A problem with casual games

Design: Me and MS Paint, Background Image Credit: ausdroid.net

There seems to be a certain style of casual game on the rise and I don't like it. Games like The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Clash of the Clans and Tiny Death Star and no doubt many others all share a similar formula: a free download, a game that 'plays in the background' while the app isn't open, tasks that take an inordinate amount of real time to complete, and in-app purchases of some form of credit that allows you to hurry these tasks along. The game tends to introduce you to this mechanic rather deviously in the opening tutorials, and essentially leans on your impatience being greater than your control over your pursestrings.

The other slightly wicked psychological trick they exploit is the sunk cost fallacy. The sunk cost fallacy can be simply explained as "I can't stop now otherwise I'll waste all of the time and money I've invested". This type of thinking can be useful, for instance to guilt yourself into hitting the gym after buying expensive gym gear, but most of the time it's detrimental logic. Games like those mentioned above do this by getting you immersed in the game quickly; your first few tasks are simple and they often 'help you out' by giving you free credits (be them Donuts, Imperial Bux or some other in-game currency) to hurry tasks - indeed, hurrying tasks is encouraged. Once you are on your own, you have already invested some time in playing. This is where the free credits you've been using stop being given to you and, if you have more dollars than sense, it becomes easy to justify a few bucks for a more enjoyable experience. The problem is that this cycle can quickly become ingrained behaviour.

While I appreciate that game companies are profit-driven and are seeking new business models to generate revenue, does this particular model have to be one of them? Arguably it sacrifices what could be a good, engaging game (a Simpsons-flavoured Sim City, a Simp-City if you will (I'm so sorry), or a Star Wars-themed Sim Tower) for the unapologetic and obvious grab for your wallet. Admittedly in this day and age where people demand almost everything digital for free (I don't pretend to exclude myself) there is a cost of losing customers by charging a price for a game, but there is also something unpalatable about thinking that people playing your games are just that, consumers to be captured in the market rather than building a community of players.

What do you think? Are in-app purchases the new frontier of casual gaming, or just a blatant cash grab? Let me know in the comments.

The Ouroborus

Design: Myself and MS Paint, Ouroborus image credit: quigleyscabinet.blogspot.com.au

Perhaps as a form of escapism, I've been really into fantasy lately. I've started watching Game of Thrones, I'm reading The Wheel of Time series and I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins. Anyhow, I noticed a curious similarity between the latter two. There is an item in Dragon Age that, apart from the material (black iron vs. gold), matches the description of the 'Great Serpent' ring worn by the Aes Sedai (read: sorceresses) in Robert Jordan's novels. I would have liked to find the book quote actually describing it, but as I am listening to audiobooks it makes it rather more difficult to find.

Image credit: dragonage.wikia.com

Both of these are reference to a mythological symbol known as the Ouroborus (Greek for tail-devouring snake, though it is also sometimes portrayed as a dragon). The Ouroborus, much like the mythical Phoenix that rises again from its ashes, symbolises the cyclicality of life and death - the endless process of creation and destruction. The Ouroborus has been used in many different cultures across the world, from ancient Egypt and Greece, to Norsemen and in Hinduism. If I had more time to research, this post would be more than just a summary from Wikipedia.

It is mentioned that the Ouroborus could be "interpreted as a Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol". This also interestingly relates back to Robert Jordan's books, as "the ancient symbol of te Aes Sedai" is "a circle separated by a sinuous line".

Image credit: wot.wikia.com

The Ouroborus is also referenced by a few of the bands I listen to:

If you know about any other mythological symbols, let me know in the comments.

The problem with being an economist

Ah, economics - the dismal science - it's given me a way of looking at the world and understanding part of how it works, it's given me a set of tools to look at complex problems, and it's helped me develop my critical thinking and reasoning skills. There's a certain sense of satisfaction I get from trying to find rational behaviour, and being able to explain why something counter-intuitive might be rational behaviour. For instance, lately I've been talking to some of my friends about why deferring your HECS debt for as long as possible sometimes makes sense.

