Bards, Traders, and Commoners: Turning Gaming in to Commerce

After spending some time interacting with the community, it seems like there is this universal sentiment that making money through developing a game, role-playing system, or associated art, is inherently evil. There are the haves and the have-nots, and those in the latter category can’t imagine themselves as a money-grubbing sellout. My mission has been and continues to be one that helps to break down this misunderstanding, and show how with modern technology this doesn't have to be the case.

In a classical publishing model, large companies capable of handling demand for physical products scour the landscape of starving artists to find one that will play by their rules. There are production schedules, contracts, and obligations that must be met in order for the gears of the big publishing machine to turn. The writer or designer is just a small part of a huge value chain which has the potential to reach the entire target market.

Most gaming writers and designers I am in contact with couldn't imagine operating in this framework. They are independent, self-motivated, and will create when they are inspired instead of feeling forced by a contractual obligation to produce. Many I know wouldn't even want to write or create full time, but most share the urge to attract others to their personal game sessions or systems of choice.

What’s the solution? I want a company that has no vested interest in specific game platforms, play styles, or artists beyond a positive, open market relationship. As a neutral platform, I will incentivize my company and community to support all gaming projects and their associated art with fervor, showing no underlying bias for one game or another. Employees and owners alike would be encouraged to support their favorite projects through their votes and their dollars, but no matter your position, you have one vote. The market will decide who is popular, who is not, and for what period of time they are relevant.

The barrier to entry for even allowing someone to put up a creation on the Google Play store and other similar platforms is criminal. I want to pursue a model where anyone can put up any of their creations up for sale, while having a system in place to ensure the quality of a project and highlighting those who have submitted for approval. Although the endorsement by our company would not be required, it would definitely be worth it for designers to assure the quality to an adequate level before spending their money on a mostly unknown and untested game or piece of art.

This philosophy will also extend over to our tournament organization, management and retail platforms. We will strive to have exciting, large scale tournaments for every game possible, grouping smaller communities together if needed to still allow for efficient use of resources. There are also some amazing non-profit initiatives with gaming at their core, such as Child’s Play and the SDA (Speed Demos Archive) community and their charity marathons. These initiatives deserve to have their efforts recognized by an even larger audience, and we will drive more awareness and donations to those organizations with pride.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

Child’s Play: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

SDA Charity Marathons: http://marathon.speeddemosarchive.com/

Arisean and Me: How Gaming Sparks Creativity

When we are young, our life is about repetition and experimentation. Much of our time is spent finding our limits and identifying what seems to make us happy. Because of this, it’s very important to have someone to look up to. Our role models can even be fictional, and as gaming becomes the media of choice for more and more, those role models can shape and inspire kids of the Millenial 

generation.

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending my first afternoon as a volunteer tutor at the Wordplay Creative Writing Center in downtown Cincinnati. I arrived just upon opening, and Arisean, my student for the afternoon, was there too. It was also his first day at the center, so we were both able to learn the flow of the day, ground rules, and about each other together. He shared with me his two biggest passions: math and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Since he was a new student, he was able to decorate his personal binder with a front panel insert. Of course, he started by drawing Sonic and the seven Chaos Emeralds. While he worked, he began describing to me all about the recent history of the Sonic games, along with his ideas for Sonic’s long lost brother, Shadow. He told me all about his powers, his super form, and that he was black with green stripes. It was so heart-warming to see Arisean constructing his own member of an existing fictional family. It seemed that Wordplay was going to be just the right place for him.

After some homework and a reading activity, Arisean took some blank paper and began to write on one of the many typewriters at Wordplay. I joined him on another typewriter close by, as I hadn’t used a manual one in probably 15 years. He started to write about how he liked Wordplay and me, and all about other details of his first day’s experience. When I was getting ready to leave for the day, I let the organizer know about his experience and his ideas about Zero the Hedgehog. She was absolutely thrilled, and Arisean joined some of the other children in the Creative Writing Group. In that group, instead of giving kids a specific writing activity to focus on, they allow creative kids with ideas to write drafts of their own stories.

