Rman's Reading Corner For WZ 2200

[Rman Virgil]

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* Chances are that if you like WZs story you're at least something of a Sci Fi fan (books, comix, flix).
* In the past month 2 fabulous SF Novels have been released under the Creative Commons License.
* One was originally published as a book you held in your hand that you had to buy (in 2000). It was widely praised & successful in SFdom. It has A.I. as a main character, among other goodies like terraforming. * The other is a CyberPunk novel ala William Gibson (via grandpa, Philip K. Dick) & is quite hip on the comp / code front with a jazzy vernacular that can be infective.
* IMHO, both are fun, imaginative, captivating, entertaining yarns that are full of thought provoking concepts that would fit sweetly in a game world, methinks.
* The first one is called Ventus by Karl Schroeder (pub. 2000) & you can snag a copy in any one of multiple formats HERE
* The second is called Roo'd by Joshua Klein
(pub. 2004) & ditto - you can get a copy? HERE
- Enjoy, RV

[Giel]

The second one seems like a very promising one.

[Rman Virgil]

The second one seems like a very promising one.

* What I like about the 2nd one is first its attitude - irreverant & audacious.

* And also the language - like the best of improvisational music: flowing, jazzy, startling, provoking.

- RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* Changed the Topic title as I may make a habit of this from time to time..

* This next book is non-fiction & I'm finding it very inspirational in my current WZ efforts. It is my firm belief that nothing new is made or created in a vacum.

* In olden times they called it an artist's muse.... and I for one have, & need, a whole kit 'n kaboodle of muses to keep the juices flowing free & fresh.

* So, here's my latest muse:

* A Book of Discovery

* Subtitle: The History of the World's Exploration, From the Earliest Times to the Finding of the South Pole

* Author: M.B. Synge

* Categories: History, Adventure

* As always, it is available in mutiple formats from this wonderful site

* If you only take a gander at the book's "Introduction" you'll get a good idea of just HOW it's stirring me in the context of WZ.

- Cheers, RV

[Rman Virgil]

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The Creation of Factions in WZ 2200


* My concepts for the clash of factions in WarZone 2200 (not a typo !) which drives the narrative drama / momentum of the CAM, are what I call informed yarn-spinning (akin to Hard Sci Fi) & are absolutely key the Mission Structures & GPMs.

* Research can (be) become an end in itself 'cause its such fun but, without becoming a slave to its seductive charms in the form authorative literalism, it does inform & inspire my imagination applied to this active  Project.

* And while Google, Wikipedia & How Stuff Works are indispensible net resources they still cannot replace books that aggregate primary source materials.

* I have refrences for my take on the Post Nuclear Winter world of Warzone which begins with Pumpkin's stuff in 2100 but also addresses their central  inconsistencies in world-building (they love Sci Fi, esp Alex Mclean, but none have mastered the history & techniques of the genre vis-a-vis fictional world-building) and then extrapolates it out a hundred years to 2200 (yes, you will be able to experience this gameplay for yourself in '08).

* I've also gone very deeply into it's survivors profiles (scrupulously detailed in the project "bible"): Scavs & Borgs in particular though there are other "factions" as well (same modus applies with every other aspect of the back-story / timeline of 2200).

* By way of sharing some of my modus I'll start with my Borg Reference Shortlist:

* Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence - Andy Clark

* More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement - Ramez Naam

* Out Of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World - Kevin Kelly;

* Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future - James Hughes

* Beyond Human: Living with Robots and Cyborgs - Gregory Benford;

* Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids - Sidney Perkowitz

*  Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto - Simon Young

* Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine - J. Storrs Hall

* The Buddha in the Robot - Masahiro Mori

* Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species - Peter Menzel

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* This is a bit of a preview for other shortlists that have informed the continued development of Scavengers, Technologies, & the state of the fictional world of WarZone between 2100 - 2200.

* Most all these works are available @ Public & University libraries if your interested - in other words, you shouldn't have to spend any hard cash to peruse / enjoy them.

- Cheers RV

[EvilGuru]

To quote a classic Simpsons episode:

Bart:  Pssst. Grampa, I think this guy's a little nuts.
Grampa: Oh yeah?  Well, General George S. Patton was a little nuts. And this guy's completely out of his mind!  We can't fail!

Looks like I have a fair amount of bedtime reading to do.

Regards, Freddie.