But, there is a problem with being an economist, and it's probably the reason why it's called 'the dismal science'. Being trained in economics internalises a fundamental concept known as 'opportunity cost'. Opportunity cost is what you give up or forego to do something. Applied in an economic sense, the opportunity cost of investing your money in one place is that you give up other investment options, or that you forego easy access to your money. There are many opportunity costs to every decision that you make. The reason that this becomes problematic, for me at least, is that opportunity cost also applies to time.

The time spent doing one activity, say writing this blog, comes at the cost of the time foregone to undertake another activity, say playing drums. This causes me no end of internal questioning - "is what I am doing the best use of my time?" - and unease when I am not doing something - "I should be doing this or that". Admittedly, this line of thinking has it's pros. It's probably the reason I am a motivated person, and why I have managed to achieve what I've achieved. But it also has it's downsides. For one thing, it's incredibly difficult to shut it off. If I do anything, even if I enjoy what I'm doing - say playing video games - I can't help but be overcome with guilt that I've indulged for too long when I could have done other things, like cleaning the house, reading, taking the dog for a walk, spending time with Jess, going for a bike ride, listening to music etc. etc. etc. But likewise, the same applies if I do any of those activities in place of the first one. This is part of the reason that one of my resolutions for this year was to practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the discipline of being right in the moment. To invest yourself fully into whatever you are doing (and just as importantly - not doing) right this minute, without your mind racing down endless to-do lists. Admittedly, it sounds very 'New Age'-y and a bit hippy, but many problems caused by mindless doing. Mindless busywork, where you become stressed because there's always too much to do. Mindless eating, which leads to weight and health issues because you miss signals of satiety from your body. The list goes on.

We're all confronted with a shortage of time and because of this there is an emphasis on making the most of it. We've all seen the 'Live each day like it's your last' and the 'Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today', but in my opinion these sorts of platitudes are toxic. We're swamped with the idea that productivity is the greatest pursuit of all - "if only this were easier, then we'd have more time" - but the fact is like the 'hedonic treadmill' as soon as we become more productive, we find other things to fill up that time. We can hope that we fill them with more leisurely activities, for instance I'm writing this blog to the whirr of my Roomba, but I'd hazard that most of the time we don't. Partially, this has to do with increasing our standard of living, but as standards of living rise, so do our expectations. What was once good enough is no longer good enough - there are many examples of this: house sizes have increased dramatically, and are inhabited by less people now than before; public schools provide a good education for all, but most parents would probably prefer to send their kids to a private school if they could afford it.

I find that I sway between two minds - one tells me that time is short, that every minute should be put to it's best use, that I should be productive; the other tells me that there is plenty of time to accomplish the things I want to do, so long as I keep chipping away at them. To be honest, I haven't quite resolved this quandary myself - but I have at least identified it as an issue to be worked on. My apologies there isn't a nice, tidy resolution to this post - but hey, that's kind of like living in the real world, isn't it?

Book Review: A New Spring by Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and Louder Than Hell by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m trying to read a book each month this year. I’m happy to report that I’m now on track for this goal, having finished three books so far this year. Below is a brief look at what I’ve read (or listened to on audiobook).

A New Spring – Robert Jordan (Fantasy)

Image Credit: Amazon

This is the prequel novel to the Wheel of Time series. It’s about half the length of other books in the series at 26 chapters and over 300 pages - though I’ve been listening to the audiobook version. Overall, it’s a pretty good introduction to Robert Jordan’s universe.

The Eye of the World – Robert Jordan (Fantasy)

Image credit: Amazon

This is the first novel in the Wheel of Time series. Again, I’ve listened to the audiobook version, mainly because the narration is fantastic.

Louder Than Hell – Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman (Non-fiction, Music history)

Image credit: Amazon

This book describes itself as ‘the definitive oral history of metal’, and for the most part it’s pretty on the money. In a similar tack to Sam Dunn’s ‘Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’ film documentary, the book traces the roots of metal from early heavy bands through the different genres of metal today. The difference between this and A Headbanger’s Journey is that it touches more on the band’s own stories than the evolution of metal itself. It very much taps into the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ narrative which most have become familiar with, but it also taps into some pretty personal topics for band members like deaths in bands  (Cliff Burton, Dimebag Darrell etc.), sexual preferences and religion.