Would an analytical kid like Arisean ever have been interested in creative writing if it were for his experience with the Sonic franchise? With so many schools cutting everything but the most basic activities required due to budget constraints, it isn’t surprising to me that children would imagine their own additions to their favorite games. With all of the bad press that gaming seems to bear in mainstream media it’s nice to interact with real gamers; kids and adults who use these gaming IPs as springboards for creative thinking and art production. I believe in the huge impact of Wordplay’s program on children in inner city Cincinnati, and I look forward to working more with Arisean, other students, and in the soon to start WordUp program for high school freshmen and sophomores who need a tutor, mentor, and friend.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

Wordplay Creative Writing Center: http://wordplaycincy.org/

Tavern Keeper: Hospitality at Its Finest

It is a common fantasy role-playing trope for the bar or tavern to be a center of strategy and planning for countless adventuring parties. For game leaders and those character’s controllers, the paperwork and record keeping involved can always be a challenge to keep updated and organized. Why not collaborate with your Tavern Keeper and let him do the mundane so you can focus on the story?

On Sunday, Kristi and Bill Centinario held an open Q&A for Tavern Keeper, a campaign advertising platform for game leaders with bookkeeping and game session support. I had an opportunity to learn more about their current beta version, as well as their Kickstarter plans, stretch goals, and licensing opportunities with game designers and producers. The passion for their product is evident, and they've already laid the groundwork with initial product development and community outreach. A Tavern Keeper is out of work without a tavern to work in and happy, engaged, and repeat customers. Fortunately, their initial users who have listed their games on the beta website are these first few happy patrons, proof of concept, and will be the first to enjoy the improvements as this project is funded and developed.

Currently, Tavern Keeper Beta is a solid backbone on which all of the functionality will be built. There are already plenty of games being advertised through the system, and the generic character sheet is still a great start for rules light systems like FATE and Numenera. The functionality I’m most excited for is their plans for Dynamic Character Sheets, which would allow the sheets to derive and look up all of the stats and bonuses associated with base stat, race, and class choices (ex. D&D stat modifiers, Initiative, Attack Modifiers, etc.). They also talked about some great ideas for a game leader display which would make finding any system information a snap.

One of the toughest things I've found about my new venture is that I’m trying to do everything and anything to improve gaming experiences. This is overly ambitious, and without a more narrow focus, is doomed to suffer feature bloat and countless delays. Luckily there are plenty other entrepreneurs in the Google+ community who are spearheading the development of complimentary products to my own. I’m looking forward to working with the Centinario's and Tavern Keeper in the future as we both help enhance the experience of our role-playing customers.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

Tavern Keeper: https://www.tavern-keeper.com
Discussion: https://www.tavern-keeper.com/#discuss

From Digital to Dice: Neon Burn Playtest Review

When I think of an anti-gravity racing league my mind goes back to fond memories of games such as Wipeout, F-zero, and Star Wars: Pod Racing. There are other terrestrial contributors to this futuristic, super-fast sub-genre of racing such as Extreme G, POD, and Kinetica. All of these games have one thing in common: they are all video games. Neon Burn aims at bringing the excitement and speed of a futuristic racer in to the story driven and strategic realms of traditional RPGs. This is no small feat, but from what I experienced last night, Neon Burn is definitely on the right track.

In its present iteration, the game focuses on a cooperative model based around different character classes (Such as Driver, Publicist, Coach, Pit Crew) narrating off track scenes to generate Spark. When characters do things that relate to their character’s Passions, they are rewarded with Spark. This is used to activate player abilities which can be used in these scenes or during the race to modify rolls. The type of scene also determines what else you can gain from it, whether you are Moonlighting to make some extra Credits, Buying/Selling equipment, or setting up an Afterburn, which is a special kind of tension with rivals or other events that will affect the game in future scenes or during the race.

