|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OSOAWEEK--ISSUE 166--9/29/97 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 13  ||  -------> (Cup OWis166, Created v1 (4/27/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = OsoaWeek Book Thirteen 10 "OsoaWeek166" by Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana, Tarb 6961 (9/29/97), copyright 1997 OBLIVIANA REGISTRY NEW REVOLVERS None NEW CUPLINES None NEW CUPS None *OW* LORD OF OBLIVIANA Mon 9/8/97 * 1:18 AM Wow. Only 88 hits on my site. No one is going to my site. No one knows about it. Well, a few people have gone there, a few know about it, but for all practical purposes it's NO ONE. Just as well, I suppose. With the shape the site's in now, if more people came, it'd just be more people left with a bad first impression. And my introduction of the home page sounded kind of bad when I read it this evening. 1997, and I'm still struggling. The mythical "Launch of Obliviana" has eluded me for years. But certainly, a launch with my current idea is better than a launch would have been a few years ago. My ideas are more solid now, and if I'm going to spend a lot of time and energy and money on a launch, it's a whole lot better if it has better ideas behind it. For the past few weeks I've been going through a very intense development period. Now, I think I have the right foundation. I think that the key to defining Obliviana is defining Stormjaunting. In the past, I thought that defining Fonosta would define Obliviana. Well, Fonosta does encode most of the aspects of Obliviana, but Stormjaunting defines the SPIRIT of Obliviana, the ESSENCE. "There is a new kind of freedom out there. Check out these people who have found this new freedom." The foundation is still a little shaky. People are very jaded. To quote a song from "Willy Wonka": "If you want to view paradise, open up your eyes and view it. If you want to change the world, there's nothing to it." The idea here is that everyone complains about how their life sucks, but really, you DO have the ability to make it better. Here's something similar: You're in bed and you gotta get up but you don't feel like it. No matter how much you will yourself to get up, you can't do it. But you CAN will the specific motions it take to get out of bed. Specifically, you can move your hand, then move your leg, then turn onto your side, etc. So, whereas willing yourself to do something in general does not work, willing smaller actions does work. This is similar to Stormjaunting. Your life sucks, and you keep on trying to will it to get better, but it doesn't happen. Stormjaunting, then, is like willing a smaller action toward the ultimate goal. I have decided to present Stormjaunting as an activity that WORKS, without theorizing on why it works. That is, the theorizing will not be connection to the practice. Because really, I don't know why it works, but it works. I have IDEAS why it works, but I am not 100% certain. Doing it is important, understanding it is less important. But maybe Stormjaunting is too different to be at the promotional heart of Obliviana. Something in the theme park... some aspect to the Scenes... something that will get people coming... Mon 9/8/97 * 9:06 PM Very tired on commute home. More than half-asleep on bus. Idea: the activity that people do when they come into Obliviana, the CASUAL activity, the activity you do IMMEDIATELY, withvery little preparation, should be analagous to Stormjaunting. That is, instead of exploring the real world, you're exploring Obliviana Online. You will have a Fonosta of sorts, but maybe just a little notebook. Just looking for stuff, connecting stuff, etc. I feel that I should go back and read all the recent OsoaWeeks. I think I've been up and down and all over with my ideas. 10:26 PM Well, I got through issues 144, 145, and 146. Some very interesting stuff in there. I'm keeping a file of interesting paragraphs, germane to my current initiative. The past few weeks, I've been digging deep to hone my ideas. The idea I have now is very interesting. But I'm feeling a little alienated, because I cannot share my ideas with others without implementing them. That is, if I tried to explain my curretn vision of Obliviana to someone, I imagine I'd be seeing blank, confused stares. Oh well. So, the idea of exploring a place, and recording what you're doing... not just recording, but BUILDING something from your observations--this is very important. So, the "casual" Obliviana is structurally the same as full-fledged Stormjaunting. That is, enter into a state of exploration, observe, record, and keep on building your Fonosta. This brings me back to Fonosta as the center of Obliviana. In this new system, a Fonosta has to be accessible and understandable and instantly creatable. That is, I want for someone who stumbles into Obliviana Online to be able to start building his or her Fonosta within a few minutes. This being the case, Fonosta will almost certainly have to be text-based, with a fledgling Stormjaunter using a notebook or a text file to begin building their Fonosta. One exciting aspect of Fonosta is that each week there will be new stuff in Obliviana--as well as old stuff which is gone. So, "getting" some element from Obliviana to put into your Fonosta, and finding out later that very few others also made the same discovery, is very compelling. 11:15 PM So, the structure of Fonosta is central to the implementation of Obliviana. Fonosta is something that you BUILD and which in 100% YOURS. Fonosta starts when you begin it, but it doesn't end. That is, you keep it as long as you want to keep it. Or rather, you keep it going for as long as you want to. And it'll be there, after you've departed this life, perhaps for hundreds or thousands of years. The basic form of the Fonosta is text. Or, more precisely, data, information. Fonosta records things that you DO. You put data into your Fonosta in "Cups". Cups are the smallest divisible unit in your Fonosta. Tue 9/9/97 * 9:53 PM Fonosta. Calling out. The first level would be writing down stuff you do. But Fonosta gives you new things to do. That's a big part of it--yes, you are recording stuff you do, like in a diary, but the stuff you're doing is different than what you'd be doing without Fonosta. Drink. The act of perceiving something, of paying