Pure Creation

I neglect this blog too much these days. I really shouldn't. I'm no longer unemployed, but that's not really much of an excuse. I think the real reason is that I've artificially constrained the purpose of this blog in my mind. I started using it as a tertiary job search tool, as a watered-down version of a portfolio, and the president to continue that got immense. I started judging too harshly. I started pre-vetoing ideas that weren't "good enough," worried about tarnishing my "brand." (Really? How self-important am I?)

But fuck that noise. This is pure, unbridled creation. I can do with it as I choose - so long as it's about something. (This is a blog, not live journal.)

So right now I'm not going to talk about transit or UX, I'm gonna talk about something I've become more and more passionate about over the last year or so: games. Specifically, indie tabletop RPG's, such as Burning Wheel, FreeMarket, and Apocalypse World. Why? These games are not about measuring dicks with dice. They aren't about "winning" or about "being the best." They're about telling a story together - and making it up as you go. They're colloquially called "story games" - and I love them. If you do any kind of creative work, you'll love them, too. In fact I'm going to go even farther: anyone who does creative work should be playing indie RPG's like this. If you're not, you're doing the creative part of your brain a disservice.

I'll post examples about each of the particular games I mentioned over the next few days and hopefully you'll see why they light my creative spark and why I feel like they'll help make me a better designer.