Once you've finished framing all of your off track scenes, which is determined by a race Start Time (real world time you transition from Scenes to the Race) it’s time for the race. The game has rules to help you generate a custom track, whether random or piecemeal. The track sections have a Width (max assignable dice) and Difficulty (minimum roll to get an Even result), as well as the preferred stats for vehicles in those sections. Vehicles can give or take a number to the Driver’s dice according to their stats, and after dice are rolled they are placed in a grid based on the max Width of the Section. Higher value successes trump lower values, and same values cancel each other out completely. The game’s dice system focuses around a d6 base with (+) or (-) modifying the dice size (ex. d6 with a (-) turns in to a d4) The Driver rolls dice for the team, while others roll dice for the Field and any Rivals or Drivers that are other drivers with stats and personalities. All of the players can use their Spark to modify rolls beforehand, allow for re-rolls, cancelling a Failure, or making modifications to what stats are affected by certain roll outcomes. There are many more nuances to Neon Burn’s rules, but I have outlined the most central components of the current system.

Overall, the game has married a very free-form storytelling system with a crunchier and tactical racing system. Personally, I feel like this is a great success. Neither side of the system feels neglected, and apart from a little lack of rolling for a couple of our players, was engaging and exciting. Craig and I discussed some possible solutions for giving players in the support roles a little more to do during the race. Other than that, the system is deep and flexible. Being in an early stage of development there are some glaring imbalances, but nothing that is rooted in the core mechanics. Class attributes can be balanced through Spark cost or redesign, and the competitiveness of Rivals, Drivers, and the Field can be adjusted through giving them some default uses and pools for their own Spark or similar roll modification system.

To me, the most exciting thing about this game is how fresh the idea of a racing system is in the RPG game system space. I’m sure there have been parts of systems for races in the past, but I have never seen one that could elevate a racing experience, which in itself would be hard pressed to leave the board game realm. The system already includes rules for many different types of Leagues, whether they are stock or custom, weaponized or pacifist, and single race or a long sustained Circuit over many play sessions. Another great aspect is that the system’s core allows for the addition of source material for all types of racing-centric eras and sub-genres. Anything from Roman chariot racing, fantasy beast racing, sci-fi tank racing (suggested by one of our playtesters), or something that even resembles modern day stock car racing would be supported. Could this be the system to allow NASCAR fans to live the dream of being part of a big time stock car team? I sure hope so.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

Craig Judd’s Blog: http://powerframe-rpg.blogspot.com/

Neon Burn Information: https://plus.google.com/events/cm79rb0kdd0v6pvpa09ug9f655o

Dual Class: Effective Role-playing Skills in Business – Mission and Vision

Welcome to my first issue of Dual Class! This column will focus on the many important business skills that can be honed and practiced through role-playing. Some articles will focus on topics relating mostly to the game leaders, while others with highlight things to think about as a player. All of these topics will illustrate how important role-playing can be as an educational tool or method for self-discovery. It can reach out to students and adults who learn more effectively in non-traditional, engaging formats. As boring as some of that might sound, I will do my best to make these articles as entertaining as they are informative.

If role-playing has only taught me one thing, it is the importance of a strong concept and setting for your game. Sessions can be unpredictable, and players can ruin all of your plans, but a strong underlying force that keeps moving forward regardless of what happens round to round will help keep your narrative alive. Too often have I seen game leaders frustrated with the outcomes of their sessions. It’s almost as if the game leader has built an amazing sandcastle just so the players can find every way to push it over.

I challenge game leaders to first establish the mission of their campaigns. While a good time is usually part of the mission, the tone and long term goals of the party should also contribute to the overall vision for your game experience. Armed with a clear mission and a strong understanding of the game system, you will be well on your way to being prepared for the sandcastle to be kicked. It’s amazing what a little written down direction can do for you when you’re in an unexpected situation.