attention to it, of addressing it, of experiencing it. Drinking in this context is an action. The basic unit of Fonosta is the Cup. The idea is that one Cup represents a significant amount of effort. It is certainly possible that you be working on a single Cup over the course of days or weeks. Cups then transform into Octagons, which are the main objective of Fonosta. That is, your Fonosta is made up, for the most part, of a set of Octagons. Octagons are then used to "buy" stuff in the game world of LWOR. But I am viewing Fonosta as something a lot more general... or am I? I am thinking of Fonosta as being something that a large demographic can embrace. That is, with different sorts of Friction Enhancers for different groups. But I DO want to focus Fonosta on Obliviana, and specifically Obliviana on the WWW. So, I guess I'm looking at a demographic of people who go onto the WWW regularly, and that's NOT a wide demographic. And while I think it might be possible to expand beyond the WWW eventually, that's where I have to start. Fonosta will be potent enough to eventually move beyond the Internet. But I do have to start there. So I have to view Fonosta as being used in two different capacities right now--casual and formal. Casual would involve just checking out the website and doing a few things in the real world, without any Stormjaunting. And formal would, of course, involve Stormjaunting. One major rule here is that Friction Enhancers, which are the "templates" for the Cups, are very much standardized and developed and maintained by Obliviana. That is, the stuff that can go into a Fonosta will be very clearly laid out. Of course, someone can do whatever they want to do, but in order for a Cup to be "official", it has to follow the parameters set forth by Obliviana. The reason for this is that since Obliviana is a form of entertainment, I don't want to rely on the drinkers of that entertainment to create the content. In other words, you wouldn't want to turn on the TV and start coming up with plots and dialogue. In the same way, you wouldn't want to start building your Fonosta and have to come up with the content. There is a prevalent attitude today that maybe it WOULD be cool to have a lot of input in the TV shows you watch. I know a lot of people think along these lines. But I believe that when a producer of entertainment starts to get the drinkers involved, things go sour. Fonosta will be the kind of thing that a person could use for just about any kind of lifestlye, but one of the great aspects of Fonosta is that you can present your Fonosta to other people, and there will be a common ground, and others will be able to see the value of your Fonosta because of the common points of reference. Wed 9/10/97 * 12:47 AM Cups are the templates. You fill them with your actions. FILLED Cups are the building blocks of your Fonosta. 8:26 PM So, the idea then is that Empty Cups are the templates, and then Filled Cups are the acheivements. Does Fonosta contain both kinds of Cups, as well as Partially-Filled Cups? I had the idea of declaring that you were starting a Cup. Perhaps placing an empty Cup in your Fonosta is the act of declaration. Perhaps there will be a limited number of "slots" for Empty Cups, to keep everything in order. Eight? 10:46 PM Watching the premiere of "Austin Stories" on MTV. Very promising so far. Anyway, conceiving of Fonosta is a "place" where various Cups are stored. The various forms of Cups are Empty, Partially-Filled, Filled, In Octagon... Fonosta is like a construction site. Constantly building. So maybe a "building" sort of paradigm? 11:49 PM Well... I don't know about that paradigm... but the idea of a set of Cups--this is definite. The part where my idea gets a little vague is when Octagons are traded in... the most recent idea on that involves each of the eight facets of Octagon being put toward the "purchase" of a different sort of thing. That is, the north, northeast, southwest, etc. facets all have unique categories. Casual buying of stuff? You bet! Fri 9/12/97 * 8:24 PM Went to see a Marillion concert last night. Very interesting. One of the opening bands was "Rudess Morgenstein Project", and they were pretty good. Two guys, a drummer and a keyboardist. Instrumental. I bought the CD. They're at www.domo.com, or so it says on the CD, I haven't been there yet. I got about three hours sleep last night, and I was dead tired all day. At the concert, I was thinking about Fonosta a lot. The past few weeks have been tough for me with Obliviana. I'm making progess, but it's slow and confusing. One idea I had was pretty interesting--to create a graphical language based on Yargo Trees. Got deja vu writing that sentence. Have I written about this idea before? Well, if you've seen any of my Yargo Trees, I think you can see the possibility for a graphical symbol system, with sych elements as spirals, crosses, "pitchforks", etc., to define various attributes in Fonosta. And there would be symbols to represent multiples of other symbols. But such a system would be one way of representing Fonosta data. So the Fonosta data system has to be in place first. Fonosta data system. First of all, I have to determine the relationship between Fonosta data and content. Basically, I do not want Fonosta data to contain content, but it can REFER to content. The confusion arises because I am using non-Fonosta Cups to contain content. One way of resolving this question is to consider Fonosta data as content, since it is, but RESTRICTED content. That is, Fonosta Cups can contain only Fonosta data. This has precedent--Severe Repair Cups contain only identification data plus 2K to 5K of text. I was also thinking of representing Cups as half-size color Yargos. Kind of like trading cards. I experimented with taking eight Fows and arranging them as an Octagon, the bottom of each forming one side of the Octagon. So, Cups are the overall data format of Obliviana, and Fonosta Cups are one kind of Cup. Now, considering Fonosta as a set of Cups, the arrangement of these Cups involves more data. But since CUps can contain references to other Cups, this shouldn't be a problem. This system I am developing is VERY object-oriented. I don't know if that's good or bad. But considering that Obliviana is very much a computer thing, being object-oriented is good. But