[Rman Virgil]

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* Some more of my source materials for WZ 2200's creation - development....


On Nukes & Nuclear Winter:

* Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons - Joseph Cirincione

* Space Wars: The First Six Hours of World War III - Willliam Scott

* Nuclear War I and Other Major Nuclear Disasters of the 20th Century - Samuel, Upton Newtan

* Nuclear Weapons: What You Need to Know - Jeremy Bernstein

* This Is Only a Test: How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War - David F. Krugler


On the Collapse & Rebirth of Civilization - With Faction Profileing:

* Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means - William T. Vollmann

* Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - Jared Diamond

* 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - Charles C. Mann

* Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - Jared Diamond

* A Language Older Than Words - Derrick Jensen

* Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control - Derrick Jensen

* Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization - John Zerzan

* Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization - Derrick Jensen

*  Endgame, Vol. 2: Resistance - Derrick Jensen

* Elements of Refusal - John Zerzan

* The Culture of Make Believe - Derrick Jensen

* Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections - John Zerzan

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* NEXT: On Asymetric Warfare

* And: On 22nd Century Technologies

* EDIT:

* Btw.... I'm willing to discuss almost anything about WZ 2200...

* About the only 2 things I cannot reveal:

* 1.) The exact release schedules

* 2.) Exact details of the Mission Structures & Content (& scripting) as that would constitute "Spoilers" (though with "Mission Branching" techniques that won't be straightforward as with a standard linear CAM).

[Rman Virgil]

To quote a classic Simpsons episode:

Looks like I have a fair amount of bedtime reading to do.

Regards, Freddie.

* Hehe... good one, Freddie.

* Sometimes I wonder myself how so many of my interests can somehow be related to WZ workings.

* For example...

* Recently going over resources in WZ.... alternatives &  rationales, etc.

* And 3 things came-up that were outta left-field, maybe even borderline wack:

* 1.) "Pampers" - that is the bizillion dirty diapers in landfills all over the planet driving the WZ war-machine thru Biothermal technology....

* 2.) The "Scavengers" as master recyclers (& guerrilla warriors) and their world akin to the "middens" &  Poor Folk of Victorian England as portrayed by Charles Dickens in such novels as "Our Mutual Friend" & "Hard Times"...

* The planets supply of "Cargo Containers" - without even scrapping for metal you can make so many things outta of them: small cities / towns, forts, walls w/built-in tunnels, bridges across creeks & shallow rivers...& so on.

* Yea.... there is a touch of "madness" there, methinks (in the ancient Greek sense of aesthethics & prophecy, 'course.)

- Cheers, RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* K, last of my principle reference-resources for "WZ 2200".

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On Asymetric Warfare: Weaps, Tacs & Strats:

* War X: Human Extensions in Battlespace (Digital Futures) - Tim Blackmore

* The Army after Next: The First Postindustrial Army - Thomas K. Adams

* Intelligence in War: The value--and limitations--of what the military can learn about the enemy - John Kegan

* How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict  - Ivan Arreguin-Toft

* Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent - Mike German

* The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 - MacGregor Knox & Williamson Murray

* Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the 21st Century - Rod Thornton

* The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century - Colonel Thomas X. Hammes, USMC

* Phantom Soldier: The Enemy's Answer to U.S. Firepower - H. John Poole

* The Principles of War for the Information Age - Robert R. Leonhard

* Artificial War: Multiagent-Based Simulation of Combat - Andrew Ilachinski

On Energy Technology & Futurolgy Studies:

* The Second Law of Life: Energy, Technology, and the Future of Earth As We Know It - John E.J. Schmitz

* Energy: The Master Resource - Robert, Jr. Bradley

* Introduction to Energy: Resources, Technology, and Society - Edward S. Cassedy

* Ideas: A History of Thought & Invention, from Fire to Freud - Peter Watson

* Encyclopedia Of the Future (vols 1 & 2) - Kurian Molitor

* Foundations of Future Studies (viols 1 & 2) - Wendell Bell

* Crowds & Power - Ellias Canetti

* A Thousand Years of Non-linear History - Manuel De Landa

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NOTE: There's over-lap & correlations made throughout all of these topics from Borgs to Energy Resources to Futurology Studies.

* In other words it all has to be integrated into an internally consistent, credible, interactive, immersive and totally FUN gaming construct WHOLE.... Aka, "WZ 2200"...

* Hope you enjoy some of these works just for the sheer fun of learning kwel stuff.