As a game leader in the past, I gave my players some simple questionnaires and took some time with each of them to understand their play style and goals. From there, I was able to craft a mission and vision for the group long term. In a role-playing situation you won’t reveal everything about your plans, but it is paramount to understand the wants and needs of your players. Peppering your own idea for your campaign’s direction with the things that make individual and groups of your players excited keeps them engaged and leaves them wanting more.

In business, all companies start with a mission. Something has been identified as needed to be done, and the company works toward that need. I’m currently in my capstone class for business, called Business Strategy, and it was amazing how a simple mission really helped us to focus our conversations. My team is participating in a Glo-BUS business simulator with 11 other teams, and so far we are ranked 2^nd out of all participants. I would contribute most of our success to that first meeting where we clearly laid out our mission. Every decision we make per week passes a simple test; “does this decision support our mission?” From that frame of mind we are able to blaze through the hundreds of decisions we have to make in record time while exceeding our shareholder expectations. I wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable with this exercise if it wasn’t for all my work as a game leader.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

Stronghold: A Company By Gamers, For Gamers

Design and organization is seldom appreciated for the amount of work required. For most of us, art, experimentation, and exploration all come from a personal need to express ourselves, along with the need to collaborate and innovate with others who share our same passion. Even after all of that hard work there are plenty of regulatory and communication hurdles to overcome to make your mark in the entertainment industry. My aim is to offer many more opportunities to showcase talent, facilitate artist collaboration, as well as bring together a community that is ready to vote with their feet and their wallet on the project’s success.

Modern gaming is still an emerging market, especially when it comes to gaming competition and performance. Where previous artists worked in oils or clay, gaming artists work in the medium of Counterstrike, or Madden, or Dungeons & Dragons. This presents a host of challenges and opportunities which I aim to tackle with my new venture.

Over the next few days I will be writing a series of articles outlining my plans for creating a company which focuses on helping designers, writers, and performers meet, get their projects up and running, funded, and showcased on a digital stage that was built with interactive entertainment in mind. Everyone and anyone is invited to participate, contribute, and comment on this monumental undertaking.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

EVE Corporation Startup: Tips From a Business Student

EVE is not exactly a walk in the park. The guy with a big stick, a deep wallet, and loads of Skill Points is usually the victor in a brawl. Despite all this, the entrepreneurial spirit cannot be crushed, and many will try their hand at running their own corporation. I have come and gone from EVE about three times over the past four years, and what I’ve found is the same type of mix that you find in the real business world. You have the massive corporations, some of which are run well, while others sometimes seem to be held together by duct tape and pictures of cats. You have new ventures, starry eyed and positive about the future. You also have a sea of scams and traps to maneuver around and through just to stay alive as an organization. It’s a virtual world, but it’s about as effective a learning platform as there is for learning and educating others about the basics of key concepts and hard lessons that come in business.

Personally, I had ascended to the position of Chief Financial Officer in a corporation called Frankenmouse Inc over the summer. It was an amazing opportunity. Not only did I get to interact with an executive team and make strategic decisions, but I was also able to lead groups of corporation members to operational success, both through in game activities and out of game voice meetings and market analysis. When I joined the group, things were progressing slowly, but all that was needed were a few motivated leaders to direct and delegate roles and responsibilities.

Another executive member and I took it upon ourselves to lead fleets which resulted in exponential productivity for both us and our fleet members. From that leadership we were able to expose others to how organization in small groups makes things so much more profitable, and new leaders started to spring up from our example. The corporation currently owns a Player Owned Station (POS) from which they conduct industrial operations and are now generating a profit. Presently I have stepped down from that position to focus on my business school capstone activities and networking/blogging, but still function as a financial consultant and regular corporation member.

Pox’s EVE Corporation Tips:

Mission and Vision: I can’t overstate enough the importance of communicating a strong direction to your corporation members. In EVE, there are plenty of directions you can go, and without a clear direction, you’ll be chasing your digital tail forever. Pick a strategy, outline milestones, and adjust as necessary. An ounce of planning saves a metric ton of space ships from bursting into flames.