with Fonosta in particular, it has to be the kind of thing that could be managed with a notebook and a pen. Obtaining "Obliviana Objects" is one of the main goals of Fonosta. But one of my idea has been for Fonosta to be able to exist apart from Obliviana. But maybe this is not such a vital idea. My thinking was that I don't want people to be beholden to Obliviana. But perhaps maintaining a connection to Obliviana is necessary. To clarify, the whole to-be-named "Obliviana Object" system is a form of motivation, meant to focus and promote Obliviana. You can certainly Stormjaunt away from Obliviana--but the goal of obtaining these Objects and being part of the common world of Little World of Racetracks is a good thing. So I will design the system with Obliviana Objects as a cornerstone. To clarify Obliviana Objects, these are game-world items you purchase with Octagon facets. These items are available for limited amounts of time. Certain items may be made available again after they are withdrawn from availability. Sat 9/13/97 * 11:19 AM Good time! 11:19! I might go see Marillion again tonight. Most people never heard of Marillion. I've heard of them, and I'm surprised I never got into them. Definitely the kind of music I SHOULD have been listening to in high school. No... I was way too immature to have listened to Marillion... Or something like that. So I want to keep working on Fonosta. The idea of Fonosta is to record things you do. Actually, that's only part of the idea. I HAVE had the idea that you could use Fonosta for ANYTHING, such as going to the movies, commuting into work, doing needlepoint,whatever. And in fact, I am not dicounting this possibility. It's just that now the idea involves you needing an "Obliviana-Minted" Empty Cup to start entering something into your Fonosta. I have discussed the reasoning behind using only Obliviana-Minted Cups--commonality and quality. There could be a system by which personal Cups could also be a part of your Fonosta, or perhaps there could be Cups used by groups of people apart from Obliviana. In fact, you can do whatever you damn well please. But if your Fonosta is made up entirely of Cups of your own design, your Fonosta will not have very much meaning for other people, whereas a Fonosta using the common Obliviana Cups will have a lot of meaning for other people in Obliviana. So it's clear that Fonosta Cups are at the heart of Fonosta. Graphics. The idea of Yargo Tree as Fonosta Device was prompted by my desire for people to be able to have a physical object that represents their Fonosta. So I was thinking of a printout of a Fonosta Tree. But you could encode your Fonosta data into a number of different graphical formats. In fact, you could encode your Fonosta data into PHYSICAL form as well, using a variety of media. You could use Lego Blocks, brass piping (a la Jukewand), pipe cleaners (a la Modern Sapling), etc. So this is a major aspect of Fonosta--the representation of Fonosta data. So clearly, I have to develop the Fonosta data system with representation in mind. The question is, at what level does the data reside? I think that the represented data should reside at the Obliviana Object level. That is, you are not representing your Cups and Octagons per se, but rather, the Objects you "buy" with the Octagons. But certainly, the sort of Objects you buy are indeed affected by the sort of Cups and Octagons you have. Obliviana Objects--game elements--all have game attributes AND data attributes. So, you might "buy" a motorcycle, a hammer, and a penguin--and each has it's own data, which translates into graphical or sculptural "shapes". Another key idea here is that a certain quantity of the same type of data will translate into a new symbol. So, for example, if you have eight hammers, you can represent these by a single "eight-hammer" symbol. Thus, Your Fonosta Device will not become unwieldy--there will be this system of reducing the number of symbols, which still retaining all the information. 7:15 PM Going to the Marillion concert tonight. In fact, I gotta get going soon. I spelt most of the afternoon away, and I had a really cool dream that I'll present below. Anyway, regarding Fonosta, I see that the Fonosta Data that is at the heart of the matter is composed of the Obliviana Objects you "buy" with Octagon Facets. Each of the eight facets can be used to "buy" a different sort of thing. And, each of the eight Racetracks offers its own set of Objects. So I am starting off here with 64 basic types of Objects. Sun 9/14/97 * 3:45 PM Did a U-turn before and a guy in one car behind me yelled "Asshole!" and a woman in the car behind him yelled "Fucking nut!" The other day I was in the subway and I ran past a guy, hitting into him a little, and he demanded "Where's excuse me?". I missed the train, so he came up to me again, "Where's excuse me?". But I just ignored him. Man, I'm rubbing people the wrong way these days! Garage sales, too much sleep, too little food, I'm having a weird weekend. Oh yeah--now I have to do laundry! Fuck. But I want to get into Fonosta a little more. The bottom line is... getting Obliviana Objects... each of which is a variation on the standard Object. By this, I mean that all the Obliviana Objects are of the same general type. I think that for now I will use the term Xappen to refer to all Obliviana objects, not just the little characters. From OW159: N--Incarnation E--Tool S--Buddy W--Vehicle NE--Library SE--Device SW--Battery NW--Home This set of Xappens is now outdated in several respects, but it is a good starting point. First off, Device is now something that exists above the Xappen level. All Xappens have Fonosta data which is represented by Device. 