Card Game: Loopholes and Balances

Before going into the reviews of my card game "Race To Mt. Pain," it is important to know the rules of the game. Firstly, my card game is meant to be played at your own pace. Meaning there are no turns. The overall purpose of the game is for each player to draw their stack of cards at a rapid pace in order to reach the maximum number of points to win. The higher the value of the card, the more points are granted. However, there are some custom cards that can either boost or slow down a player. Such cards include the Sherpa's Guidance which automatically causes a player to win, or the Rope Snap which causes the player to lose. There are much more specifics that tie into the game, but that should sum it up in the best way possible.

After play-testing my card game, there were mostly positive reviews rather than negative reviews. In fact, there was hardly any complaints whatsoever. This really exceeded my expectations. However, it is still important to recognize the flaws and shortcomings no matter the circumstance. That is what I will be discussing within this post.

Loopholes vs Features

To understand what loopholes are, loopholes can be defined as "a flaw in the system that users can exploit to gain an unfair or unintended advantage" (Fullerton 316). In addition, loopholes are ways players can cheat the system in ways they did not know were possible. In terms of features, features are, to an extent, the same as loopholes. However, features can actually be intentional flaws in the game. 

When it comes to my card game, there weren't any noticeable loopholes. While play-testing "Race To Mt. Pain," the most common criticism was that some of the custom cards are a bit too harsh. The Rope Snap being the most harsh, specifically. This flaw, in particular, is actually a feature that me and my other developers intended to have in the game. Since the card game is a very fast paced game, my team's goal was to have some boosts and declines to make the game last a decent amount of time. 

Symmetry vs Asymmetry

When discussing symmetry and asymmetry in terms of games, the key difference to understand is that symmetry is when players all have the same materials to start with while asymmetry results in players having differences in materials. In relation to "Race To Mt. Pain," I would argue that it consists of both symmetry and asymmetry. In terms of symmetry, each player is given the same number of cards to start with (68). In terms of asymmetry, each players' stack of cards consists of a different pile. Therefore, one luck player can have a Sherpa's Guidance in their pile of cards while an unlucky player can have a Rope Snap in their pile of cards. 

Source

Fullerton, T. (2019). Chapter 10: Functionality, Completeness, and Balance. In Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games (4th ed.). CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.

EOTO Project: SoundCloud

After I was given an assignment to research a technology that has heavily impacted our society, I chose to look into one of my favorite platforms known as SoundCloud. In short, SoundCloud is a music platform that gives aspiring musicians the ability to share their music to the public all over the world. SoundCloud is not only used for music, but it can also be used for podcasts or other elements of audio. It can even be used just for the sake of streaming your favorite music with no charge to a certain extent. 

To provide a little background on SoundCloud's history, it first established in 2007 after being founded by two Swedish individuals named Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss. Though the two founders are from Sweden, the platform's headquarters is actually located in Berlin, Germany where the platform officially launched in October 2008. When the founders thought of the idea of SoundCloud, they wanted a music streaming platform that would allow users to upload their music and connect with other musicians through it. That’s exactly what the platform has become. As cool as SoundCloud sounds, there are some pros and cons that come with it. As one could expect with every form of technology. Pros Firstly, SoundCloud has always given people the ability to share their music publicly. This can be good for starting musicians who are hoping to get a little exposure to help them boost their career. Even if they are doing what they do just for fun. Secondly, users are able to stream any kind of music that has been uploaded to a certain extent. Even if you don't have an account, you can still stream your favorite music. On top of that, users can even make their own playlists if they wish. Which is a great feature in itself. Finally, one of the best features of SoundCloud is that it is a great way for aspiring musicians to connect with other musicians. In addition, SoundCloud gives users the ability to favorite, comment, or repost on their favorite track. As well as even being able to direct message other musicians in the hopes of possibly working with them in the future. Cons

While most music can be streamed for absolutely free, unfortunately some songs require a paid subscription to listen to. For example, some mainstream artists have only allowed their songs to be streamed by people who are subscribed to a monthly fee called SoundCloud Go+. In other words, standard users cannot listen to certain songs if they are not upgraded to SoundCloud Go+. Users without SoundCloud Go+ are also affected in terms of upload time. For example, SoundCloud Go+ grants users the ability to have unlimited upload time, but if you are a standard user you are only allowed to have upload time of three hours maximum. This can be a huge let down for most creators. Especially for people who make podcasts which might take up two hours within one upload. With that being said, if you want unlimited upload time, you'll have to make the sacrifice of paying a monthly fee of $12. The final downside of SoundCloud is that it is not copyright friendly. That means if a user uploads anything with copyrighted material, they are at risk of having their content removed which is quite a common thing. While it is understandable that SoundCloud is strict on copyright, it is still a bit of a let down to most users. Overall, as an individual who uses SoundCloud a lot, I think the platform is one of the greatest things that has happened in society. Especially for people in the music industry. Regardless of the cons, I think it is fair to say that they are outnumbered by the pros. History of SoundCloud: https://successstory.com/companies/soundcloud#:~:text=SoundCloud%20was%20founded%20in%20Stockholm,images%2C%20and%20vimeo%20for%20videos. Pros and Cons of SoundCloud: https://dinamudara.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/89/

