:53:27,810 --> 00:53:28,160
AUDIENCE: But love zombies.

1223
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:30,290
AUDIENCE: Find a cure
or just get bitten.

1224
00:53:30,290 --> 00:53:31,328
AUDIENCE: And become
love zombies.

1225
00:53:31,328 --> 00:53:32,578
AUDIENCE: Love zombies.

1226
00:53:35,510 --> 00:53:36,190
AUDIENCE: And so that's
the question.

1227
00:53:36,190 --> 00:53:37,775
Is there truly a difference
between in

1228
00:53:37,775 --> 00:53:41,646
love and being undead?

1229
00:53:41,646 --> 00:53:43,119
AUDIENCE: That's a
great tagline.

1230
00:53:43,119 --> 00:53:43,610
AUDIENCE: [ZOMBIE VOICE]

1231
00:53:43,610 --> 00:53:45,090
Love.

1232
00:53:45,090 --> 00:53:46,340
AUDIENCE: Maybe some
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

1233
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:50,140
AUDIENCE: What can make
you more blind?

1234
00:53:50,140 --> 00:53:52,900
Having your eyes go dead by
a zombie or being in love?

1235
00:53:52,900 --> 00:53:55,715
PROFESSOR: So then we can draw
it into the actual Nazi zombie

1236
00:53:55,715 --> 00:53:57,460
game, maybe the Nazis
zombie is from the

1237
00:53:57,460 --> 00:53:58,440
other point of view.

1238
00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:01,360
So they're just trying to have
love, and the humans are

1239
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,660
trying to kill them.

1240
00:54:03,660 --> 00:54:04,380
AUDIENCE: What?

1241
00:54:04,380 --> 00:54:06,796
Wait, are we having Nazis?

1242
00:54:06,796 --> 00:54:07,950
AUDIENCE: We can.

1243
00:54:07,950 --> 00:54:09,450
AUDIENCE: Most of the ideas can
include Nazis, and some

1244
00:54:09,450 --> 00:54:11,180
can't, and we can
decide later.

1245
00:54:11,180 --> 00:54:13,190
AUDIENCE: Phil, should we get
into the point of judgement

1246
00:54:13,190 --> 00:54:14,995
towards the end of thing so
we can finalize a pitch?

1247
00:54:14,995 --> 00:54:16,700
PHIL: No, just be
brainstorming.

1248
00:54:16,700 --> 00:54:17,690
AUDIENCE: Just brainstorming?

1249
00:54:17,690 --> 00:54:19,110
That's awesome.

1250
00:54:19,110 --> 00:54:21,450
Yeah, this is fun.

1251
00:54:21,450 --> 00:54:25,870
AUDIENCE: How about the player
is a human fighting against

1252
00:54:25,870 --> 00:54:29,088
the zombies, and you have
some kind of companion--

1253
00:54:29,088 --> 00:54:31,097
may or not be a cube--

1254
00:54:31,097 --> 00:54:36,250
but accompanies you on your
journey to defeat the zombies.

1255
00:54:36,250 --> 00:54:37,220
AUDIENCE: So a companion.

1256
00:54:37,220 --> 00:54:39,790
I like companion cube better.

1257
00:54:39,790 --> 00:54:41,340
That has a heart.

1258
00:54:41,340 --> 00:54:43,990
It's like a love story between
you and your cube.

1259
00:54:43,990 --> 00:54:47,300
AUDIENCE: But can the cube
become a zombie?

1260
00:54:47,300 --> 00:54:47,740
AUDIENCE: Yes.

1261
00:54:47,740 --> 00:54:50,420
I mean it could be a person
left for dead.

1262
00:54:50,420 --> 00:54:51,670
AUDIENCE: Four people against
all the zombies [INAUDIBLE].

1263
00:54:54,174 --> 00:54:56,520
AUDIENCE: Then we need
spitters and stuff.

1264
00:54:56,520 --> 00:54:57,150
AUDIENCE: Or witches.

1265
00:54:57,150 --> 00:54:59,130
Maybe you're trying to get--

1266
00:54:59,130 --> 00:55:03,510
the love story is you and the
witch, considering the scene.

1267
00:55:03,510 --> 00:55:07,680
AUDIENCE: What if all players
play zombies, and most

1268
00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:10,120
missions are stuff like you have
to infect a city, and you

1269
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:11,560
run around biting people through
the entire city that

1270
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:12,800
you conquer and try
to zombify.

1271
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:15,590
But your ultimate goal is that
your girlfriend from back when

1272
00:55:15,590 --> 00:55:17,132
you were human, or your
boyfriend from back when you

1273
00:55:17,132 --> 00:55:18,870
were human is at someplace.

1274
00:55:18,870 --> 00:55:21,110
And you want to infect all
cities until you can get

1275
00:55:21,110 --> 00:55:23,396
there, and then infect her so
that you guys can live happily

1276
00:55:23,396 --> 00:55:24,460
ever after.

1277
00:55:24,460 --> 00:55:24,890
AUDIENCE: Ahh.

1278
00:55:24,890 --> 00:55:26,450
How sweet.

1279
00:55:26,450 --> 00:55:28,980
AUDIENCE: Also, building on the
idea of being zombies--

1280
00:55:28,980 --> 00:55:30,970
AUDIENCE: We're not done yet.

1281
00:55:30,970 --> 00:55:35,460
AUDIENCE: You are zombies with
Cupid's love arrows trying to

1282
00:55:35,460 --> 00:55:39,310
infect the entire city with
love, at which productivity is

1283
00:55:39,310 --> 00:55:40,440
all gone in the city.

1284
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:43,000
AUDIENCE: A zombie with love
arrows infecting people.

1285
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,150
It could be set in the 1950s
where everyone is trying to be

1286
00:55:45,150 --> 00:55:47,330
productive and not
love each other.

1287
00:55:47,330 --> 00:55:49,860
AUDIENCE: What if you build
along the lines of having to

1288
00:55:49,860 --> 00:55:52,794
infect the city, but one zombie
can't infect the entire

1289
00:55:52,794 --> 00:55:53,320
city, right?

1290
00:55:53,320 --> 00:55:55,720
So you have to ally with
other zombies.

1291
00:55:55,720 --> 00:55:58,040
But there are different factions
of zombies, like two

1292
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:00,150
zombie mob families that
are trying to infect.

1293
00:56:00,150 --> 00:56:03,390
They have two different
varieties of this love--

1294
00:56:03,390 --> 00:56:04,870
[INAUDIBLE].

1295
00:56:04,870 --> 00:56:06,500
AUDIENCE: Can it be
a drug trade?

1296
00:56:06,500 --> 00:56:11,124
So they have to infect people
with a certain drug, so it's a

1297
00:56:11,124 --> 00:56:12,230
drug war as well?

1298
00:56:12,230 --> 00:56:14,680
And there should be swords
because swords are cool.

1299
00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:15,930
AUDIENCE: Zombie Mafia?

