Intrigue in the Imperfections

As some of you may know, I participate in some nerdy pursuits like "Dungeons and Dragons". The game has the social misconception of being a game for social outcasts. But, would you believe, Stephen Colbert, fake news anchor; Ed Robertson, guitarist and singer of Barenaked Ladies; and Vin Diesel, actor from Fast and the Furious have picked up the dice and played "Dungeons and Dragons"? Many people don't understand what the game really is. “Dungeons and Dragons” is a structured, collaborative story-telling game.

The setting for the adventure takes place in a magical, medieval universe where wizards and warriors; elves and dwarves; and good and evil collide. One player controls the world, in which, the other players move in by using the elements of the game he finds interesting from the Player's Core Rulebook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide. This player weaves the story together and presents the conflict the characters must overcome. He decides when they will reach the next town, when they'll be attacked, and when the group is ready for the ultimate showdown withe evil. By having imagination, the players bring the world to life.

Now, each player has to create their own character, or protagonist, from scratch. They decide on the race, job class, what skills he knows, and the background information for the character. For the past week, I've been trying to dream up what it takes to be a good, memorable hero.

Through this process, I came to realize I have the problem of balancing my character too much. I don't want my players to have an Achille's heel. My hero's are flawless, and I design them to statistically destroy anything that comes in their way. This perfection makes them boring. Despite whatever backstory they may have, finding a lost family member, fulfilling some last request, or revenge against their rival, they are uninteresting. Only by struggling are real memorable heroes made.

I decided to take a look at literature. I discovered that the great heroes we remember like Hercules, Cerano, Don Quixote, etc. are flawed men, and it is their imperfections that we come to admire. The greatest challenge of the hero is overcoming his own personal shortcomings. Hercules lost himself in rages, and he quests to atone for his sins and overcome that rage. Cerano cannot confess to the love of his life and selflessly protects her. We cheer for him when we finally tells her how he feels. Don Quixote lives in an imaginary world of his creation. At first we believe he needs to be stopped, but Don Quixote fights on. Through his perseverance, he conquers the realist's dreary outlook within ourselves by bringing insight and adventure to our ordinary lives. There is beauty and intrigue in their imperfections.

So, I have taken away the godly stats for my characters. I've weakened my future protagonist further by removing one of his arms. My character will struggle with inner demons in trying to accept himself for who he is. I have made my character flawed, human. Should my character overcome the obstacles set before him, he shall be remembered for his characteristics that set him apart.

You may scoff at my playing of "Dungeons and Dragons" but I blame your imagination. I challenge you guys to come up with an original backstory for a character of your creation. What would be his defining characteristics? One eye missing? Part of his body deformed by a experiment gone wrong? What is his motivation for adventuring? Write your ideas in the comment section. It's a real challenge especially when it seems all of the ideas have already been taken. I challenge you guys to see giants where windmills stand.

21!!!

Yay!!!!!! Very happy! Not about to be a raging alchie or anything, but nice to know that I won't be limited in my options to go out and socialize with people. Also, this marks 14 years until I get to run for President. So ya'll better watch out... :D

Memories

I have a knack for remembering events, which happen to me. Regrettably, this memory does not work for studying else I would ace subjects like history with no problem. I remember the little moments that happen, which define friendships and how we interact. Depending on how much we hang out, I have moments where I bring up events which nobody else seems to be able to remember. I direct this to Andrew mostly because he claims I make up most of the stuff. To him, I say, "Nay, sir. I remember it as it happened... perhaps with a little bit more drama."

I remember being refused admittance to a certain science group in 6th grade, receiving brownies while cards at a picnic table, buying pie certificates for the price of $10, being asked my opinions on who I thought was 'hot' in our grade, trying to negotiate a deal of trading olive oil for steel, bowling with fellow EHAPers, and countless other experiences. Despite how insignificant some of the events were, I remembered them for a reason and they have shaped who I am today.