- Cheers, RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* While not directly related to WZ 2200.... this little volume & I mean physically little (you can slow read the entire book 30 mins or less) has become something of a thouchstone for me.

* The books author is Harry G. Frankfurt who is Professor Of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University.

* The book is informative & instructive, sober & hilarious.

* It is simply called -

* "On Bullshit"....

* Check it out, its fun & provocative, in a similar vein to the humor of top flight stand-up comedians like Sienfeld, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen....

- L8rs, RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* Programmer & SciFi writer extrordinaire, Daniel Keys Moran, aka DKM, has released more of his previously published in book form work under the Creative Commons License.

* You can find them all  HERE

* He also writes a lively & thought provoking blog: HERE

* If you haven't read DKM before, your in for a real treat.

* His vision is positively EPIC & he spins every SciFi theme & style like a master juggler within that metaverse he's confabulated.

- Cheers, RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* Here's another essential resource I just completed & belongs under...

* On Asymetric Warfare: Weaps, Tacs & Strats:


* Alpha Bravo Delta Guide to Stealth Warfare - David Alexander

.................

[Rman Virgil]

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* "Who's John Galt ?"

* A refrain that ran thru a 1400 page novel entitled "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand that I 1st read before I was a teen. Same with her "Fountainhead" novel & non-fiction works on "Objectivism" & "Capitalism".

* Later on in life as my thought matured (or I like to think it did) I found Ayn Rand's intolerance & lack of humor serious flaws in her PoV (their were other shortfalls in her Metaphysics, Ontology & Epistemology.....)

* However her heroic vision of an individual vs the "collective, hive-mind" is still very much a part of me.

* While her masterworks - "Atlas Shrugged" & "Fountainhead" - are still copyrighted there is a small book of hers that represents the heart of her vision and which has been released into the public domain.

* That story is called Anthem & you can find 2 free editions HERE.

* You can slow-read it (like "On Bullshit" above) in less than 30 minutes.

* In light of recent discussions, my PoV was formed early-on by this heroic vision of Ayn Rand (& other Romantics) as well as my family of care-takers who were successful entrepreneurs, professional musicians, writers, artists, engineers, activists, performers, & transmitters of the oral traditions of my native culture.

- RV

[Rman Virgil]

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* The single greatest influence in my WZ efforts (besides Pumpkin heads & WZ itself) has been the work of Richard R. Bartle.

* Richard has been around comp gaming since day one.

* He actually co-wrote the 1st virtual world back in 1978 - MUD aka, Multi-User Dungeon.

* He's been in the mix ever since to this day working  with almost every online game company in the UK & US.

* A few years ago he published his Magnum Opus: "Designing Virtual Worlds".

* It's not a freebie but you can likely get a loaner from your main public or university library.

* It is endlessly inspiring & deeply informing. If you are in any way intrested in creating a high level game experience as a mapper, modder, coder, artist or even just fostering an online community - then this is one work you should get your hands on & devour, intellectually that is.

*Btw - my PoV takes WZ's Campaign Mode as a type of "Virtual World" & that's how i've proceeded, in essence.

- Cheers, RV

 

[Rman Virgil]

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* U.A.V.s.... M.A.V.s.....M.A.L.D.s...

* Don't know nothin 'bout them... 'cause it's just a bunch of arm chair general bull chit that would sorely spoil our arcade fun for "dummies" ? Hmmm, such definitive logic, eh ?

* Well, I think it would be a safe bet to  rectify ignorance  if your gonna mess with ECMs & re-balancing T3 (esp.)

* The single best, one volume, reference I've studied in this area is:

* Alpha, Bravo, Delta, Guide to Stealth Warfare

- By David Alexander (also author of "Tomorrow's Soldier: 21st Century Warfare")

* Due note that it is not just "ECMs" in isolation but also the total "Balance" of game play that will be deeply impacted (just the single, simple,  introduction of something like the "WASP", & nothing else, would be dramatic, literally turn the game on its head...in a good way methinks.)

* Indeed, even the traditional GPM known as "Fog of War" undergoes an exciting reformation that's also "retro" at same time (where is Fog-of-War in Chess, Go Mo Ku ?)

* Commanders & the Command Relay can know be the matrix of defining RTS "Battlefield Space" & a profoundly generative & fun GPM.

* 'Course - "Seeing is believing.," as the adage goes.

- RV