1300
00:56:18,110 --> 00:56:19,670
AUDIENCE: What if when you have
a zombie virus, instead

1301
00:56:19,670 --> 00:56:22,400
of going in to eat people, you
are overcome with an urge to

1302
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:23,655
passionately make
out with them.

1303
00:56:23,655 --> 00:56:26,280
And then if you make out with
somebody, then they turn into

1304
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:27,900
a love zombie too.

1305
00:56:27,900 --> 00:56:30,170
And so there's no decomposition
going on so much

1306
00:56:30,170 --> 00:56:32,190
as there are hordes of people
running through streets trying

1307
00:56:32,190 --> 00:56:35,540
to passionately make out
with each other.

1308
00:56:35,540 --> 00:56:38,140
AUDIENCE: Decaying and decrepit
love zombies suddenly

1309
00:56:38,140 --> 00:56:40,130
become very attractive.

1310
00:56:40,130 --> 00:56:42,170
AUDIENCE: And they start
taking care of their

1311
00:56:42,170 --> 00:56:43,420
appearance and stuff.

1312
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:49,710
AUDIENCE: After the zombie
make out, what's next?

1313
00:56:49,710 --> 00:56:50,960
AUDIENCE: Well, we make
it [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

1314
00:56:53,550 --> 00:56:56,113
AUDIENCE: What if we just make
it like a World of Warcraft

1315
00:56:56,113 --> 00:56:58,951
type MMO, but every player
plays a human.

1316
00:56:58,951 --> 00:57:03,220
You have a zombie companion.

1317
00:57:03,220 --> 00:57:06,030
AUDIENCE: Pet zombie?

1318
00:57:06,030 --> 00:57:08,160
AUDIENCE: You have to raise
your zombie from a little

1319
00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:09,710
zombie kit.

1320
00:57:09,710 --> 00:57:10,960
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1321
00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:14,530
AUDIENCE: Shaun of the Dead?

1322
00:57:14,530 --> 00:57:19,300
AUDIENCE: No, but they had
a pet as a pet zombie.

1323
00:57:19,300 --> 00:57:21,180
AUDIENCE: I think it's
called Fido.

1324
00:57:21,180 --> 00:57:23,090
It's a movie called Fido.

1325
00:57:23,090 --> 00:57:23,800
AUDIENCE: No, it's
not that one.

1326
00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:27,290
AUDIENCE: I've not seen it,
but I've seen a trailer.

1327
00:57:27,290 --> 00:57:31,330
AUDIENCE: So what if you have to
fight with Pokemon zombies.

1328
00:57:31,330 --> 00:57:31,870
Get their power-up
[INAUDIBLE].

1329
00:57:31,870 --> 00:57:34,370
AUDIENCE: I like that.

1330
00:57:34,370 --> 00:57:36,320
AUDIENCE: Different kinds of
zombies like Left for Dead.

1331
00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:40,055
There are the big fat
ones that vomit.

1332
00:57:40,055 --> 00:57:41,080
AUDIENCE: Spitters, I
hate the spitters.

1333
00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:41,645
AUDIENCE: The smokers.

1334
00:57:41,645 --> 00:57:44,370
The smokers are the worst.

1335
00:57:44,370 --> 00:57:45,025
AUDIENCE: Instead of power-ups,

1336
00:57:45,025 --> 00:57:46,740
you have love potions.

1337
00:57:46,740 --> 00:57:48,490
AUDIENCE: When we said smokers
are the worst, that sounds

1338
00:57:48,490 --> 00:57:50,436
like a dating site.

1339
00:57:50,436 --> 00:57:52,440
AUDIENCE: Wait, I like
the Pokemon idea.

1340
00:57:52,440 --> 00:57:57,780
So you're human, but you just
have to capture all the

1341
00:57:57,780 --> 00:57:59,210
different types of zombies.

1342
00:57:59,210 --> 00:58:01,630
And then you fight other people
that are zombies.

1343
00:58:01,630 --> 00:58:04,070
And it's a match, zombie
versus zombie.

1344
00:58:06,620 --> 00:58:09,820
AUDIENCE: What if the love story
is not for the player

1345
00:58:09,820 --> 00:58:13,280
but is in the story of the game
in that the reason that

1346
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:16,420
you're waging war at the moment
is because you're

1347
00:58:16,420 --> 00:58:19,220
trying to steal a cure to
zombyism because your fearless

1348
00:58:19,220 --> 00:58:22,830
leader, 20 ranks up, your
president's girlfriend has

1349
00:58:22,830 --> 00:58:24,420
been zombified or his wife
has been zombified.

1350
00:58:24,420 --> 00:58:28,070
And so the whole game, you're
the only means in a quest to

1351
00:58:28,070 --> 00:58:29,180
try to find this cure.

1352
00:58:29,180 --> 00:58:30,540
But you don't realize that
you're not trying to find a

1353
00:58:30,540 --> 00:58:33,800
cure for your use or your
girlfriend's use or

1354
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:35,720
for people you love.

1355
00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:37,090
It's for your leader's.

1356
00:58:37,090 --> 00:58:37,930
AUDIENCE: And what if
she is actually the

1357
00:58:37,930 --> 00:58:38,800
leader of the zombies.

1358
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:40,050
Oh crap.

1359
00:58:42,610 --> 00:58:44,990
AUDIENCE: What if the
zombies are aliens?

1360
00:58:44,990 --> 00:58:45,560
AUDIENCE: Zombie Aliens?

1361
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:45,970
AUDIENCE: The flood.

1362
00:58:45,970 --> 00:58:47,410
AUDIENCE: What if the
zombies are ninjas?

1363
00:58:49,930 --> 00:58:52,530
AUDIENCE: Combine the zombie
Pokemon idea with the Sims,

1364
00:58:52,530 --> 00:58:54,560
where you have a zombie that's
under your control, and you're

1365
00:58:54,560 --> 00:58:56,380
trying to teach your
zombie to love.

1366
00:58:56,380 --> 00:58:57,693
And maybe you're a
different avatar.

1367
00:58:57,693 --> 00:58:58,710
You're a human avatar.

1368
00:58:58,710 --> 00:59:01,540
And you go through quests where
you take your zombie

1369
00:59:01,540 --> 00:59:03,330
places and teach your
zombie things.

1370
00:59:03,330 --> 00:59:04,950
AUDIENCE: Like not
to bite people.

1371
00:59:04,950 --> 00:59:07,172
AUDIENCE: Yeah exactly.

1372
00:59:07,172 --> 00:59:07,900
I don't know.

1373
00:59:07,900 --> 00:59:09,990
Train your zombie.

1374
00:59:09,990 --> 00:59:12,680
AUDIENCE: So the whole thing
with the ninja zombies, why

1375
00:59:12,680 --> 00:59:18,370
not have pirates as well,
pirate zombies.

1376
00:59:18,370 --> 00:59:20,100
AUDIENCE: Pirate versus
ninja zombies.

1377
00:59:20,100 --> 00:59:20,920
AUDIENCE: Zombie edition.

1378
00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:21,690
Special edition.