What I found interesting about the book was that it failed to mention sub-genres of metal like Power Metal, Melodic Metal, Folk Metal or Progressive Metal and barely mentioned any Extreme Metal or Technical Death Metal. Further, although the book contained chapters on the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ and Norwegian Black Metal, it was otherwise almost exclusively North American-centric. That being said, the book already stands at over 650 pages so the inclusion of any more content may have been difficult.

Overall, I found it to be a very good read – it was sometimes light-hearted and funny, sometimes dark and macabre, sometimes violent and aggressive which very much matched the style of its subject.

Creators of Content - Modest Drongos

As someone who creates original content, be it writing music with my band or this blog, I’ve crossed paths with a lot of like-minded people who are busily working away on their own things. I’ve decided to dedicate some blog space and time to introduce them to you, while simultaneously giving me a good excuse to catch up with some old friends who I haven’t heard from in a while. As I said, I know a lot of people who like to create, so if this goes well, it may become a more regular occurrence.

Today’s post is about Modest Drongos, a YouTube series started by my friend and ex‑bandmate Ian and his good mate Dan. As of the time of writing, they’ve released eight videos and have 16 subscribers to their channel. In Dan’s words “Modest Drongos is primarily a web show of Ian and myself sharing games with one another”, “with us talking shit” Ian adds.

The Drongos - Dan on left, Ian on right. Image credit: Modest Drongos

The inspiration for Modest Drongos came primarily from gaming channels on YouTube, like Continue?, Game Grumps and other Let’s Play series’, but it wasn’t the only project the two had discussed. “We had an idea for a zine, and a music side project [before deciding on Modest Drongos],” Dan explains, “primarily [Modest Drongos] is for ourselves, so that we can try and create things, but if people find it funny then that’s even better”.

Modest Drongos seems an odd title for a web show primarily about gaming, though the pair have different reasons for settling on the name. “My take on Modest Drongos was that, number 1, I see myself as quite an idiot, and number 2, I liked the idea of calling ourselves ‘modest’ while taking on the persona of an uninformed, loud mouth dickhead” Ian says, while Dan says there’s more irony to it. “It’s mainly tongue-in-cheek. Australia is a real sufferer of the ‘cultural cringe’; most of the world sees us as Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin or the guy from Wolf Creek. So despite the fact that we’re both moderately intelligent fellows, we took on the ‘Drongo’ title. Furthermore, modesty is not a major virtue in Australia, despite the ‘tall poppy syndrome’. So the two together make up our sarcastic view of the Australian stereotype”.

Despite Modest Drongos being in its infancy as a series, Ian and Dan have already faced an intellectual property stoush. While Ian “didn’t really give a shit”, Dan was annoyed and took the claim personally, something he considers a mistake. “I didn’t realise how automated YouTube really was,” Dan explains, “YouTube, as I understand it, uses software to look for content matches and this was what flagged our video as a breach. Ironically, when I dug into it, the only reason this happened was another channel, who weren’t the owners of the game[’s intellectual property] or an affiliate, had a video series of the same game”. The Drongos disputed the claim and YouTube quickly reversed the flag. While they expect similar situations to come up in future, the experience of the dispute resolution process will no doubt serve them well.

Modest Drongos has committed to a fairly busy schedule, planning to release content three times a week. Despite this, they seem to have no issues with developing content. “There’s always heaps of gameplay stuff sitting there waiting to be edited,” Ian tells me, “we capture 10-15 episodes worth of footage per session. The editing is becoming more time-consuming as we progress, but we’re getting better at the process and we want to add in more elaborate visual jokes”. The duo are pretty well in tune creatively and play on each other’s strengths. “[Ian] does the lion’s share of editing. I’m more there to be annoying with ‘you‑know-what-would-be-great’ suggestions.” Dan goes on to say, “I mainly contribute the childish Microsoft Paint drawings or the scanned black and white sketches; anything that looks rounded and cartoonishly adorable, that’s my work. Anything that looks awesome and professional was most likely Ian’s”.