6:14 PM Laundry is done. Garbage is taken out. I'm sitting here, smoking a cheap cigar, just turned off a pre-Emmy show... lost?... I've been wallowing in Obliviana development, and right now I'm pretty confused by it all. The Obliviana system as I now see it is pretty simple. Obtain Empty Cups, fill them, arrange them into Octagons, buy Xappens, make Your Fonosta Device. Pretty simple. So what's the problem? Maybe there's not a problem. A set of Empty Fonosta Cups available on the Obliviana Website, get 'em and put 'em into your Fonosta... maybe an "in-progress" Octagon... max 8 in-progress Cups... As you fill Cups, place them in one of eight "working Octagons". That is, you can have eight incomplete Octagons at once. When one of these has 8 Cups, it is a finished Octagon. Where do finished Octagons go? Well, finished Octagons are used to "buy" Xappens. Octagons therefore transform into Xappens. But the Octagons are still there. Could there be "meta-Octagons", consisting of eight Octagons? And so forth, with "meta-meta-Octagons", and so forth? With meta-Octagons, there would have to be additional "purchase power". That is, an Octagon will need to be fully discharged, meaning that its eight Cups have all been used toward "purchases", before it can go into a "meta-Octagon". And once the meta-Octagon is finished, each Octagon can be discharged to "buy" Xappens. So all the Cups keep on getting used over and over again... Okay. 9:52 PM This is getting pretty bad. I have all the ideas, but I feel blocked. Like I have a big pile of concepts, but I can't do anything with it. Why would it be good to be blocked, if indeed everything happens for a reason? I guess, it would be good to be blocked if it was holding me up, so that I'd wait for the best idea... Yeah, I'm not doing so well right now. Eating pretzels with hot sauce and watching "Throw Momma From the Train" on Comedy Central. So what's the problem? I have this whole system, I want to get people into it. I want to present the Fonosta system and the Cup system and the Stormjaunt system and... Hmm... Presenting all these systems... no one has time for systems...no one is gonna understand... no one is gonna care... it's gotta be more simple... everything I have is fine, but the entry point has to be more simple... Yes. 10:40 PM Just collecting JPEGs? 11:42 PM Um... I'm making a lot of progress here, as you can see. Anyway, I think that the problem is that the idea I have now for Obliviana is really too complicated for people to be able to get into. That is, people are going to need to be motivated to get into Obliviana. But if it's too hard to "get", no one is gonna spend the energy it'll take to understand it, unless they are motivated. So my idea is to distill from my ideas a very simple, easy form of Obliviana, that people can pick up right away and have fun with WITHOUT having to learn any "systems". Tue 9/16/97 * 12:14 AM Was at work from 9:30 AM to 11:15 PM. "Surface Obliviana". This is the name for my new project. Surface Obliviana has a number of requirements: [1] Must be derived from existing Obliviana system. [2] Any part of it must be instantly recognizable as both part of Obliviana AND part of Surface Obliviana. [3] Must be instantly understandable and intuitive. [4] Must be engaging over the long term. [5] Must lead into the rest of Obliviana, for those who are so inclined. [6] Must be compelling and addictive. [7] Must be free and virtually effortless. [8] Must be the kind of thing people tell their friends about in an excited manner. Sounds kind of impossible, right? I have been thinking about how fickle and shallow people are. And I've been thinking about how overbearing advertising and promotion is a response to this. Surface Obliviana must appeal to a lot of people without a lot of explanation. So I have to appeal to "base" desires, such as: [1] Love of the self. [2] Interest in other people. Envying some and enjoying the misery of others. [3] Sex, Hedonism, Loud Music, Violence. But I do have a lot of ideals, and I will not lower my standards in this endeavor. IDEAS Based on 132 x 228 RGB JPEG Yargos. "Grab a piece of paper and a pen and you're off." I like the idea of using pen and paper in conjuction with the Obliviana website. Writing things down on a piece of paper... this cannot become complex. Wander through the site. Going back to a place where you've been is of interest in the context of what you're written down. I had an idea similar to this--a game which is based on a text file which you search to explore. This is adaptable to Surface Obliviana. "Primitive Pinball" was a name I had for the text-game idea. Through "surfing" Obliviana (surf, surface) you win and lose various things on paper, trying to get to a certain goal. The site will change every week for added challenge. Paper = Fonosta, in a very rough way. Goodnight. Wed 9/17/97 * 1:27 AM Man, I gotta go to bed soon! Anyway, saw my wedding band perform earlier, they're awesome. Had a great debate on money management with Denice and her mother. I have been thinking about Surface Obliviana today in the back of my mind. One thought that struck me was that perhaps as folks explore Surface O there will be small bursts of content along the way, and perhaps this content will be part of the system. But what really concerns my now is what exactly will be going down on that piece of paper. One of the main restrictions here is that the system has to be really, really easy and intuitive. Adding and transforming seem pretty easy. I'd have a set of symbols, and in each page you can add new symbols, or transform old symbols into new symbols. But it also has to be graphic. But symbols ARE graphic! Oh well. Good night. Wed 9/17/97 * 8:25 PM Surface Obliviana. "Surface O". Based on building a house. A square is a room. Little symbols represent different items. Each "channel" (single web page) of Surface Obliviana contains "deals". They involve either obtaining symbols, or trading in symbols you have for different symbols or new rooms. For example, a little "smile" glyph might represent "bowl". The whole system will use the paradigm of building and furnishing a house. Just about everyone can relate to this; it's universal. Surface O is a "web" of web pages--all interconnected. From a "channel", or single page, you can move on in, tentatively, four different directions. One cardinal rule is that you cannot go back. I plan on initiating Surface O next month, with the start of Book Fourteen of OsoaWeek. In the first 13 weeks of Surface O, it will change weekly, with some Channels taken away and some added. As well, certain symbols will also be taken away and added. 