I have been contemplating what it would be like to share these memories with other people. Instead of a simple retelling through words, what if we could take the memories inside our heads and play them for others? This reminds me of Harry Potter's use of the Pensieve. Dumbledore is able to take his memories and physically put them into a bowl, so Harry can tangibly put himself in them. Through these experiences, Harry learns to understand who Voldemort really is. What if we had this ability in real life? What if loved ones exchanged their memories instead of vows to get married? How could you get much more intimate than that? Would this change the way negotiations happened? If we saw the suffering others endured, perhaps we could come to truces to problems like the Middle East?

The idea of memory transference seems simple enough, but I feel this could go so much deeper. I don't know where I am going with this, but I'll continue to mull over the idea. This is what I've been thinking about for my creative writings. My idea of memory transference is a little grimmer than the Pensieve. Through cannibalism, my characters obtain the memories of their dead friend. Because memories make up who we are, I feel as if they are woven into our very flesh. By eating the flesh, the consumer tastes and sees the life that was lived.

Now, you have seen some of the inner workings of my brain. Yeah, I'm kinda screwed up. If any other ideas come to mind, I'll let you guys know.

I talked to a certain co-blogist and she (if that wasn't a hint enough to who it was) said we should keep the blog running together. She is more than able to keep up two blogs. She even promised to give us the good posts. *wink* I'll hold you to your word, mystery co-blogist.

I'm glad to see Daniel posting considering it's been forever since we've heard from him. When did you become so obsessed with computers? I feel most of your writings have been about technology advancements in that field.

Finally, a very happy 21st birthday to Andrew! Next time we meet, we shall share a beer together. It will be a beer of epic proportions.

Expect to hear more of me since someone said I never write on the blog. I shall prove that person wrong, and that Alexander can indeed write well and often.

interfaces

hello hello! it has been a while since i have blogged. unfortunately (because i know you're all dying to see more of my fantastic writing :P) this will not be a particularly long post. but i hope it is of some interest.

i think media technology is fascinating. and i'm not talking about media as in the news (tv, newspaper, etc), i'm talking about user interfaces and visualizations that allow us to interact with information in new and innovative ways. one easy example of this is the gestural interface used in the move Minority Report; this interface allowed tom cruise to interact with data streaming from the minds of the prescient in a new and very tangible way.

and this idea, of interacting with information and data, is fascinating. because what this really means is that we are using the computer as an extension of our minds. after all, the computer is simply a tool. and when we start thinking about new visualizations and data representations, we are simply trying to make the computer a better tool by improving the way it interfaces with the human brain.

and when you start thinking about the computer as simply an additional aid to the human brain and human computation, things become very interesting. because then, not only is it important to improve the performance of the computer (processing speed, hard drive, cache size, etc), but it is also important to improve the user interface so that the human user can utilize those resources to the fullest.

therein lies the fascination of media and user interfaces. when you improve an interface or create a new way of visualizing and manipulating data, you have created a closer link between the computer and the human. you have removed more "noise" from the interaction between the computer's brain and the human's brain, allowing them to understand each other better and allowing the human a greater grasp of the computers tools. (now this is of course arguable; there are many in computer science who, being very literate in computer function, would much rather do things very close to the computer's way, ie through command lines and UNIX thinking, instead of adding extra implementation to make the computer meet him/her halfway)

now i have either fascinated you as well or bored you, but i'll leave you with this. imagine a point in the future where the user interface has developed to a point at which the user can intuitively harness the computation powers of a computer without any learning curve whatsoever. what do we do with such "limitless" power? and what does that mean for us as humans?

Separate Blogs?

Since it's rare for any of us to post on this blog, I find it irksome that two of our co-blogists have branched off on personal blogs. We already don't hear very much from you guys, and I can only assume we will hear even less of you on this blog. I understand you guys want creative freedom to do what you want, but I think we should reevaluate the need for this blog then. We can each have our own separate blog, and keep track of each other that way.

Depending on how you feel, we should think about that. I would be lying if I said I kept up on this blog often. I'm too busy with school work and creative writings of my own to pay this blog the attention it deserves. If this blog were to be inherited by someone, I vote Andrew. He dedicated the most time to this site anyway, and from what I can tell, his friends follow us the most.

Let me know what you guys think.

FYI: I finished editing an earlier post I had and posted it. It's before Stephanie's last post.