Read and Research: Until your eyes bleed. Not only should you be understanding the game’s skill, combat, economic, and organizational systems, but also find a business that seems to have similar characteristics to the vision you have for your corporation. To help you understand how combat figures in to the business equation, consider it marketing. An attractive killboard (more kills / value destroyed than your opponents) will draw attention and strike fear in to your enemies (competitors.)

Analyze and Measure: Progress is hard to see if you’re not doing some measurement. EVE’s system makes it difficult to account for corporation sales and purchases because there is no way to do them in the corporation’s name and corporation’s wallet. I used to regularly joke with the other executive members that we needed a Quicken account. Regardless of the shortcomings of the system, having a good handle on your numbers and understanding of the market will help you to become profitable much more quickly than stumbling around blindly. The system is actually excellent in allowing you to export information from the system to Excel, which allows linear regression analysis for the markets. When your organization grows and gets more complicated, I would advise using internal corporate Contracts to track your business transactions. Anything outside of that would be a logistical nightmare when it comes to trying to get people to report to an accounting journal.

Patience and Flexibility: This concept does relate to real business directly, but in a non-traditional way. As an EVE corporation CEO, you’re not putting food on the table for your corporation members. People will come and go, your roster will change, but as long as you keep your mission and vision in the minds of your corporation members, you will continue to chug along. You can’t be afraid to take things slow at the beginning at the risk of losing some overzealous members. Building your team will always be the most important part, and allowing lone wolf players, as talented as they may be, part ways with you will turn out to be the best decision for both that individual and the organization. Just make sure not to burn a bridge and keep them in your network of contacts. A friend with lots of tenacity and experience putting it to use is always a good thing!

Network: This is probably one of the most overlooked parts of EVE. In a 100% deregulated environment there are plenty of scammers, spies, and malcontents. Make sure to find people for your organization that specialize in the recruitment of new players and diplomacy between other groups. When dealing with potential allies, make sure that you can afford to lose whatever is being exchanged or available for new recruits. You are taking a huge risk whenever you partner with new players, be them recruits or other groups, and things can go bad in a hurry. Even long time relationships can go sour if there is a change in strategic direction or leadership. Never get too comfortable. Internal and external security is key to any large scale operation in EVE, just like in real life.

Follow these five steps and you’ll be well on your way to a successful corporation. Just remember that bad stuff always happens, but that those things will be stories you can tell as you roll through regions in your 256 man fleet, decimating anything in your path. EVE would be a pretty boring game if there wasn’t real loss, fierce rivalries, and anti-social psychopaths lurking in every system.

A note to all those out there in the education world: Make EVE part of a 4 year college curriculum. The game incorporates everything from strategic planning, a living, player controlled economy, “industry” changes in the form of patches, statistics rebalancing, and new additions to the game, and ample opportunity for creating detailed financial reports and conducting market analysis, research, and marketing campaigns. A company with a good brand and social media presence will always outperform competitors with a weak one.

Do you have any tips to add as a business leader, in EVE or in normal life? If so, share an engage! I look forward to the conversation.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

What’s On The Shelf: New Show, Great Format, Endless Opportunity

This Saturday I had the privilege of watching What’s On The Shelf, presented by Brendan Conway, an Indie+ affiliate. Using the Hollowpoint RPG system, Brendan and his fellows acted out a supernatural scene that would have made Constantine proud. Aside from the excellent story told during the session, which I encourage you to experience for yourself, I’d like to discuss the format of the show and take this opportunity to talk about my vision for a new use for roleplaying sessions.

The show is broken up in to:

     An introduction of:

o   The Players

o   The System

o   The Setting

·         Character creation

·                   A play session

·                   A period for reflection with show format specific questions, such as:

o   What was your least favorite thing about the system

o   What was the most interesting thing about the system

o   Why would this game be on your shelf?