11:01 PM I just joined LinkExchange, so there's a banner ad on my homepage. It's free, and I get, I think, one ad on someone else's site for every two hits my homepage gets. I just reached 100 hits since May. Very pathetic. I won't get many ad credits at that level. But you can buy 4000 credits for $50, which is equal to 8000 hits, which I'm not gonna get if I don't get my site in shape. And, of course, I'll be getting it in shape with Surface O. I checked on AltaVista for "Surface O", and got a small number of nonsensical matches. So hopefully "Surface O" is safe as a name. Great name, eh? In other Obliviana news, I have created the first Jukewand Holster! See, I've been doing mobius crochet for some time, which is simply crocheting a mobius strip. Well, I was working on one the other day, and it was maybe four or five inches wide and maybe a foot in circumference, or maybe a little more, and then I began skipping stitches or loops or whatever they call them in the crochet world, and the thing begin to close in on itself. The result is something like a bag, which is both opened and closed at the same time. And, there is a "hole" in the middle so that it can be hanged on something. So, a few minutes ago, it struck me that this topological yarn oddity would make a perfect "holster" for a Jukewand. Another great Obliviana invention! Now, back to Surface O. The basic idea behind Surface O is you have these symbols, which I just now thought of calling "Jots". Each Channel in Surface O will have a number of Deals. These Deals will have three basic types: [1] You get one or more specific Jots. [2] You may trade a set of Jots which you currently own for a new Jot or set of Jots. [3] You may trade a set of Jots which you currently own for a new room. There are really only two sorts of Deals, since Rooms are Jots unto themselves. But I think that Rooms deserve to be treated a little differently. Now, each Channel will have one or more deals. I have to decide whether every Channel will offer the same number of Deals, or if different Channels can have different numbers of Deals. But in Surface O, the most important philosophy is SIMPLICITY, so there should be both a set number of Deals and a set number of Deals you can take. four Deals and one Take is probably the best formula. But two Takes is possible, as is eight Deals. Do you start out with a Room? Rooms are large squares with Jot elements in the four corners. I think there should be a standard starting Room for everyone. The other possibility is to not start off with a Room, but I think it's important to have something on paper to start off with. Now, the thing you are working on is your "Surface O Home". It is recorded on paper. You may use pencil or pen. Pen is recommended. When you trade away Jots, you simply cross them out. When your paper gets too messy, start a new sheet and redraw your Rooms and Jots. Or, you could use an eraser and pencil, but this is less fun. Messy is fun and Oblivianalike, maybe. Now, perhaps Deals must be done within one Room, and moving Jots from Room to Room will be done through special "Move" Deals. This adds a level of complecisty to the whole system, but it might be worth it. Regarding the maximum number of Jots per Room, there IS a limit to how many Jots you can draw inside a Room, because you'd run out of room eventually. But I think I'm gonna say that there is a 64-Jot limit per Room, 8x8. So, getting new Rooms and moving things into them is both desirable and necessary. Other things to record on your Surface O Home Paper (SOHP?) would be times and dates and number of Channels visited. So, when displaying your SOHP to other "Surfacers" you can say "I built this fourteen-room mansion in just 615 Channels. Jots are all based on common household items. Some Jot ideas: TV, radio, stereo, dish, fork, spoon, knife, chair, couch, twin bed, queen bed, king bed, throw rug, desk, statue, painting. Each Jot is represented by an extremely simple symbol, very easy to draw. One thing I have to consider, though, is allowing for a text-based system. It would be very easy to define your Surface O Home in a text file. Jots could be identified by the words that describe them, with Rooms as heading in all caps. The only complication would be the arrangement of the rooms, since Rooms are arranged so that they share specific walls. This could be done as a reference to attached Rooms. This would suggest that all the Rooms in a SOH must be different, which would make sense anyway. Doors are possible within the system, with larger Doors allowing for more Jots to be transferred between Rooms. But this makes the system all the more complicated. In fact, movement between Rooms is perhaps an unnecessary complication. I am thinking of just requiring movements to be done before entering a new Channel. But if a Surfacer is familiar with the setup of Surface O, this would be kind of meaningless, since they could rearrange the Jots knowing what's coming up. Loops are also possible, where certain deals repeat in such a pattern that fast construction is made possible, throwing the game out of focus. Therefore, I must establish a minimum number of links before you can wind up back at the same Channel. The term "Channel" and the word "Surf" in "Surface" suggest a TV paradigm. This brings me to the idea of content in the Channels. I do want content. I also want to promote the rest of Obliviana. But I don't want to overpower the simplicity of Surface O with confusing content. So, I might have "banner ads" for other parts of Obliviana in each Channel. These would have to be in the vertical Yargo format, as opposed to the horizontal format that would go better with the TV theme. But this is unavoidable. And the TV theme can be subtle, without images of remote controls and stuff. But the content should provide an infostimulational burst that is pleasurable. Themes and variations are very good in this regard. In fact, I should have Zope as the star of the content of Surface O! So... single panels of Zope in each Channel... yes... What about Severe Repair and Superior? I don't think that a single Superior per Channel is a good idea, since I want Surface O to have widespread appeal. But maybe a little block of text in each Channel. which could be from Superior, Severe Repair, or from anywhere in Obliviana, would be good. I also think that color graphics would be good, a la Pelter. And what about Yargo Trees? I have to keep a consistent format among Channels, and the keystone of Surface O is SIMPLICITY. So, right now, here are the elements of Channels that are possible: [1] Deals, represented