While the Drongos would love to commit to the project full-time, like most creative types, they fund their passions through regular day jobs. Ian sums up wisely, “for me it’s important I have time to create, both with Drongos and other projects I’m working on. [Casual work] is nothing special, but it allows me to do what I have to do to keep my head screwed on the right way.”

You can subscribe to Modest Drongos on YouTube, Like them on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter. Watch their (current) latest episode below:

GWAR and Tony Abbott: It’s called Shock Rock for a reason

Recently, thrash metal band GWAR has caused some controversy by decapitating an effigy of Tony Abbott as part of their Soundwave stage shows.

And hasn’t it caused a ruckus in the media. The music news and blog websites had the story first, giving it a pretty tame, factual, ‘if-you-know-of-GWAR-you-would-expect-this’ sort of write up. See here and here.

After this, it appears to have been picked up by the more mainstream news sites, like NineMSN, and news.com.au, which seem to have introduced the political slant. Andrew Bolt posted an article in his blog basically touting that anyone who wasn’t outraged by this was a “semi-literate” “feral of the Left”. And the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) - an organisation that promotes the maintenance of Australia with the Queen as Head of State, and one that The Hon. Tony Abbott used to be a high-ranking member of – also denounced the decapitation.

In response to this GWAR has issued some statements, all of which just mock Tony Abbott and others.

Without being drawn into the political sphere on this, we have to remember that this is a band that routinely covers their audience in all manner of fake bodily fluids, including blood, semen and pus. They have previously killed Lady Gaga, Barack Obama and tortured George W. Bush on stage. They are a band that dresses like this:

Serious business. Image credit: Rialto Theatre

Do those who are outraged really think anyone is taking this seriously? That, in the words of the ACM, GWAR are “role models for impressionable young people”? That, in Andrew Bolt’s words, “[the decapitation of Tony Abbott] wasn’t quite a joke”?

If they do take their position seriously, then GWAR have succeeded in their mission. It’s called Shock Rock for a reason, it’s designed to push people’s buttons, to offend, to cause outrage. It’s supposed to push the boundaries of what people think is proper and decent. GWAR have played the radio personalities, the media and the ‘won’t somebody please think of the children’ parents everywhere, and what are they punished with? Publicity. Loads of it.

Shock rock is not a new thing – there have been hundreds of artists that have scared the crap out of parents with teenage kids. Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, Alice Cooper, KISS to name a few. It doesn’t even stop at Rock and Roll, way back when Jazz and Swing were the rage – parents then thought the new styles were promoting promiscuity and creating social unrest.

In this case, I think GWAR are making a rational economic choice, above an artistic or political statement. When your business model relies on you to be outrageous, it becomes logical to do things that will cause the most outrage. To adapt Jeremy Bentham: What will cause the greatest offence to the greatest number? Decapitating a leader elected by majority vote fits the bill, especially when those in certain parts of the press and older voters favour that leader.

I wrote a children's book

Koala Books, a subsidiary of Scholastic, is running a competition for children's picture book manuscripts and I thought I'd have a crack at writing something for it. The target audience are those aged 2 to 7. Enjoy!

Dad's Hats by Stuart Bell

Daddy has many hats,

Let me name them all.

They come in all different sizes,

Some are big and some are small.

He has a hat he wears to work,

And a hat he wears at home.

He has a hat he wears with friends,

And a hat he wears alone.

He has a hat for the great outdoors,

And a hat for playing sport.

He wore a hat for learning things,

But wears a different one in court.

He says someday I’ll have many hats,

For all the things that I will do,

“A hat for school and work, you know,”

“But don’t forget play too!”

The best thing about Dad’s hats,

Is that they’re invisible you see,

No-one else can see Dad’s hats,

They’re his personality.

Daddy has many hats,

And I have named them all.

But the most interesting thing about his hats,

Is that he has no hats at all.