Six things I love this week:
1. Full of Pigs.com
A clean, safe website where you can anonymously rant about *anything* that’s bothering you. Debate is forbidden and support is aplenty.
2. Staples brand, Xeno model, 1.0 ballpoint pens with neon metal casings and eighteen, quarter inch, oval, raised rubber grips. The blue one.
3. Paprika.
4. Java script.
5. Tech-head forums where everyone speaks in binary and you get smarter just by lurking and forwarding posts to your friends with subject heads like: “Did you know??” or “Wow! Check this out!!”
6. Clandestine meetings of the minds where apparent strangers come together around an innovative idea and, eight hours later, are committed to the core and perfectly synchronized.
Every time a door closes...
I chose four. Surface details: forty-four years in age difference; four different ethnicities; three different religions; three orientations; three professional careers; twenty-nine published novels or games; fourteen published research papers; two patents; sixteen emails to me that proved: undeniable intelligence, critical thinking skills, stability, drive, passion, focus, reliability (a big one), and creativity. In truth, I knew *one* of them well, but knew none of them like I know them now. Who are they? My collaborators.
“Take some time away from Mardi Gras 3000 while the production team is doing their thing. But don’t take time away from game design.”
AIM provided a perfect private chatroom with fast access to FTP to share zipped folders of documents, images, sketches, maps, and, at one point, a Latin root dictionary. I took an hour to describe the new game: object, method, size, shape, scope. “Project Pupae” became the codename and everyone LOL’ed.
Questions tumbled and answered rolled free form for everyone. We quickly realized that our united knowledge was the perfect group mind. We each brought something different to the virtual table. No query was answered twice—none of us knew what the others knew. The puzzle was complete. Yes, we were all gamers but what kind? CCG, console, rpg, board game, real world hardcore sports, etc. I’m not sure there was ever a group of boxers, geeks and footballers who ever got along so well. We played devil’s advocate with problems until we had Googled and Wikied ourselves to every solution.
But chat is cheap and after a second hour had passed we decided to jump right in. Meetings where nothing happens but talk are just so ’90s. The work—from conception to completion—was charted out and divided up. Clap those hands and scatter! To the far flung corners of the Internet we queried, back-doored and took down notations. We LimeWired legally. We cruised Gutenberg. We checked copyrights, ISBNs, and patents. Everyone held their own and kept the pace.
Every fifteen minutes or so a chime and twenty lines of text would flash in the chatroom. A discovery! Then cheers. A question? Then answers. A problem?! Solution.
Just one idea is all it takes.
Mix with trust.
Add desire.
Repeat.
Begin.
E.J.