graphically and as text. [2] Image of a SOHP, along with instructions on how to play Surface O. The instructions will be on every page, so they have to be CONCISE. Like: "Get a piece of paper, be it loose or in a pad, and a pen or pencil. On each Channel, choose two Deals. If you GET, you draw the Jots you GET onto your paper, in any Room. If you TRADE, you cross of the Jots you trade in, and draw the new Jots. TRADES must be done inside a single room. With a MOVE Deal, you may move a certain number of Jots to any other Room. (Here, I am getting rid of the idea of Room arrangement.) Your goal is to build an 8-Room SOHP with the fewest number of "Channel visits". But there are other goals you can go for as well, such as 8 TVs in every room, 12 pieces of valuable china in your kitchen, etc." [3] Single panel of Zope. [4] Block of text. [5] Banner ad for a part of Obliviana. [6] LinkExchange banner ad. [7] Secret codes, or elements for a more complex game. [8] Pelters, Yargo Trees, or other graphics. [9] Pictures of people, with little stories about them (perhaps Surfacers who have completed cool SOHPs?) [10] Reviews, humor, links, etc. [11] Photos from New Jersey. [12] "Made in New Jersey" [13] Obliviana logo, Surface O logo, etc. Goodnight. Thu 9/18/97 * 10:08 PM I did a banner for LinkExchange today. I'm not very happy with it, but it's okay for a start, especially since I need to get hits to get my ad shown on other sites, and I'm getting very few hits. It's an animated GIF, by the way. I'll probably put it on my homepage this week. Anyway, I have to keep on developing Surface O, as it seems to be the way for me to get an audience. Fri 9/19/97 * 12:37 AM Surface O. Use HTML tables to construct pages. One screen worth of information. Simplicity. Less is more. Maybe one half-siz Yargo which can have a variety of content, not just Zope. Also, one block of text, which can have varied content. Sun 9/21/97 * 3:13 PM Wow. I lost some text that I wrote above. I basically talked about Denice's bridal shower and how it was hard for me to keep the secret and stuff. And also how I forgot to update my website last week. Anyway, I gotta head over to the shower very soon to help carry presents back and say hi to everyone. I've been working on an HTML tables-based layout for Surface O. It's coming along quite nicely, but it's a tough thing to design. I do want to make it as simple as possible. But it's gonna have a lot of elements in any case. Mon 9/22/97 * 12:59 AM The focus of Surface O is the game. But the content is also important. The idea is that the game and the content will complement each other. Idea of "moving on" as door, road, hallway, as in, different ways of moving on. Maybe have Friction Enhancers? "Made in NJ" definitely. Fri 9/26/97 * 1:25 PM I've made a lot of progress on Surface O, but I'm still faced with a number of challenges. Surface O right now consists of four half-Yargo spaces, 132x228, side-by-side. Above and below each one is a "Hinge", which is a color image 132x12. These are the only links. Above the top four Hinges and below the bottom four Hinges is type which identifies the links. The top four Hinges are "exit links", and move you to more Grottos. Each page in Surface O is a Grotto. The bottom four links are varied. Right now, the layout is as follows: [1] Top half is identifier, bottom half is Zope. Identifier will remain the same, Zope is a space for all sorts of Zope stuff. [2] Still under construction. I am leaning toward a "wheel" which is "spun" when you move to a new Grotto, and which rests on one spot in each Grotto. Fortune telling, trading cards, media logos, etc. are ideas here. [3] Content. Full grayscale image which is meant to promote the rest of Obliviana. Link below will take you to feature presented. [4] House game area. So I still have that one whole area that is pretty much undefined. I want Surface O to be easy and compelling and addictive on its own. But I also want it to mesh with the rest of Obliviana. New Jersey Trading cards? Or... several sets of trading cards? NJ Malls... Obliviana people... AND fortune telling... Fri 9/26/97 * 3:12 PM Day off today. Been doing moving stuff, like ordering new gas, electric, and phone service for the new place. I want to discuss right now the state of affairs in Obliviana. I am moving next month, and I'n getting married in less than two months. So I have a hectic few months ahead. And I want to get Obliviana on track through this time. Obliviana is not yet on the map. Very few people know about it. I've been on the WWW for over two years now, and I don't even have a fan following of a few tens of people. I am still at square one. I have been attempting to define Obliviana, and though I have come a long way, I still don't have a coherent definition of Obliviana. Now I am developing Surface O as a means of gaining an audience, and I am still a little baffled by Obliviana as a whole. Surface O is meant to be a "shorthand" version of Obliviana. That is, what happens in Surface O is analagous to what happens in Obliviana as a whole. The basic description of this is that you build something up while experiencing something. In Obliviana, the basic idea is to build up your Fonosta while Stormjaunting. In Surface O, the idea is to build up your "dream home" while surfing Surface O. But I am still unable to answer the question "What is Obliviana?" when I'm asked. And though I know deep down what Obliviana is, I am still unable to fully understand it myself. Something being defined is of course good, but it also has some negative aspects. Definition does limit a thing to some extent. Obliviana as Stormjaunting and Fonosta development is the main definition of Obliviana. But there is also the entertainment side. And there is also the online world side. I cannot come up with an overall definition that covers all these aspects. A rock band is defined by a group of people who write and play music together, and whose main outlets are recorded music and concerts. People understand a rock band in terms of recrded music and concerts. But there are other aspects to a rock band, such a the fan culture, sheet music, books and magazines about the band, TV appearances, etc. But in the end, a very complex thing is defined in terms of the core activity--in this case, playing music. So can