Only a Game

I Am A Farmer Now

Dear Players of the Game,

I have now completed my fifth international move, restoring the circumstances for the name of my company back at that very first move. I am not so much the 'International Hobo' these days, though, it is more of a 'rags to riches' tale than I expected. As I always said, it's not that I seek to be rich and famous, just well-off and well-known. I think, for the most part, I have succeeded, although destitution and obscurity are always only a few inches away for anyone. 

When I say 'I am a farmer now', I mean it literally although not quite seriously. For I'm now living on ten acres in the hills outside of Nashville, Tennessee. If I am not actually farming myself yet, there is a farmer (his name is Steve) who comes and collects the hay crop from the hill pictured, which is also the field where my wife and I were wed some two decades ago. I grew up in the country (on the Isle of Wight, in the United Kingdom), and now I have returned to a different country.

• As I said before, I have moved my philosophical base camp to Substack, but there are pieces - like this one - that just don't fit at Stranger Worlds. Fortunately, Only a Game makes a fine home for them. However, if you've ever read my philosophy please join me at Substack. Something special is happening there, and it feels like discourse might not yet be dead.
• As of this very day, WAMTNG is one year old! Thanks for every grizzled old Star Trek: The Next Generation fan joining me on this journey, and there's a link for a third off forever if you want to support this adventure with some of your latinum.
• Other than the move, the main thing that's been preventing me posting here isn't Substack (I'm well on top of this) but the Ten Player Motives serial at ihobo.com, which runs at twelve parts. We've just started the second half now, with a look at the Horror motive.
• I have a few thoughts about essays for Only a Game this year, but am currently enjoying the luxury of not having to rack these up. Expect a few essays here in the second half of the Gregorian year on assorted topics, probably directly political as this is still the only place I can put such things.
• Lastly, I am still open for blog letters, if there's something you want to talk to me about. 

Whatever challenges you're facing, keep going!

Chris.

Intermission

We've reached the final ten cyborgs in A Hundred Cyborgs, but before I tackle the culmination of this unexpectedly epic campaign I want to take a short break from the 500 word format to go back to the classic Only a Game style of 1,500 to 2,500 word pieces exploring philosophy from an accessible point of view, or dipping into media in various ways.

Partly, this is because I haven't picked the final ten yet, partly its because I'm oddly not ready to end the project despite having spent two years (!) on it at this point. My notes include dozens of cyborgs I've not pursued and presumably never will... choosing just ten to finish is proving an interesting challenge.

So for the next month, sit back and enjoy a return to Only a Game as it used to be - once a week, longer essays, and - as always! - discussion always wished for and seldom granted.

Stay tuned for the first 'classic style' piece, How To Disagree, tomorrow!

Press Pause

Away at Develop this week presenting The Narrative Design Survival Guide, so I'm pausing Arcade Cyborgs for a week. I hope to get some blogging in at ihobo.com while I'm in Brighton, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Fourteen Today

Today is Only a Game's fourteenth birthday! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported my blogging, both here and over at ihobo.com, as well as my book and game projects, over the many years that have passed since I first threw myself out here. It is no exaggeration to say there would be no point to anything I do if there were not readers and players to engage with it. For this, my unlimited thanks to you all! 

Leave of Absence

Back in two weeks - I will reply to comments then.

Temporal Anomalies Expected

While I am reconnected with social media at this time, various matters (some of which I shall post about shortly) have interrupted the normal cycle of blogging for me and as a result it might be longer than expected before I can return to A Hundred Cyborgs. In the meantime, I am still stopping by to check for comments, so feel free to wade in on any topic of interest.

Normal service will resume... somewhen.

Gremlin Infestation

Seems that Typepad has an outbreak of gremlins in their authenticators, so it may not be possible to comment (I certainly can't...). I've flagged it to TypePad and hope for a swift and vengeful solution.

Timehack

If you just saw a post about game design lineages... that shouldn't have gone up until tomorrow. Temporal powers asserted!

Squiggles

Just need to update that book announcement, since the date has changed and I’m using it as my pinned Tweet on Twitter. Nothing more to report, I’m afraid… still busy – but Babette Babich has my edits to the new dialogue, so we are getting closer to another fascinating adventure of Babich and Bateman. Stay tuned!

Temporal Flux

Apologies for the slow running of comments, new content etc. but I’ve been travelling all over the place and am also swamped with various projects. I am progressing with Babich and Bateman III… hope normal service will resume soon! (If you’ve left a comment, firstly – thank you! – secondly, I hope to get back to you later this week.)