1379
00:59:21,690 --> 00:59:25,650
AUDIENCE: In space
wrapped in bacon.

1380
00:59:25,650 --> 00:59:26,900
AUDIENCE: Chtulu, but time
traveling zombies.

1381
00:59:29,020 --> 00:59:31,125
AUDIENCE: It would be a great
game to make, just pirate

1382
00:59:31,125 --> 00:59:33,740
zombies versus ninja zombies
in space wrapped in bacon.

1383
00:59:33,740 --> 00:59:36,980
And just make that game.

1384
00:59:36,980 --> 00:59:38,890
AUDIENCE: So, is
it necrophilia?

1385
00:59:38,890 --> 00:59:40,140
Probably.

1386
00:59:42,170 --> 00:59:45,090
Pirate edition.

1387
00:59:45,090 --> 00:59:48,365
AUDIENCE: So maybe we should
divide it into little

1388
00:59:48,365 --> 00:59:50,205
sub-brainstorms for a name,
tagline, all that.

1389
00:59:50,205 --> 00:59:53,780
As a name, do we have any
more brainstorming?

1390
00:59:53,780 --> 00:59:55,390
AUDIENCE: I think we
should figure out a

1391
00:59:55,390 --> 00:59:57,900
mechanic that works.

1392
00:59:57,900 --> 00:59:59,810
So far we have a lot of ideas
about what the game world is.

1393
00:59:59,810 --> 01:00:02,610
We have no idea how you
play with game.

1394
01:00:02,610 --> 01:00:04,275
AUDIENCE: So maybe more
brainstorming on that then?

1395
01:00:09,230 --> 01:00:10,750
AUDIENCE: It's massive
multiplayer.

1396
01:00:10,750 --> 01:00:13,772
AUDIENCE: Ones working such
as typical WoW-style RPGs,

1397
01:00:13,772 --> 01:00:18,070
typical massive multiplayer
IPS.

1398
01:00:18,070 --> 01:00:19,520
Pokemon style RPG.

1399
01:00:19,520 --> 01:00:21,900
AUDIENCE: Pokemon FPS.

1400
01:00:21,900 --> 01:00:24,030
AUDIENCE: Or, as we were saying
before, we could get

1401
01:00:24,030 --> 01:00:24,880
The Sims online.

1402
01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:27,152
AUDIENCE: The Sims online was
so good back in the day.

1403
01:00:27,152 --> 01:00:28,980
AUDIENCE: Did you play
the Pokemon?

1404
01:00:28,980 --> 01:00:29,990
AUDIENCE: Yeah, we could play
the Pokemon, but it's a first

1405
01:00:29,990 --> 01:00:33,000
person shooter.

1406
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:34,810
But you still have
an RPG, first

1407
01:00:34,810 --> 01:00:36,060
person shooter as Pokemon.

1408
01:00:41,430 --> 01:00:42,680
AUDIENCE: It could entirely
text-based.

1409
01:00:47,430 --> 01:00:50,300
AUDIENCE: You have to fight--
you have battles with words

1410
01:00:50,300 --> 01:00:52,606
like Monkey Island.

1411
01:00:52,606 --> 01:00:56,520
AUDIENCE: I like that,
text-based zombie love.

1412
01:00:56,520 --> 01:00:57,970
AUDIENCE: Text-based
zombie love.

1413
01:00:57,970 --> 01:00:59,760
AUDIENCE: And then he sticks his
really, really long tongue

1414
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,990
down your throat.

1415
01:01:02,990 --> 01:01:05,150
AUDIENCE: Zombie make
out disease.

1416
01:01:05,150 --> 01:01:06,150
AUDIENCE: I thought
of a title.

1417
01:01:06,150 --> 01:01:08,215
AUDIENCE: If it's massively
multiplayer, what if you

1418
01:01:08,215 --> 01:01:10,950
randomly get paired with five
other players who are playing

1419
01:01:10,950 --> 01:01:11,360
this game, and you
all have some

1420
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:12,340
task you have to complete.

1421
01:01:12,340 --> 01:01:14,290
And you are given these
particular zombie Pokemon that

1422
01:01:14,290 --> 01:01:16,750
you can use this particular
task.

1423
01:01:16,750 --> 01:01:19,310
So you'd be working with
those five, six people.

1424
01:01:19,310 --> 01:01:20,170
AUDIENCE: Wait, will you
have zombie Pokeballs?

1425
01:01:20,170 --> 01:01:20,590
AUDIENCE: What?

1426
01:01:20,590 --> 01:01:21,300
AUDIENCE: We have a title.

1427
01:01:21,300 --> 01:01:27,002
AUDIENCE: So Necrofeelia
with F-E-E-L.

1428
01:01:27,002 --> 01:01:30,584
AUDIENCE: The first
zombie sex game.

1429
01:01:30,584 --> 01:01:31,834
AUDIENCE: Exactly.

1430
01:01:33,940 --> 01:01:35,060
AUDIENCE: And this can be
[UNINTELLIGIBLE], you have to

1431
01:01:35,060 --> 01:01:37,060
be tentacles somewhere.

1432
01:01:37,060 --> 01:01:38,800
AUDIENCE: What if you
are a zombie.

1433
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:40,350
And all the players
are zombies.

1434
01:01:40,350 --> 01:01:43,150
And the NPCs are the humans, and
you try to go on quests to

1435
01:01:43,150 --> 01:01:45,870
make yourself more attractive
and learn human customs.

1436
01:01:45,870 --> 01:01:47,830
And you get points for
seducing humans.

1437
01:01:51,570 --> 01:01:53,490
AUDIENCE: You have to make sure
your brains meter doesn't

1438
01:01:53,490 --> 01:01:54,350
get too low.

1439
01:01:54,350 --> 01:01:56,390
AUDIENCE: So you have
to eat them.

1440
01:01:56,390 --> 01:01:57,910
AUDIENCE: Use them and
then eat them.

1441
01:01:57,910 --> 01:01:59,900
AUDIENCE: And then if you eat
them with certain qualities--

1442
01:02:02,410 --> 01:02:04,850
AUDIENCE: That actually sounds
like a fun vampire game.

1443
01:02:04,850 --> 01:02:05,430
You're a vampire.

1444
01:02:05,430 --> 01:02:08,525
You have to seduce a human
female to bring back to drink.

1445
01:02:08,525 --> 01:02:09,960
AUDIENCE: It's like Prototype.

1446
01:02:09,960 --> 01:02:11,750
AUDIENCE: Or that you have to
seduce a human because you

1447
01:02:11,750 --> 01:02:12,820
want to seduce a human.

1448
01:02:12,820 --> 01:02:14,180
But at the same time, you
have to eat humans.

1449
01:02:14,180 --> 01:02:16,440
So you have to hide the fact
that you're eating from the

1450
01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:17,280
human you're trying to seduce.

1451
01:02:17,280 --> 01:02:17,580
AUDIENCE: Oh, I see.

1452
01:02:17,580 --> 01:02:19,720
So you have a human girlfriend,
and then you eat

1453
01:02:19,720 --> 01:02:20,470
other humans.

