Ok, now that it's everywhere, or at least relatively commonplace, time to comment on the "twist" on this season's Survivor.
Apparently the tribes are four tribes of five, racially divided into asians, latinos, blacks, and whites. This is a move for attention apparently from CBS because the not only get to use the word "race" a lot, but get to be high and mighty saying it's a social experiment and racism is not a motive.
I don't think there's anything racist about the split, I don't think it'll be really that much more interesting to watch, unless racist people are put on the show as contestants. It'll be like high school, clique-y. Which is what happens with tribes on Survivor anyways. Woo.
The actual problem I have with this set-up is it's obviously half-assed and won't really matter. Look at the numbers and think about last year's four tribes of four. The four tribes last year ended after one episode, three game days. Then they became two tribes as per usual. This year with the tribes of 20, the most they can technically hold out is three episodes before combining into two or three larger tribes. Once three eliminations occur one tribe could end up with two people, a voting block situation.
So yeah, nice try Survivor, but the four tribes thing can't really be done well without a whole bunch of people. At that point you need to balance number of people with how much you think the audience will remember each one. That's also "The Biggest Loser's" deal with its newest season coming up, with 50 initial contestants, one from each state. You can pretty much bet that after three episodes you'll be down to about a dozen or less so you can go to a personal level with each contestant, each episode.
That's it, seeya.
Friday, August 25
Wednesday, August 23
ZOMBIES ATTACK ITHACA
Ok, so there was this game called Zombies Attack Ithaca, and if I had the link to provide you with I would in two seconds. Unfortunately the site seems dead (or undead, hur hur). Anyways, I was hoping to eventually enact at least one round of this game at Ithaca College at some point this year/play it myself.
The concept of Zombies Attack Ithaca (held at Cornell) was ingenious. Players take on the role of either humans or zombies, both seeking to outlast the other. Humans must avoid being tagged (physical contact) by all zombies, while zombies must "feed" on humans every forty-eight hours to live. If a zombie runs out of time before feeding, they go inactive and are out of the game. If a human is tagged by a zombie they are then turned into a zombie.
To identify zombies and humans a system of bandanas is enforced and a website is used to keep track of zombies' timers as well as humans remaining. There are more details but they are kind of useless until/unless this thing gets running.
Anyone interested at Ithaca in helping or playing feel free to drop a comment.
The concept of Zombies Attack Ithaca (held at Cornell) was ingenious. Players take on the role of either humans or zombies, both seeking to outlast the other. Humans must avoid being tagged (physical contact) by all zombies, while zombies must "feed" on humans every forty-eight hours to live. If a zombie runs out of time before feeding, they go inactive and are out of the game. If a human is tagged by a zombie they are then turned into a zombie.
To identify zombies and humans a system of bandanas is enforced and a website is used to keep track of zombies' timers as well as humans remaining. There are more details but they are kind of useless until/unless this thing gets running.
Anyone interested at Ithaca in helping or playing feel free to drop a comment.
Friday, August 11
DIY Reality Gameshows
I know I'm not the only person to have tried this because I've seen other people set up websites and programs for this kind of stuff...
Anyways, I decided late last summer that I love The Mole so much and was so pissed off the ABC killed it (even with celebrity mole giving them great summer ratings) that I would do something. I called my friend Scott and told him that I was going to do The Mole. With a bunch of friends. On our own time. So my first question to him, as he was my Mole-loving compatriot, was whether he was going to play or help. He decided to help and we were off. The next month was filled with auditions, game development, watching big brother, and finally the game itself with a real cash prize of about 42 bucks. It went well, at least that's what all my friends told me, and we filmed little and the days were spread out because of work and other obligations. Nevertheless it was a unique experience.
So as the school year was winding down 06 I got to thinking that we -have- to do this again. This time we had much more time to try to get as many people involved and interested so I wouldn't just be asking favors of my closest friends, but instead hosting a game for many interested participants.
This year had its share of problems before production, everyone interested either dropped out due to lack of interest or because this year it would be a five-day affair, no breaks or going home.
This put some of the parents on edge and I was surprised I got any female participants at all as the age range was 15 through 17. However all involved had a good time, some more often then others, and we got a large amount of filming done. I have yet to start working on episodes themselves yet because I'm going to have to voice-over a LOT. Sound issues and such. But there is a trailer for your viewing pleasure that's being hosted at Vimeo.com.
The Mole Teaser on Vimeo
If that doesn't work, it's here...http://www.vimeo.com/clip:94104
Vimeo is a great community that I highly recommend to you guys. It's main draw is that all videos posted must be user-created, so you get more creativity and less star wars kid edits and TV commercials. I'm not going to lie, I first thought that Vimeo was pronounced "Vih-MAY-oh" and not the obvious "Vim-ee-o."
So yea, as I make episodes they'll be uploaded to vimeo, posted here, and then after a while maybe I'll try youtube/googlevid if I'm desperate for exposure.
About the game of The Mole itself, I find it's slightly unfair at the start. The basis is that the players all try to complete tasks to win money that the winner at the end gets to keep. The Mole is a player who secretly must screw up as many tasks as possible to keep the group's won money to a minimum. The other honest players must try to figure out who the mole is and take quizzes on the mole's activity and personal information. Whoever does the best on these quizzes ends up winning.
In the first few rounds this set up is slightly unfair because often there is little or no possibility for sabotage nor does the mole often act in the first round. So these players must take their first quiz on gut feelings and how people are acting. I still love the game, it's just that the first few rounds would be pretty crappy to have to scrape through.
That's it for today folks.