Discussing Antiwar Media

It is fair to say that in our current time period the mainstream media only chooses to air topics that match their narrative. For example, news networks like CNN are mainly a left leaning source, and Fox News is mainly a right leaning source. It is even fair to say that right leaning sources are way outnumbered by left leaning sources. With that being said, it is arguably more common to learn about left wing ideologies. Hence why people typically don't hear about republican topics such as antiwar. Especially on the internet. A good example of this are websites that are strong antiwar voices such as https://www.antiwar.com/ and https://www.theamericanconservative.com/web-categories/realism-restraint/. Without doing a deep dive on the internet, people would most likely never know about any of these sources. Why? Probably because search engines like Google make it harder for people to discover such websites. This, of course, can't be proven, but it is a theory. One could argue that Google is a left leaning company that likes to censor opposing viewpoints. As that would explain why learning from strong antiwar voices is hard to find. Overall, I think it's wrong if any source is biased, and there should be diversity of thought among all platforms. That way people can learn more information that they did not know before. Whether or not they disagree with it.

Is google biased?:
https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/8/14/21362500/is-google-biased-against-conservatives-breitbart-news-donald-trump-utah-mike-lee

The Six Freedoms of the First Amendment: BLM

The first amendment is one of the greatest gifts the founding fathers have bestowed upon us. It enables us to have a diversity of thought, and it enables us to stay true to ourselves. However, some people distort this idea, and sometimes they may not even realize it. This can be said about the Black Lives Matter protests that have become headlining news for months now. While the Black Lives Matter movement hasn't been unheard of for years, it is fair to say that this is the first time they have become very widely known and even controversial. It has even gotten to a point where some people are labeling the movement as a "marxist" or even a "terrorist" organization. So what does this have to do with the first amendment?

The first amendment consist of six clauses: freedom of religion, freedom from religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to petition, and freedom of assembly. Note that freedom of assembly ties into the right to protest. With that being said, the Black Lives Matter protests should be protected by the first amendment. However, it has been shown all over social media how some protests can lead to violence. For example, there have been reports of people burning down buildings, attacking civilians, looting, and other criminal activities. This is NOT protected by the first amendment as they are actions rather than speech. Action is not the same as speech or expression. Therefore, it is not protected under the first amendment. 

While this certainly doesn't speak for the whole Black Lives Matter movement, the instances that turn violent are clear examples of how free speech can be distorted. The same can be said for the law enforcement who abuse their positions of power. With that being said, it is important that everyone knows that action and speech are two completely different things, and that you can get your point across without being violent.

93% of BLM protests are peaceful:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/nearly-all-black-lives-matter-protests-are-peaceful-despite-trump-narrative-report-finds

Discussing The Supreme Court

There are some basic functions about the U.S. Supreme Court that I already know about. For example, there are nine Supreme Court Justices, and they are the ones who can decide if a bill can be passed into becoming a law. However, this is something that I would think almost everyone knows, but there is much more to it than that.

After watching a 20 minute video which dives into deeper detail about the Supreme Court, there were definitely some factors that I was completely unaware of. One of them being that the Supreme Court receives more than 100 new cases every week that need to be reviewed. As well as written petitions that demand the court to act. The Justices are also able to pick and choose which cases the court will accept through a conference meeting. This, needless to say, caught me off guard, but I can see how that would make sense looking back at it now. 

In a way, knowing this information only makes me care much more who the Supreme Court justices are, and what party they align with. For example, if there were more democratic justices, there would be more cases approved with democratic ideologies. Same for republicans. 

Overall, I think the video conveys some useful information that i'm sure many people are unaware of. As I was before. I also have more respect for justices as I can only imagine the amount of hours the sacrifice in their lives having to deal with so many cases on a weekly basis.

Card Game: Playtesting

 Play-testing the card game "Race to Mt. Pain"

Questions for players

-What did you like about the game?
-Was there anything that seemed unbalanced or broken?
-Would you play it again?
-Would you recommend it to other people?
-Is there something you think should be added or removed from the game?
-Were the rules easy to understand?

What I hope to learn from the players

Mainly, my biggest concern is if there is anything about the game that seems too unbalanced that needs fixing. Therefore, my hope is i'll discover some flaws while the game is being tested by first-time players. On a side note, I also hope to see how understanding the players are of the rules.