1454
01:02:20,470 --> 01:02:22,630
AUDIENCE: While she's
not looking.

1455
01:02:22,630 --> 01:02:25,026
AUDIENCE: Have you been eating
other girlfriends without me?

1456
01:02:25,026 --> 01:02:26,930
Where's my stepdad?

1457
01:02:26,930 --> 01:02:28,010
Uh, about that.

1458
01:02:28,010 --> 01:02:29,120
AUDIENCE: Oh, that's
who that guy is.

1459
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:31,230
I thought he was the
delivery guy.

1460
01:02:31,230 --> 01:02:31,570
AUDIENCE: Let's see.

1461
01:02:31,570 --> 01:02:33,228
Zombies meets American Psycho.

1462
01:02:36,156 --> 01:02:37,406
You've never seen
American Psycho?

1463
01:02:41,230 --> 01:02:43,880
He goes around killing random
people, but he has a

1464
01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:45,220
girlfriend on the side.

1465
01:02:45,220 --> 01:02:46,425
But he's crazy.

1466
01:02:46,425 --> 01:02:47,730
It's fun.

1467
01:02:47,730 --> 01:02:49,220
AUDIENCE: So it's like Psycho.

1468
01:02:49,220 --> 01:02:50,470
AUDIENCE: But better.

1469
01:02:58,550 --> 01:03:00,660
AUDIENCE: So Necrofeelia.

1470
01:03:00,660 --> 01:03:03,900
AUDIENCE: Get infected
with emotion.

1471
01:03:03,900 --> 01:03:07,006
AUDIENCE: Necrofeelia,
infected with love.

1472
01:03:07,006 --> 01:03:11,122
AUDIENCE: Brains, love,
it's the perfect game.

1473
01:03:11,122 --> 01:03:13,026
AUDIENCE: All right guys, I'm
going to have you stop.

1474
01:03:13,026 --> 01:03:14,620
We're going to bring
the other group in.

1475
01:03:14,620 --> 01:03:16,730
AUDIENCE: Love after Life?

1476
01:03:16,730 --> 01:03:17,980
AUDIENCE: I like it.

1477
01:03:20,416 --> 01:03:21,666
AUDIENCE: That's really good.

1478
01:03:26,340 --> 01:03:27,530
AUDIENCE: All right guys.

1479
01:03:27,530 --> 01:03:28,290
AUDIENCE: Our publisher
is going to

1480
01:03:28,290 --> 01:03:29,540
give us so much money.

1481
01:03:33,890 --> 01:03:36,640
AUDIENCE: It may seem odd to
have you do this brainstorm,

1482
01:03:36,640 --> 01:03:40,180
and then what I actually want
to talk about is rather than

1483
01:03:40,180 --> 01:03:41,566
give [UNINTELLIGIBLE]
because I'm sure

1484
01:03:41,566 --> 01:03:42,028
they're all really good.

1485
01:03:42,028 --> 01:03:43,414
AUDIENCE: Ahh.

1486
01:03:43,414 --> 01:03:44,230
ABE STEIN: I know, so sad.

1487
01:03:44,230 --> 01:03:47,980
But what really matters is the
process, because the point of

1488
01:03:47,980 --> 01:03:50,200
brainstorming is to
withhold judgment.

1489
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:54,817
Judging which of your ideas is
best shouldn't have even been

1490
01:03:54,817 --> 01:03:55,862
happening at this stage.

1491
01:03:55,862 --> 01:03:58,240
And so one kind of question--

1492
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:00,140
we'll come back to
what went well--

1493
01:04:00,140 --> 01:04:05,360
but what sort of stumbling
blocks did you guys run into

1494
01:04:05,360 --> 01:04:06,740
in this process as you
were doing it?

1495
01:04:06,740 --> 01:04:07,770
Did it all go perfectly?

1496
01:04:07,770 --> 01:04:10,265
I highly doubt it.

1497
01:04:10,265 --> 01:04:13,956
AUDIENCE: I would say we were
trying to design this whole

1498
01:04:13,956 --> 01:04:15,255
game, so sometimes we
would say features.

1499
01:04:15,255 --> 01:04:16,752
And then we [INAUDIBLE].

1500
01:04:23,239 --> 01:04:25,334
ABE STEIN: Yeah, in some senses,
it may have been

1501
01:04:25,334 --> 01:04:25,734
constrained in one area.

1502
01:04:25,734 --> 01:04:28,230
Sure, zombies and
a love story.

1503
01:04:28,230 --> 01:04:30,962
But then it was asking for a
whole lot, and so it could

1504
01:04:30,962 --> 01:04:33,208
have been, can we just
brainstorm a title.

1505
01:04:33,208 --> 01:04:35,650
Or could we just brainstorm
this or brainstorm that.

1506
01:04:35,650 --> 01:04:36,050
What about you?

1507
01:04:36,050 --> 01:04:38,972
AUDIENCE: We very briefly got
sidetracked on Pokemon.

1508
01:04:41,520 --> 01:04:45,050
For a second, it was Pokemon
only, Pokemon

1509
01:04:45,050 --> 01:04:46,300
first person shooter.

1510
01:04:50,070 --> 01:04:51,210
ABE STEIN: Any other thoughts?

1511
01:04:51,210 --> 01:04:52,440
I mean you can talk about
the whole group.

1512
01:04:52,440 --> 01:04:54,270
You can talk about your own
difficulty you had personally,

1513
01:04:54,270 --> 01:04:58,585
whether you had any
challenges with--

1514
01:04:58,585 --> 01:05:00,851
AUDIENCE: So I feel like if
somebody says a really good

1515
01:05:00,851 --> 01:05:03,190
idea, then everybody is stuck on
that idea. and you have to

1516
01:05:03,190 --> 01:05:05,070
get through that whole
idea before any other

1517
01:05:05,070 --> 01:05:05,960
ideas can come out.

1518
01:05:05,960 --> 01:05:09,156
ABE STEIN: Yeah, that's true.

1519
01:05:09,156 --> 01:05:09,650
AUDIENCE: We had a
stumbling block.

1520
01:05:09,650 --> 01:05:14,590
What other MMOs are
there out there?

1521
01:05:14,590 --> 01:05:17,554
So [INAUDIBLE] a
few other ones.

1522
01:05:17,554 --> 01:05:21,012
That was a dead spot in
the brainstorming.

1523
01:05:21,012 --> 01:05:22,494
ABE STEIN: Sure.

1524
01:05:22,494 --> 01:05:23,976
AUDIENCE: I was the scribe.

1525
01:05:23,976 --> 01:05:28,422
It was hard to jump in and
talk about your own ideas

1526
01:05:28,422 --> 01:05:29,800
because I was so busy writing
everyone else's.

1527
01:05:29,800 --> 01:05:31,250
ABE STEIN: It was really hard
with brainstorming.

1528
01:05:31,250 --> 01:05:33,316
You guys actually-- both
groups-- but I

1529
01:05:33,316 --> 01:05:34,615
stopped in with you guys.

