Aristotle, Drama, and Games

So, I've been trying to beat Psychonauts* recently, instead of rocking some Revolution Under Siege, which was originally going to be the topic of a post. This is mostly because Revolution Under Siege, despite being a fascinating turn-based wargame in which I can order Trotsky around like a good little academic Pinko, is basically impossible to understand. I exaggerate, but only slightly. I think I've just about got the first real scenario figured out*, but I find it extremely non-intuitive, thanks mostly to the fact that there's a LOT of weird stuff going on that only makes sense if you read all the political updates, and then THINK about them, and sometimes I'm bad about thinking**.

Speaking of being bad about thinking, this post is the nexus of several observations:
1)I'm having a hard time bringing myself to play a lot of hard-core strategy games, instead, opting for the simple pleasures of Minecraft or Psychonauts

2)It's (much much) harder to write up a game of Dominions than a game of BSG, and, moreover, a game of Dominions is a lot less fufilling than a game of BSG

3) I am sick to death of Operation Barbarossa. Also- Operation Barbarossa is everywhere.


The link that ties these three threads together? The problems of the dramatic arc of the strategy game. We'll take a look at how strategy games can actually have a narrative arc below the jump, true believer!

"Politicians talk, men of action.... go to prision"! A Battlestar Galactica Battle Report

So, I play board games sometimes. I also read a fair number of SA "Let's Play"s, so I have delusions that people will want to read about my own board games adventures. Therefore, prepare yourself for a thrilling tale of betrayal and politics aboard the Galactica, the last, best hope for humanity against the vile Cylons*. 

Hearts of Iron, Men of Cardboard

I have, in general, nothing but praise* for Paradox games, for example, Europa Universalis (EU) III and Victoria (Vicky) II have absorbed far more of my life than I would care to admit, with Sword of the Stars (SotS) acting as an occasional distraction. Therefore, Hearts of Iron (HOI) III seemed like another dose of the same sweet, sweet, hyper-detailed, poorly documented, overwhelming, quasi-historical empire building. However, I've found HOI to be.... less than fully engaging.  This isn't to say that I'm not going to try to take USSR to victory** in the Great Patriotic War***, but I doubt that I'll lose many weekends to it. So, is it Nazi fatigue, or is there something more at work?

What's the Big Idea, anyway

So, I was considering beginning with a proper content post, rather than this bullshit meta* stuff, but it felt forced, like I was walking down a deserted street and began loudly talking to myself. So I figured I brief introduction was in order. I'm Ned, a senior graduate student at an east coast university on a particle physics project, but for purposes of this blog, that's mostly irrelevant. What IS relevant is that I'm loud, opinionated, and full of self-loathing. Therefore, I've decided to write about things, partially to ensure that my writerly self doesn't completely atrophy from years of slave** labor*** in the code mines of Academia VI,  partially because I like crafting arguments that make sense, and writing is the easiest way I've found to do so****, and partially because I want to be nerd funny on the internet*****.

The blag will primarily focus on games, both board and computational, because that's a huge chunk of my free time, with occasion deviations into politics, culture******, academia, and other things that I enjoy talking about and/or am annoyed with. Basically, you get a free copy of me. Shouting. CONSTANTLY.  INTO THE INTERNET.

The update schedule is roughly bi-weekly (as in once every two weeks), but with a high variance. I'll leave the exact calculation of this value as an exercise for the reader*******.


*Now it's double meta (all the way)
**read: paid, voluntary
***read: slacking and general laziness
****and the medium allows for FOOTNOTES, my favorite thing!
*****A rich and unexplored niche, for sure
******read: I like movies and read Harpers
*******PROTIP: FFT that shit.