Bjorn M

Earthquakes occur more often during periods of extreme high tides. The gravitational pull of the Earth's Moon affects tides.

The Red Line represents strain on a fault (where the earth is split). The Bouncing Blue Line shows periods of high and low tide. Clearly, tides affect strain, Thusly, the moon affects strain.

But, what if the Lunar Pull affects the liquid within our own bodies? We are mostly water and blood. Maybe that's why some people go crazy during full moons and something about werewolfs maybe a stupid werewolf picture photoshopped in a doctors jacket standing next to an EKG with a seismograph on it? THIS IS A DRAFT, to be completed in exactly three or more days, Monday March 9th 2009.

The more innately complex a game is, the more room for emergent gameplay.

EVE Online is a very complex game. The game takes place in outer space, where upwards of 50,000 people concurrently play, buying and selling and stealing and killing. Players form corporations that can seize control over entire solar systems and star clusters. Corporations form alliances and start star wars against other alliances.

In this bizarre example of emergent gameplay, the player, The Mittani, plays the game by not playing the game.

The Mittani rarely logs into the game, preferring instead to act as a prime mover--an outside force, more concerned with the big picture than the day-to-day skirmishes and operations of the Swarm. Communication becomes a game in itself. "I'd get 20+ [reports] a day and, at one point, had 35 separate Trillian windows open," he explains. "AIM for Americans mostly, MSN for the Euros, and ICQ for the Russians."

And to top it off, The Mittani is actually winning the game by not playing it.

Q:What if computer keyboards were sensitive to velocity like a piano keyboard?

A:This is what my blog would sound like.

And after some sensible edits, carefully constructed connotation, and asinine alliteration, it would sound more like this.

***

Q:Do you ever blog... drunk?

A:NO! But, I could. Imagine what it might sound like... I do, however, blog in the fog giddiness that arrives from lack-of-sleep. I find it offers a...playful reflectiveness.

You need only watch the clip until 1:15 for a succinct and humorous example of emergent gameplay.
We see their actions, and though we probably don't speak Japanese, we understand.

The player must activate the 1UP mushroom, then finish the level while avoiding the mushroom. A race ensues, but the rules are clear-- If the "Green Demon" catches you, you must restart. Ultimately ironic, the 1UP is supposed to be a reward for exploring every nook of the game world. This emergent game evolved from seasoned players seeking new challenges in old game worlds.