1530
01:05:34,615 --> 01:05:36,001
You guys had this interesting
momentum going, and I was

1531
01:05:36,001 --> 01:05:37,920
watching you try to
write it all down.

1532
01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:41,340
It was way hard because the
ideas were coming in as you

1533
01:05:41,340 --> 01:05:42,560
were finishing the last idea.

1534
01:05:42,560 --> 01:05:47,530
So if a group has really good
momentum, I actually really

1535
01:05:47,530 --> 01:05:50,752
like the idea of having two
people where each person is

1536
01:05:50,752 --> 01:05:51,110
writing every other one.

1537
01:05:51,110 --> 01:05:54,210
Of course the difficulty is then
you pull two people out

1538
01:05:54,210 --> 01:05:54,810
of contributing.

1539
01:05:54,810 --> 01:05:59,164
So the organization of the
actual group is important.

1540
01:05:59,164 --> 01:06:00,788
AUDIENCE: Do you ever recommend

1541
01:06:00,788 --> 01:06:01,950
using a tape recorder?

1542
01:06:01,950 --> 01:06:02,600
ABE STEIN: Yeah.

1543
01:06:02,600 --> 01:06:04,100
Yeah, absolutely.

1544
01:06:04,100 --> 01:06:05,380
I mean it certainly
makes sense.

1545
01:06:05,380 --> 01:06:08,924
One of the things that Osborn
says which I think is--

1546
01:06:08,924 --> 01:06:10,780
AUDIENCE: You can't put
a tape recorder down.

1547
01:06:10,780 --> 01:06:11,244
I remember that.

1548
01:06:11,244 --> 01:06:13,670
ABE STEIN: Yeah, but he also
says that one of the most

1549
01:06:13,670 --> 01:06:16,290
important things for the
secretary scribe is to number

1550
01:06:16,290 --> 01:06:20,440
things so that you know
how many you have.

1551
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:23,651
Is that just to support
your work?

1552
01:06:23,651 --> 01:06:26,453
Look, we came up
with 110 ideas.

1553
01:06:26,453 --> 01:06:27,854
Amazing.

1554
01:06:27,854 --> 01:06:30,090
How many doesn't seem to
matter as much as the

1555
01:06:30,090 --> 01:06:30,540
qualities of the ideas.

1556
01:06:30,540 --> 01:06:33,216
So I thought it was weird
that he said it.

1557
01:06:33,216 --> 01:06:36,280
But yeah, tape recording,
video recording.

1558
01:06:36,280 --> 01:06:38,393
Any way of documenting the
process is I think the most

1559
01:06:38,393 --> 01:06:39,590
important part.

1560
01:06:39,590 --> 01:06:42,160
And actually, he does make a
good point of saying that one

1561
01:06:42,160 --> 01:06:45,066
of the problems with
brainstorming as it evolved

1562
01:06:45,066 --> 01:06:47,667
from when he first introduced it
at this one place and then

1563
01:06:47,667 --> 01:06:49,800
people started running with it
without thinking about the

1564
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:52,250
principles is they would
brainstorm, and then that was

1565
01:06:52,250 --> 01:06:52,870
sort of it.

1566
01:06:52,870 --> 01:06:56,240
And you really have to
look back at what

1567
01:06:56,240 --> 01:06:57,820
you had come up with.

1568
01:06:57,820 --> 01:07:00,476
It's really important to reflect
on what you've done as

1569
01:07:00,476 --> 01:07:02,300
a second step.

1570
01:07:02,300 --> 01:07:04,750
And so that's important too.

1571
01:07:04,750 --> 01:07:08,010
How about the judgement thing?

1572
01:07:08,010 --> 01:07:10,020
I didn't notice a whole
lot of criticism.

1573
01:07:10,020 --> 01:07:10,370
It was really good.

1574
01:07:10,370 --> 01:07:12,560
Nobody was like, that's
a terrible idea.

1575
01:07:12,560 --> 01:07:15,270
But did you find it hard to not
pass judgment on ideas as

1576
01:07:15,270 --> 01:07:16,500
they were coming out?

1577
01:07:16,500 --> 01:07:18,468
Even your idea?

1578
01:07:18,468 --> 01:07:21,980
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I mean I
definitely let more than one,

1579
01:07:21,980 --> 01:07:24,590
"I like that" slips.

1580
01:07:24,590 --> 01:07:27,350
ABE STEIN: That's OK.

1581
01:07:27,350 --> 01:07:30,100
What you want to avoid is like
the, oh my god, we've got to

1582
01:07:30,100 --> 01:07:31,620
do this one.

1583
01:07:31,620 --> 01:07:35,868
That will derail everything
because then it's just a loud

1584
01:07:35,868 --> 01:07:37,644
voice that proclaims
that we're done

1585
01:07:37,644 --> 01:07:40,010
because we got the idea.

1586
01:07:40,010 --> 01:07:43,180
But nothing encourages a person
who is shy more than

1587
01:07:43,180 --> 01:07:45,250
feeling like their idea
actually was good or

1588
01:07:45,250 --> 01:07:45,734
meritorious.

1589
01:07:45,734 --> 01:07:49,620
And so that sort of
stuff is fine.

1590
01:07:49,620 --> 01:07:53,170
You want to avoid the
stop the process.

1591
01:07:53,170 --> 01:07:56,095
AUDIENCE: I think I did say at
some point, ah, we've got our

1592
01:07:56,095 --> 01:07:57,330
title, which is probably
not good.

1593
01:07:57,330 --> 01:07:59,628
ABE STEIN: Yeah, it's
just a hard thing to

1594
01:07:59,628 --> 01:08:01,350
train yourself to do.

1595
01:08:01,350 --> 01:08:02,334
AUDIENCE: Is it Necrophilia?

1596
01:08:02,334 --> 01:08:03,810
A great title.

1597
01:08:03,810 --> 01:08:05,800
ABE STEIN: Are there
self-censors still out there?

1598
01:08:05,800 --> 01:08:08,244
Were there a lot of people who
thought of ideas but then just

1599
01:08:08,244 --> 01:08:09,218
didn't contribute?

1600
01:08:09,218 --> 01:08:11,166
Good, you didn't.

1601
01:08:11,166 --> 01:08:15,498
It's great if everybody
felt free.

1602
01:08:15,498 --> 01:08:18,880
Cool, that's really good.

1603
01:08:18,880 --> 01:08:21,160
So I would say that's one
thing that went well.

1604
01:08:21,160 --> 01:08:23,649
What other things went
well for you guys?

1605
01:08:23,649 --> 01:08:25,870
AUDIENCE: The tagline.

1606
01:08:25,870 --> 01:08:29,488
ABE STEIN: Specifically, just
coming up with taglines?

1607
01:08:29,488 --> 01:08:32,149
AUDIENCE: Infected by the--

1608
01:08:32,149 --> 01:08:34,136
Is it love after life.

1609
01:08:34,136 --> 01:08:34,870
ABE STEIN: That's cool.

