Monthly Archives: November 2008

Typical…

Posted on November 29, 2008 by David J Edery| 6 Comments

When I saw this photo, it seemed so typical of me that I had to post it. Glued to my laptop, petting my dog, sitting nearby a copy of the wonderful boardgame Agricola. All that’s missing is Eve (and perhaps a plate of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. However, there’s generally a maximum window of 90 seconds between cookies leaving the oven and cookies entering my belly, so photos of me sitting next to a pile of cookies tend to be pretty rare.)

Anyway, I hope you’re all enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend. I sure am!

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Posted in Personal Stuff

Via Kotaku, “Only 20% of games that begin production will ever finish. Of those 20% that are finished and released to the market, only 20% of them will ever realize a significant profit.” I’d be surprised if these stats were … Continue reading →

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Posted on November 28, 2008 by David J Edery

Levels of Friendship

Posted on November 17, 2008 by David J Edery| 10 Comments

One of my biggest gripes about most online social networks that I participate in (Facebook, LIVE, etc) is the absence of functionality that takes into account how “strong” or “open” my friendship is with any given person. Fixing this is a major opportunity — if not a long-term, competitive imperative — for social networks in general, and the video game ecosystems that aspire to be legitimate social networks in specific.

We do not treat all our friends and acquaintances equally in real life, so why should social networks force us to treat our online connections in equal fashion? People need tools that enable them to selectively modify how any given user in their network can view their profile, interact with them, etc. This process of selective modification can be sped up with user-defined “friend types” that can be applied, in a stroke, to many users in a network.

For example, were such a system to be implemented for LIVE or Facebook, I would personally choose to break all my connections into three categories:

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Posted in Design / Production, Social / Cultural

Fun presentation about innovation and games. A part of it reminded me of my favorite PC game, Planescape Torment, which came about when the designer, Chris Avellone, asked himself what typical RPG conventions could be turned on their head? (I.e. … Continue reading →

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Posted on November 16, 2008 by David J Edery