Anyways, I decided late last summer that I love The Mole so much and was so pissed off the ABC killed it (even with celebrity mole giving them great summer ratings) that I would do something. I called my friend Scott and told him that I was going to do The Mole. With a bunch of friends. On our own time. So my first question to him, as he was my Mole-loving compatriot, was whether he was going to play or help. He decided to help and we were off. The next month was filled with auditions, game development, watching big brother, and finally the game itself with a real cash prize of about 42 bucks. It went well, at least that's what all my friends told me, and we filmed little and the days were spread out because of work and other obligations. Nevertheless it was a unique experience.
So as the school year was winding down 06 I got to thinking that we -have- to do this again. This time we had much more time to try to get as many people involved and interested so I wouldn't just be asking favors of my closest friends, but instead hosting a game for many interested participants.
This year had its share of problems before production, everyone interested either dropped out due to lack of interest or because this year it would be a five-day affair, no breaks or going home.
This put some of the parents on edge and I was surprised I got any female participants at all as the age range was 15 through 17. However all involved had a good time, some more often then others, and we got a large amount of filming done. I have yet to start working on episodes themselves yet because I'm going to have to voice-over a LOT. Sound issues and such. But there is a trailer for your viewing pleasure that's being hosted at Vimeo.com.
The Mole Teaser on Vimeo
If that doesn't work, it's here...http://www.vimeo.com/clip:94104
Vimeo is a great community that I highly recommend to you guys. It's main draw is that all videos posted must be user-created, so you get more creativity and less star wars kid edits and TV commercials. I'm not going to lie, I first thought that Vimeo was pronounced "Vih-MAY-oh" and not the obvious "Vim-ee-o."
So yea, as I make episodes they'll be uploaded to vimeo, posted here, and then after a while maybe I'll try youtube/googlevid if I'm desperate for exposure.
About the game of The Mole itself, I find it's slightly unfair at the start. The basis is that the players all try to complete tasks to win money that the winner at the end gets to keep. The Mole is a player who secretly must screw up as many tasks as possible to keep the group's won money to a minimum. The other honest players must try to figure out who the mole is and take quizzes on the mole's activity and personal information. Whoever does the best on these quizzes ends up winning.
In the first few rounds this set up is slightly unfair because often there is little or no possibility for sabotage nor does the mole often act in the first round. So these players must take their first quiz on gut feelings and how people are acting. I still love the game, it's just that the first few rounds would be pretty crappy to have to scrape through.
That's it for today folks.
Tuesday, August 8
Just to clarify..
This is how I break down things...
Reality TV shows
Gameshows
Reality Gameshows
Talent competition shows and Dating competition shows are weird sub-genres. Weird as in you can't call them a gameshow necessarily because it's not as much as a game as a quest to find the best. In shows like The Bachelor, the hopeful women are free to leave at any time if they don't particularly like the hunky well-groomed man, and the end result is marriage, something that's not quite as simple as money or a furniture set.
In Talent competitions the rules are usually "whoever the judges/audience likes best gets some money!!!" Even specific talent shows like Idol and So You Think You Can Dance with the different themes/genres the contestants have to perform, still have free reign and inevitably are popularity contests. This is not a bad thing, but it makes them somewhat less game-like.
In addition to gameshows and reality gameshows, I also like plain games. This includes, but is not limited to: card games, word games, board games, physical games, co-operative games, social games, video games, and mind games.
So that's pretty much what you (hopefully) can expect from this blog, in addition to random posts raving about bands/movies/whatever and anything and everything in my personal life I see fit to post.
Ta-ta!
Reality TV shows
- rarely have any clear "goal"
- usually lacking in any type of competition, at least none of the producer's creation
- focus on a person or persons in some type of niche (former celebrity, unknown sport, occupation, etc.)
- tend to bore me to death
Gameshows
- a television program in which a game is featured (duh)
- for money or prizes
- set of rules, whether strictly or loosely enforced
- are like candy to me
Reality Gameshows
- a game is featured, but takes place largely outside of a studio
- rules are enforced at the producer's discretion
- tend to be more difficult, lasting days or weeks
- often follow the contestants outside of mere game situations
- focuses on the people and how they relate to each other in the game
- are also like sweet sweet candy to me
Talent competition shows and Dating competition shows are weird sub-genres. Weird as in you can't call them a gameshow necessarily because it's not as much as a game as a quest to find the best. In shows like The Bachelor, the hopeful women are free to leave at any time if they don't particularly like the hunky well-groomed man, and the end result is marriage, something that's not quite as simple as money or a furniture set.
In Talent competitions the rules are usually "whoever the judges/audience likes best gets some money!!!" Even specific talent shows like Idol and So You Think You Can Dance with the different themes/genres the contestants have to perform, still have free reign and inevitably are popularity contests. This is not a bad thing, but it makes them somewhat less game-like.
In addition to gameshows and reality gameshows, I also like plain games. This includes, but is not limited to: card games, word games, board games, physical games, co-operative games, social games, video games, and mind games.
So that's pretty much what you (hopefully) can expect from this blog, in addition to random posts raving about bands/movies/whatever and anything and everything in my personal life I see fit to post.
Ta-ta!
Monday, August 7
This will probably suck.
Hi internet.
I am here to attempt to create content that may be interesting to at least ten people.
I figure if it's interesting to ten people, I'm not wasting the internet's infinite resources.
As the titles states, I'm a gay gamer who enjoys gameshows, so the posts will either be about games I make/play, gameshows I make/think-up/watch, or anything else that probably have equal or lesser reading value.
Here goes nothing.
I am here to attempt to create content that may be interesting to at least ten people.
I figure if it's interesting to ten people, I'm not wasting the internet's infinite resources.
As the titles states, I'm a gay gamer who enjoys gameshows, so the posts will either be about games I make/play, gameshows I make/think-up/watch, or anything else that probably have equal or lesser reading value.
Here goes nothing.
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