1610
01:08:34,870 --> 01:08:36,399
Did you guys feel like
you had momentum?

1611
01:08:36,399 --> 01:08:40,240
It seemed to me watching that
there was momentum building.

1612
01:08:40,240 --> 01:08:42,910
AUDIENCE: I think we did a
really good job of taking a

1613
01:08:42,910 --> 01:08:46,750
lot of different ideas that we
had and synthesizing into

1614
01:08:46,750 --> 01:08:47,029
different things.

1615
01:08:47,029 --> 01:08:48,390
Saying, oh, that idea would
work well if we did this.

1616
01:08:48,390 --> 01:08:50,306
Oh, and then we could
use that name, and

1617
01:08:50,306 --> 01:08:51,384
that would fit there.

1618
01:08:51,384 --> 01:08:51,815
ABE STEIN: Yeah.

1619
01:08:51,815 --> 01:08:57,010
Who were the two leaders for
the two groups, the clerks?

1620
01:08:57,010 --> 01:09:00,080
Did you guys feel like you had
to do much facilitating.

1621
01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:01,399
AUDIENCE: Not really, the hard
part was really at the

1622
01:09:01,399 --> 01:09:03,489
beginning, where it was,
how do we want to

1623
01:09:03,489 --> 01:09:04,282
approach this thing?

1624
01:09:04,282 --> 01:09:06,819
And so I guess we decided
to start with the title.

1625
01:09:06,819 --> 01:09:10,113
It was either the titles
or the main features.

1626
01:09:10,113 --> 01:09:12,427
And we were just like, let's
come up with a whole bunch of

1627
01:09:12,427 --> 01:09:14,041
titles and go from there.

1628
01:09:14,041 --> 01:09:15,514
ABE STEIN: Sure.

1629
01:09:15,514 --> 01:09:18,479
AUDIENCE: I forgot
I was the leader.

1630
01:09:18,479 --> 01:09:21,420
I didn't lead anything.

1631
01:09:21,420 --> 01:09:23,893
ABE STEIN: If you don't have a
whole lot of facilitating to

1632
01:09:23,893 --> 01:09:26,679
do, it generally means that
the group is running OK.

1633
01:09:26,679 --> 01:09:28,160
I do think you have
a good point.

1634
01:09:28,160 --> 01:09:30,943
A lot of the facilitator's work
comes at the beginning of

1635
01:09:30,943 --> 01:09:33,720
the process, or even before the
process began, making sure

1636
01:09:33,720 --> 01:09:35,190
the constraints are clear.

1637
01:09:35,190 --> 01:09:37,476
And then you guys know
what you are going

1638
01:09:37,476 --> 01:09:39,110
to be working on.

1639
01:09:39,110 --> 01:09:41,780
OK, so bringing this back--
this is a game

1640
01:09:41,780 --> 01:09:42,020
design class, right?--

1641
01:09:42,020 --> 01:09:43,760
I touched on it earlier.

1642
01:09:43,760 --> 01:09:48,715
How do you guys see this as
being a useful mechanic or a

1643
01:09:48,715 --> 01:09:50,560
useful tool You know what?

1644
01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:51,670
It's funny I called
it a mechanic.

1645
01:09:51,670 --> 01:09:53,674
Did any of you catch that
paragraph in Alex Osborn where

1646
01:09:53,674 --> 01:09:56,080
the guy was saying, "When my
team feels like they're

1647
01:09:56,080 --> 01:09:58,970
playing, it's a way more
productive brainstorm than

1648
01:09:58,970 --> 01:10:01,840
when not." And I thought that
was really interesting because

1649
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:06,095
there are elements of gaminess
to this, which I think is

1650
01:10:06,095 --> 01:10:08,080
interesting.

1651
01:10:08,080 --> 01:10:12,069
So how do you guys this could
improve the general game

1652
01:10:12,069 --> 01:10:13,319
design process?

1653
01:10:16,542 --> 01:10:19,530
AUDIENCE: I feel like after
you have a game and you're

1654
01:10:19,530 --> 01:10:23,340
testing it, and there's a major
flaw that is taking too

1655
01:10:23,340 --> 01:10:24,184
long or something like that.

1656
01:10:24,184 --> 01:10:27,148
And everyone sits down in a
brainstorm and says, this is

1657
01:10:27,148 --> 01:10:28,630
exactly what our problem is.

1658
01:10:28,630 --> 01:10:30,112
How can we fix it?

1659
01:10:30,112 --> 01:10:33,080
ABE STEIN: Yeah, overcoming
road blocks.

1660
01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:35,230
AUDIENCE: We never would have
come up with half the cool

1661
01:10:35,230 --> 01:10:36,565
ideas that we came up
during the process.

1662
01:10:36,565 --> 01:10:38,940
Just me thinking alone never
would have come up with

1663
01:10:38,940 --> 01:10:39,655
Pokemon zombies.

1664
01:10:39,655 --> 01:10:42,156
ABE STEIN: Sure, anyone else?

1665
01:10:45,440 --> 01:10:48,430
AUDIENCE: Well, this is good
just in general just

1666
01:10:48,430 --> 01:10:49,340
to think up a game.

1667
01:10:49,340 --> 01:10:52,830
Because maybe it's like,
oh, every single

1668
01:10:52,830 --> 01:10:53,720
game has been decided.

1669
01:10:53,720 --> 01:10:55,360
People make games
of all types.

1670
01:10:55,360 --> 01:10:57,400
How am I going to make
a unique game.

1671
01:10:57,400 --> 01:10:59,440
This brainstorm is like,
hmm, those two things.

1672
01:10:59,440 --> 01:11:00,810
I've never seen that before.

1673
01:11:00,810 --> 01:11:01,670
That could be interesting.

1674
01:11:01,670 --> 01:11:02,640
ABE STEIN: Yeah, and
that's a really

1675
01:11:02,640 --> 01:11:06,204
important good point actually.

1676
01:11:06,204 --> 01:11:09,662
The synthesis thing is actually
I think something

1677
01:11:09,662 --> 01:11:11,885
that is really important because
we tend to see a lot

1678
01:11:11,885 --> 01:11:13,580
of recycled mechanics.

1679
01:11:13,580 --> 01:11:15,840
And what becomes the interesting
thing in a game

1680
01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:19,590
oftentimes is not that it's a
completely new rule, right?

1681
01:11:19,590 --> 01:11:22,180
It's the way that rule interacts
with the other rules

1682
01:11:22,180 --> 01:11:23,470
in the system.

1683
01:11:23,470 --> 01:11:26,530
And in some instances, it's also
how that rule is read and

1684
01:11:26,530 --> 01:11:29,442
interpreted by the player, or
perhaps tends to be better in

1685
01:11:29,442 --> 01:11:30,630
terms of other players.

1686
01:11:30,630 --> 01:11:33,955
So yeah, I think the synthesis
is actually an interesting

1687
01:11:33,955 --> 01:11:36,833
part of this where people can
bring a lot of different ideas

1688
01:11:36,833 --> 01:11:37,910
from a lot of different
experiences with

1689
01:11:37,910 --> 01:11:40,555
games to fuse ideas.