Obliviana be defined in terms of one thing that I do? One major aspect of Obliviana is Fonosta. With Fonosta, you create an Obliviana identity for yourself. With any sort of media, you create an identity for yourself, just not in such a formal way. When you're into a band, you get a lot of things associated with the band, you know a lot of things, and ou know other people into the band. So, with a band like The Incredible String Band, for instance, you have an "Incredible String Band Identity". One big problem here is that the different stuff in Obliviana is all in different forms. I have attempted many times to create a unified form for all the stuff in Obliviana. For example, by splitting Severe Repair up into Cups, and also splitting Zope up into Cups, I am attempting to say... "I create Cups." So while a rock band creates music, I create Cups. But my Cup system is far from working. That is, the various things I have are not really in the same form. Another problem is that Obliviana does not have an overall theme or feel. When Obliviana was more about chaos and weirdness and violence and nihilism and stuff, it had more of a unified FEEL. Many of the Revolvers in Obliviana could become very defined on their own. If I did only Zope, it would be an understandable endeavor. I think that also, it is hard for people to conceive of an individual in a very complex way. For example, when a musician start to do paintings, or when an actor starts to sing, there is some resistance from people, because the person is already defined in their minds. Walt Disney did a lot of different things. I guess that I should look to Walt Disney's realm of work as a guide for myself. He did an awful lot of different things, but all with an overriding identity. He could do cartoon shorts, feature animation, live-action features, nature documentaries, TV shows, theme parks, and a lot more, with an overriding identity. Disney's identity is on of family-oriented entertainment--with an emphasis on stuff that both children AND parents can enjoy. He did not have to compromise exploring difficult themes in his work--he just had to present things with several consistent elements--great technical quality, great artistry, and innocence. In fact, innocence is probably the greatest single element in Disney's work. Being from a child's perspective. Obliviana is very different from Disney. But Obliviana can still have the same kind of consistent overall theme as Disney. So what is the overall theme of Obliviana? Wonder, exploration, the unknown... I have to work on this. 4:37 PM One good thing about Obliviana being "nowhere" right now is that I have total freedom over the direction I'm going to take, without having to fear upsetting any "customers". It seems to me that the Surface O Home Game exemplifies a major idea in Obliviana--picking up "Jots" on the Obliviana website while they are available. And I was thinking earlier, that perhaps instead of Stormjaunts allowing for the "purchase" of Jots, that instead, Jots would allow for the "purchase" of Stormjaunts. By this I mean that you first pick up a Stormjaunt Jot, and then "mature" that Jot by doing the Stormjaunt it "contains". In fact, I can conceive of the entire Obliviana system being based on Jots. How would this be different than a Cup system, however? Jots would first of all be conceived of as little symbols you can put ON PAPER. So basically, I'm talking about Surface O Home being expanded into the overall system of Obliviana. One observation here is perhaps that the Jot graphics should all be hand-drawn and scanned, as opposed to being done Illustrator. Then, Surface Obliviana would kind of BE Obliviana. And not just home Jots, but other sorts of Jots as well... and deals that involve "matured" Jots... This is definitely a major new direction. I have to do laundry now, so I'll think about all this while I'm washing my clothes. 5:12 PM The clothes are goin'. So I think this Jot system is very promising. I have to figure out, however, how this new system will mesh with the system as it currently exists. For example, there would be Zope Jots which would be matured by reading a certain Zope comic or set of comics. This idea further complicates the idea of "Phimming", which is lying about stuff you've done in Obliviana. In order to combat this, I have to reduce the amount of pressure on getting certain Jots. That is, on the one extreme, where you could actually sells Jots for money, there would be a huge motivation to Phim. This idea is not so extreme, as Sega is planning on implementing such a system online with its "Transactor", where you can indeed sell "ledos" (limited edition digital objects). But all the actions required to gets these ledos exists inside the gam universe, and are therefore computer verifiable. To read Zope as a way of maturing your Jots is really quite a wonderful way to get people to read Zope. Several years ago, I came up with the philosophical phrase "De-emphasize the content." And indeed, in this new Jot system, the content would indeed be de-emphasized. But since the content is GOOD, I think peopl will have a great time maturing their Jots. Now, I see some problems where Jot meets LWOR. LWOR is a game system where you have a little character, a "Xappen", who lives inside an EPCOT-like ride in the Little World of Racetracks. In this new system, the game objects would just be Jots. I'm not sure if there is much of a problem here, actually. Collecting and maturing Jots has to be for some symbolic reason. In the Surface O Home Game, the reason is just to build a "dream home". Well, incorporated intot he overall Obliviana system, the goal is to build a home and a "life" for your Xappen. One thing that I had previously developed is the idea that it is your Stormjaunts that power, or "pay for" the gam objects that truly benefit you. In this new system, you gain Jots just by surfing the Obliviana site, but you must do real-world things to mature some Jots. Therefore, such a system where you have to Stormjaunt to gain real benefits can still exist. Another big question here is the feasability of people using pen and paper to record the Jots in their Fonosta. Like I've previously remarked, I do want to consider a system where Jots can be recorded in a text file And in the future, it would of course be possible