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/

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

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