1690
01:11:45,405 --> 01:11:47,745
AUDIENCE: When it comes to
coming up with ideas for

1691
01:11:47,745 --> 01:11:49,122
games, the nice thing about
brainstorming is that it gets

1692
01:11:49,122 --> 01:11:51,710
past the good idea that everyone
happens to make,

1693
01:11:51,710 --> 01:11:56,946
which is the problem that we
sometimes have in the classes.

1694
01:11:56,946 --> 01:12:00,418
The people will find one idea
that they like, and they will

1695
01:12:00,418 --> 01:12:04,386
never think past it because they
were happy to find one

1696
01:12:04,386 --> 01:12:04,900
that everybody agreed with.

1697
01:12:04,900 --> 01:12:07,230
ABE STEIN: Yeah, and so you guys
are divided into design

1698
01:12:07,230 --> 01:12:08,480
teams, and one of the things
I would encourage--

1699
01:12:08,480 --> 01:12:12,210
I don't know how it's set up
schedule-wise, but try to

1700
01:12:12,210 --> 01:12:16,304
divide the brainstorming process
from the judgment,

1701
01:12:16,304 --> 01:12:17,690
like I said.

1702
01:12:17,690 --> 01:12:19,080
It's true.

1703
01:12:19,080 --> 01:12:22,580
Even if you do the brainstorm,
it can help you get over.

1704
01:12:22,580 --> 01:12:24,540
But a lot of times, whatever
had momentum during that

1705
01:12:24,540 --> 01:12:26,450
brainstorm or whatever got
the most yuks during that

1706
01:12:26,450 --> 01:12:29,930
brainstorm is going to be the
popular, strong idea.

1707
01:12:29,930 --> 01:12:31,813
And then when you come back to
it with a little space, you

1708
01:12:31,813 --> 01:12:34,808
might be like, oh, that it
is a really good idea.

1709
01:12:34,808 --> 01:12:37,538
But there was this other thing
that got mentioned half an

1710
01:12:37,538 --> 01:12:38,154
hour earlier that's really
interesting.

1711
01:12:38,154 --> 01:12:40,066
Maybe we can incorporate
that somehow.

1712
01:12:40,066 --> 01:12:44,812
And so making the judgment
happen in a separate phase can

1713
01:12:44,812 --> 01:12:46,230
be really important.

1714
01:12:46,230 --> 01:12:49,220
Because it's true, creativity is
a little bit more organic.

1715
01:12:49,220 --> 01:12:51,180
It's not necessarily a strictly

1716
01:12:51,180 --> 01:12:52,970
logical process, right?

1717
01:12:52,970 --> 01:12:57,714
So applying logic later can be
a good thing, I think, to the

1718
01:12:57,714 --> 01:13:00,210
creative process.

1719
01:13:00,210 --> 01:13:03,120
Cool, any questions about
brainstorming at all?

1720
01:13:03,120 --> 01:13:07,700
You are incredibly enlightened
by Alex Osborn?

1721
01:13:07,700 --> 01:13:08,950
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1722
01:13:12,110 --> 01:13:16,275
using things like Google Wave
or Google Docs where things

1723
01:13:16,275 --> 01:13:17,745
are automatically recorded
because everyone is basically

1724
01:13:17,745 --> 01:13:19,960
typing in their ideas
as it's happening.

1725
01:13:19,960 --> 01:13:21,970
ABE STEIN: Yeah, and I think
it's interesting.

1726
01:13:21,970 --> 01:13:24,654
I don't have a whole lot
of experience with--

1727
01:13:24,654 --> 01:13:27,810
well, I should rephrase.

1728
01:13:27,810 --> 01:13:30,280
I don't have a lot of experience
with remote

1729
01:13:30,280 --> 01:13:35,420
brainstorming, but I one of
the games I worked on this

1730
01:13:35,420 --> 01:13:37,270
summer was this game called
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1731
01:13:37,270 --> 01:13:40,590
where you were asked a lot
of personal questions.

1732
01:13:40,590 --> 01:13:43,110
And so we had to think of
personal questions.

1733
01:13:43,110 --> 01:13:45,275
So we were like, well, if you
have ideas, write them down in

1734
01:13:45,275 --> 01:13:45,720
Google Docs.

1735
01:13:45,720 --> 01:13:48,610
And at one point, myself and
two of the other designers

1736
01:13:48,610 --> 01:13:49,680
were all on the Google
Doc at the same time.

1737
01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:51,120
And you could actually
see that that sort of

1738
01:13:51,120 --> 01:13:52,860
brainstorming would happen.

1739
01:13:52,860 --> 01:13:54,106
Someone would type
something in.

1740
01:13:54,106 --> 01:13:55,026
And then someone would type next
to it, ha ha, that's so

1741
01:13:55,026 --> 01:13:58,870
funny, and then write an idea
that's related to that.

1742
01:13:58,870 --> 01:14:01,920
And you're seeing it happen
in this digital space.

1743
01:14:01,920 --> 01:14:05,690
So I think we've gotten so
accustomed to having these

1744
01:14:05,690 --> 01:14:10,336
digital personalities or these
digital personas in IMing and

1745
01:14:10,336 --> 01:14:13,682
text messaging and all that
other stuff that I think we've

1746
01:14:13,682 --> 01:14:15,180
gotten pretty adept at typing
fast enough to get ideas out

1747
01:14:15,180 --> 01:14:16,810
that I think it could
totally work.

1748
01:14:16,810 --> 01:14:19,642
There's something to be said
for the momentum that gets

1749
01:14:19,642 --> 01:14:21,106
generated in person.

1750
01:14:21,106 --> 01:14:21,960
But yeah--

1751
01:14:21,960 --> 01:14:22,950
AUDIENCE: You could
try both ways.

1752
01:14:22,950 --> 01:14:23,300
ABE STEIN: Yeah, I mean
it's so funny.

1753
01:14:23,300 --> 01:14:24,051
I was going to say, no that's
a terrible idea.

1754
01:14:24,051 --> 01:14:25,033
You have to be around
each other.

1755
01:14:25,033 --> 01:14:28,470
And I was like, actually,
it works.

1756
01:14:28,470 --> 01:14:29,287
I think it all depends
a little bit on the

1757
01:14:29,287 --> 01:14:32,400
personalities of the people
that were involved.

1758
01:14:32,400 --> 01:14:34,950
Certainly for a prolonged
brainstorm--

1759
01:14:34,950 --> 01:14:38,450
one of the thing Alex Osborn
says is time box it.

1760
01:14:38,450 --> 01:14:40,450
If you don't time box it, it's
going to be a problem.

1761
01:14:40,450 --> 01:14:42,990
I think for in person,
that's true.

1762
01:14:42,990 --> 01:14:47,320
It's so easy to get onto a
Google document now whenever

1763
01:14:47,320 --> 01:14:50,680
you have an idea that actually
having a long form brainstorm

1764
01:14:50,680 --> 01:14:52,690
where anytime someone has an
idea over a week or something

1765
01:14:52,690 --> 01:14:55,060
like that, write it down.

