Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

RE: [Icehouse] IGDC Winter 2008 is ready for announcement tomorrow!

  • FromDavid Artman <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateThu, 08 Nov 2007 13:52:54 -0700
> From: "Jorge Arroyo" <trozo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> almost any 2house game with 1 set and some extra equipment. In fact many of
> the games in the 2house "what can I play" section would be rejected in this

(Historical Note: I made the "What Can I Play?" page; and at the time I
was taking game rules as written, not to mention trying to get through
nearly two hundred games--reading each one's requirements, including
different player number variation calculations--just to get it done.
You're welcome.)

Actually, only Mundialito would be rejected, because it arbitrarily
requires the players to use matching stacks per side, when they could
easily use Green & Blue versus Red & Yellow for the same game (use small
and medium Black for the balls). All the other games are clearly labeled
as player-number restricted or are variations at the 2-set level, or
actually require 2 sets.

...Are you hoping to submit Mundialito for the IGDC, even though it's
old and already heavily tested by those who participated in the 2007
Ciutat de Granollers de Creación de Juegos? If so, that's sort of... I
dunno... greedy? I mean, that game has had its testing and judging; it's
been noticed and refined; can't you come up with something new (or, at
the least, let others have a shot with newer, less-refined games)?

... And while we're speaking of Mundialito, it would have been nice if
the shots at this site showed actual Martian Coasters; the Looneys could
use the sales... and you also provide PDFs that basically keep someone
from ever having to buy any Treehouse sets or MCs to play it or any
other game that uses them. *sigh*
http://www.labsk.net/index.php?topic=4157.msg35364#msg35364
http://icehousegames.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mundialito#External_Links

So, Mundialito does not actually "promote the sale of a second set to a
new adopter," (never mind that its downloads actually *suppress* sales)
so it doesn't qualify.

Let's take it to the extreme case: Mundialito and some other random
(explicitly, unavoidably) 2HOUSE game are the only submitted games. We
get five hundred new judges, all of whom go out and buy a second TH set
to go with their first set. They then discover (those clever enough to
recognize that color doesn't really matter; just distinguishability)
that "half" (out of two) of the IGDC games don't really *need* a second
set. 500 people feeling gypped by 50% of the IGDC games.

How many of those 500 come back next year, when the restriction is (say)
4HOUSE? Or "uses Martian Coasters"?

Now, let's quote a Customer Service Truism: "Every dissatisfied customer
will tell at least ten other people about the experience." So... now
5000 people hear "The IGDC is just a gimmick--half the games that
supposedly 'require' a second set really don't! The value-add of this
second set, to me, is half what was implied by the number of 'new' IGDC
games!"

So... taken to the extreme--which we'd LIKE; we WANT a ton of judges,
believe me!--every relaxing of the 2HOUSE restriction is a potential to
gyp a new adopter.

Forget it. Not this IGDC. Not this Coordinator.

If you want a different tack for the Winter 2009 IGDC, then I suggest
that you chime in earlier--I can not find any comment from you about the
restriction, in the Winter 2008 Talk/planning; only your vote for
designers not self-ranking, which *I* posted there for you, from a
message you sent to this list. (You're welcome.)

> Your game Chicken Run, can be played with 1 set and some coins in three
> sizes, so by your reasoning, it shouldn't be allowed in the contest. (I use
> your game as a handy example, but many other games would fit)

You're begging the question... or making a moot point (not sure which
exactly).

Nearly EVERY IH/TH game can be redone with Legos or with piecepaks
(which mimmick pyramids, basically) or with cutout squares from colored
Post-It notes (or with your paper pyramid download). So what? Hell, many
IH/TH games can be played in your head, or with paper and pencil. So
what?

> I think it makes much more sense to make it clear that games will be scored
> by how well they fit into the "2House" category. This requirement is too
> subjective in my view...

Your opinion is clear, it is noted, and your vote would not have been
enough to shift the majority away from 2HOUSE requirement anyway (had
you voted).

And as a final note... I'd prefer it if one person's objective
assessment of conformity to the restriction (me) winnows down the games
list to solid, sales-promoting, Looney-benefiting games, than have
thirty to fifty "subjective" opinions skew rankings all over the ballots
(one judge might slam a 1HOUSE game to 8th out of 8 places; another
might just drop it a rank after playing and pre-ranking all games before
considering the 2HOUSE requirement).

OK... I think I've exhausted my arguments. (I know I've exhausted my
patience.)

Fin.
David



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