This is a great format for introducing people to a new school RPG system, as well as showing the whole process of learning the game from square one. As a person that dedicates lots of time to learning new systems, this broadcast allowed me to add a new game to my mental bookshelf without having to do a ton of digging on the Internet for rules and examples (thank you Fair Use limitation.) I can see this show also following the Tabletop show factor. As the show gains popularity, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a marked increase in the download and sale of the systems shared in this show.

When I watch sessions like this I often ask myself “Why isn’t someone taking these stories to the next level through comic, animation, or multimedia mediums?” My only answer is that it’s because most gaming groups don’t have the required talents or knowledge to make that happen. Part of my mission is to use role playing sessions as the seed which can bring forth new intellectual properties such as the settings, characters, and stories explored by artists which partner with the players.

As anyone in the entertainment industry can tell you, or by looking at the massive walls of credits at the end of a feature film, it takes massive collaboration and coordination to pull off what I am proposing. I think that every group’s situation will be unique, and that the art created could be something as simple as a few pages of a comic, to a full-length feature film. My real vision is to do my best in bringing all these pieces together and create a New Fiction Renaissance, fueled by RPGs both new and old.

Do you think your game would translate in to amazing entertainment? Leave a comment if you're interested in getting in touch with others to make some magic happen.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy

WotS: Hollowpoint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM_E9PSyQ0o

Tabletop (Geek & Sundry) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mxPFHBCfuU&list=PL4F80C7D2DC8D9B6C

Breaking the Fifth Wall

This post is going to be very personal. I think it’s important to express my experience and views as openly as possible so that my audience can know the real me.

 My name is Cavin DeJordy, and I am a gamer. My life has been a tumultuous one, to say the least. I have lived from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Groton, Connecticut, and eight other locations all around the United States. I have been married, divorced, in the military, worked in an office, a warehouse, at a restaurant, in retail, and am well on my way to a business degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Cincinnati. I have spent countless hours sitting in hobby stores, running or playing in games, and questioning the shop's owners, employees, and customers. Every day I try to make time to learn about a new game, or dig deeper in to a complex one. I have lived in many worlds, from MMO, to Virtual World, to only those which exist in my mind and the minds of my Players and Game Masters. I have done all this with one singular purpose: to know the experience of as diverse a swath of humanity as I possibly can so I can, in turn, produce and direct compelling entertainment experiences and design the systems needed to support those experiences.

From all this travel, networking, inquiry, and analysis I have determined some universal truth. We all share a plane of existence, but not two of us live in the same world. We can all use our senses to reach out and experience our shared space, but our observation of those spaces is shaped by our past experiences, which not even the most identical of us share completely. Once I came to this realization, my whole life changed.

When I was growing up, I wanted everyone to be like me. As a kid who enjoyed reading encyclopedias, constructing things out of building toys, doing statistical analysis, mastering web research, and crafting role-playing modules, that wasn’t necessarily a realistic expectation. Once I learned to accept and study other people instead of trying to convert them, I have been a much happier and open-minded person.

To me, creativity has no bounds. I analyze multimedia games, board games, RPGs, collectible games, and other forms of art with an open, inquisitive mind. My goal is to revolutionize the way we all play, compete, and collaborate, and I will participate in any playtest, panel, discussion, or observation thrown my way. The Fifth Wall, in my opinion, is the wall that separates creative people from each other, and I am to provide the wrecking ball that opens a floodgate of art on to the status quo of the gaming community at large.

So here I stand, at the table of the Internet, ready to make a business out of supporting creativity, performance, and community interaction. In future posts I’ll be talking about Stronghold, my embryonic business, and my experiences with real life and online gaming communities. I look forward to feedback and collaboration in the future with some of the more established bloggers and Internet personalities. Also, if you live in the Cincinnati area and are interested in forming or allowing me to join your semi-monthly or monthly gaming group, be sure to contact me. If you would like to share your own story, please respond to this post and I will not hesitate to break the ice.

Gamers United!

Cavin “Pox” DeJordy