1766
01:14:55,060 --> 01:14:57,850
That's also useful too because
then you separated the process

1767
01:14:57,850 --> 01:15:01,290
into collecting and--

1768
01:15:01,290 --> 01:15:04,230
But you still should do that,
building on ideas.

1769
01:15:04,230 --> 01:15:07,810
AUDIENCE: It's probably easier
just to do this [INAUDIBLE]

1770
01:15:07,810 --> 01:15:11,650
when you're simultaneously
online or in the same room.

1771
01:15:11,650 --> 01:15:14,626
ABE STEIN: Yeah, and to
see the ideas come out

1772
01:15:14,626 --> 01:15:15,980
as they come out.

1773
01:15:15,980 --> 01:15:20,628
Because it's a little uncommon
to just read something and be

1774
01:15:20,628 --> 01:15:23,710
like, oh yeah, what about this
when it first shows up.

1775
01:15:23,710 --> 01:15:27,141
Or when it first comes into
existence as you're trying to

1776
01:15:27,141 --> 01:15:30,001
think of things that
can spur ideas.

1777
01:15:30,001 --> 01:15:33,258
AUDIENCE: The other danger about
doing it like, OK, this

1778
01:15:33,258 --> 01:15:35,505
document is open for the next 24
hours, everyone throw your

1779
01:15:35,505 --> 01:15:38,106
ideas in, is that then people
start spending too

1780
01:15:38,106 --> 01:15:39,300
long on any one idea.

1781
01:15:39,300 --> 01:15:40,928
They start thinking about what
they're going to write down

1782
01:15:40,928 --> 01:15:42,184
before they write it down.

1783
01:15:42,184 --> 01:15:44,539
No, that's not the point.

1784
01:15:44,539 --> 01:15:46,700
ABE STEIN: Yeah, think of the
paper clip experience, and

1785
01:15:46,700 --> 01:15:48,790
those of you that raised your
hand for saying that you were

1786
01:15:48,790 --> 01:15:49,860
self-censoring.

1787
01:15:49,860 --> 01:15:51,450
On your own--

1788
01:15:51,450 --> 01:15:54,196
I wasn't going to make you all
hand in those paper clip ideas

1789
01:15:54,196 --> 01:15:55,005
you were self-censoring.

1790
01:15:55,005 --> 01:15:57,430
So the same sort of
thing applies.

1791
01:15:57,430 --> 01:16:01,800
You might censor yourself or
spend a long time on ideas.

1792
01:16:01,800 --> 01:16:04,566
Any other thoughts, questions?

1793
01:16:04,566 --> 01:16:06,425
Cool, well I hope this
was helpful.

1794
01:16:06,425 --> 01:16:09,185
I hope it'll be helpful for
your game design stuff.

1795
01:16:09,185 --> 01:16:12,071
Email me if you do have any
questions about this stuff.

1796
01:16:12,071 --> 01:16:13,321
I can try to help out.

1797
01:16:16,400 --> 01:16:19,980
Other than than, good luck on
your game design on this class

1798
01:16:19,980 --> 01:16:21,900
and for the rest of
the semester.

1799
01:16:21,900 --> 01:16:22,860
Cool.

1800
01:16:22,860 --> 01:16:25,740
[APPLAUSE]

1801
01:16:25,740 --> 01:16:28,960
ABE STEIN: I do like that of
the keynote things it says,

1802
01:16:28,960 --> 01:16:34,730
"End of show."

1803
01:16:34,730 --> 01:16:35,690
PROFESSOR: Let's see now.

1804
01:16:35,690 --> 01:16:39,884
We're going to play
some card games.

1805
01:16:39,884 --> 01:16:41,380
But before that, just a
little bit of admin.

1806
01:16:41,380 --> 01:16:44,706
On Monday, you'll notice that
we have two readings, one of

1807
01:16:44,706 --> 01:16:45,956
which you've already done.

1808
01:16:49,280 --> 01:16:51,076
As for the other reading,
[UNINTELLIGIBLE], it's a

1809
01:16:51,076 --> 01:16:52,710
little bit dry.

1810
01:16:52,710 --> 01:16:55,650
Tough it out caffeinate
yourselves before reading it.

1811
01:16:55,650 --> 01:16:56,630
Tough it out.

1812
01:16:56,630 --> 01:16:58,590
It is worth it.

1813
01:16:58,590 --> 01:17:00,440
It's a translation.

1814
01:17:00,440 --> 01:17:01,819
Let's see now.

1815
01:17:06,220 --> 01:17:11,191
There's at least one person who
hasn't filled a form that

1816
01:17:11,191 --> 01:17:11,599
you need to fill out.

1817
01:17:11,599 --> 01:17:17,467
So just come up here
and fill that out.

1818
01:17:17,467 --> 01:17:20,190
Is Courtney in class today?

1819
01:17:20,190 --> 01:17:21,440
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1820
01:17:23,290 --> 01:17:26,266
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I'm not sure if
we have enough time to get

1821
01:17:26,266 --> 01:17:26,580
through all of them.

1822
01:17:26,580 --> 01:17:29,148
But most of them are
pretty short.

1823
01:17:29,148 --> 01:17:33,116
A lot of them today are going
to be set up, which is why

1824
01:17:33,116 --> 01:17:35,265
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] is first
because that takes a

1825
01:17:35,265 --> 01:17:36,588
while to set up.

1826
01:17:36,588 --> 01:17:40,060
That being said, if you do get
a chance to look at the rules

1827
01:17:40,060 --> 01:17:45,516
and study the cards,
even [INAUDIBLE]

1828
01:17:45,516 --> 01:17:47,996
a bunch of smart things
[INAUDIBLE]

1829
01:17:47,996 --> 01:17:50,020
easier to set up.

1830
01:17:50,020 --> 01:17:53,102
And you really want to pay
attention to that.

1831
01:17:53,102 --> 01:17:57,856
But the name of the game today
is pretty much variety.

1832
01:17:57,856 --> 01:18:02,180
We have all fairly different
games that use cards in a very

1833
01:18:02,180 --> 01:18:02,780
different way.

1834
01:18:02,780 --> 01:18:04,880
And if you don't get a chance
necessarily to play all of

1835
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:07,280
them, at least get a chance
to look at other

1836
01:18:07,280 --> 01:18:08,180
people playing them.

1837
01:18:08,180 --> 01:18:10,130
And if you wanted to check them
out over the middle of

1838
01:18:10,130 --> 01:18:12,380
the week, we'll keep them
around the office.

1839
01:18:12,380 --> 01:18:15,980
But there'll be time to come
back here next week and

1840
01:18:15,980 --> 01:18:16,880
[INAUDIBLE].

1841
01:18:16,880 --> 01:18:18,680
But that's basically it.

1842
01:18:18,680 --> 01:18:21,680
It we can clear the tables
because that's for the cards.