to do everything in Java or something. But I am thinking of the desirability of using pen and paper. It does add a very tangible aspect to the whole system. Your Fonosta is a notebook. It's something you can hold in your hands. Another issue has to do with the structure of Surface O. I had been conceiving of it as being unconnected to LWOR. But I think that it makes sense now very much to make it PART of LWOR! 8:21 PM Saw an episode of Kolchak/Night Stalker with underground tunnels and it inspired me to maybe do something like that in Severe Repair. WDW Utilidors also, related. So, I have this new Jot system, which just might help me propel Obliviana to success. The central idea in Jot is to enter Jots into your Fonosta Notebook. The main ways of getting Jots is from the Obliviana website, though I have thought of having Jots available in other forms, such as papers hidden in the real world, papers mailed to people, maybe papers which can add Jots for other people but not you, to facilitate trading, etc. Verification is a big issue here. On the one hand, verification prevents cheating, but on the other hand, it helps keep order. That is, a person playing Obliviana may get confused in their Jotkeeping and some kind of verification would help in that regard. The main form of verification I can think of now is E-mail, where a player E-mails a day's, week's, or month's worth of Jotkeeping to Obliviana. This would absolutely require a text-based Jot system. But such a verification system will go only so far in preventing Phimming. So, a sense of responsibility is needed. Cheating at solitaire (such as Klondike) is no fun. Likewise, cheating at Obliviana is no fun... except for the possible rewards that you will get from a strong Fonosta. There have to be some rewards. The main reward is pride in your Fonosta. Comparing your Fonosta with other people's Fonostas is also a reward. "Getjot"--the act of getting a Jot and drawing it into your Fonosta. The idea is something like "get if". That is, you see a Jot, and you can get it IF you can satisfy certain criteria. Sometimes it means trading other Jots for the new Jot. Maturing a Jot. Forging a Jot. I need to determine the terminology for taking a Jot and maturing it into a new Jot. These "maturable" Jots are to be signs that will be changed not by crossing them out and redrawing them, but by adding strokes to them. For example, there might be a square with one diagonal line from corner to corner. Once mature, you add the other diagonal line, forming an "X" inside. The great thing about this system is that no matter what they represent, Jots are little signs drawn on paper. They're there, all together, all of the same KIND. Fonosta as notebook has one potential drawback--the notebook can be physically lost. This provides even more need for a text-based Jot system. You will be able to "back up" your Fonosta as a text file on computer. Or, of course, with photocopies or scans. So, I have decided that there will be a text-based way of representing Jots. And people can do this text-based system exclusively if they don't want to draw. But I think that the notebook is very important, that folks should not be encouraged to do it all on computer. The text files should be developed in a way so that a program can parse the text into a graphical image of the Fonosta. And even, with sophisticated-enough OCR (optical character recognition), eventually go from an image to a text file. As I mentioned earlier, a graphical system could be done totally on computer. Such a system could be implemented now with Java. But I think that pen and paper has advantages over computer-based Jotkeeping systems. How about advertising Jots where you have to try out a product or visit a website for a certain amount of time to mature the Jot? Clever, eh? Sun 9/28/97 * 2:16 AM Bad tuxedo event. Went way out of our way to bad area of Plainfield to friend of a relative who was going to "take care of us" only to get no kind of deal, and now we have to cancel it all. Anyway, back to Obliviana... The Jot system could very well be the right system for Obliviana. I need to develop the Jot system independently of Obliviana to some extent, since the Jot system exist kind of above and beyond everything else. Jot, Jotunheim... At its core, Jot involves drawing little glyphs on paper. Specifically, it calls for a notebook to be established as a "Jot notebook", and therein Jots are drawn. The first main idea in Jot is that Jots may be drawn, or "gotten", only through a very strict set of rules. The act of getting a Jot, which I'll call a "Getjot", can only happen under specific rules and conditions. One issue which may cause confusion will be drawing a Jot with an official Getjot, and drawing one for other purposes. Other purposes might includes notes, reference, and recordkeeping. Right off the bat, I'll say that a single page must be designated clearly as either an official or unofficial page. That is, Jots drawn on an official page are each the result of a Getjot, whereas on an unofficial page, they are not the result of a Getjot and are not part of your Fonosta. Fonosta is the thing that contains Jots. It is your own little "world". In general, a Jot exists unto itself. That is, a Jot drawn in your Fonosta is not a SYMBOL, or reference to something else; it IS the thing. This is an interesting aspect of Jot. Instead of the usual system where glyph on paper represent something else, Jots are things unto themselves, and meanings are attached to them. But, a meaning being attached to a glyph makes it a symbol, no? Oh well. I'll deal with this sort of stuff later. Anyway, in my Surface O Home system, I had Rooms as well as Jots. Each Room in this system has a 64-Jot limit. Rooms introduce a new class of Jot, and I'm not sure I want to do that. But really, it's very hard to avoid such a system. The notebook format does allow for multiple "locales" within your Fonosta. And, deciding where to put a Jot in such a system adds dimension to the system. One way of dealing with all this is to not have different classes of Jots, but to simply attach a "Room" or "Page" meaning to a Jot. In this way, certain Jots will "make" a Room, or "make" a page. Under this system, the notebook, and its multipage structure is a part of the system. The page a Jot is on will be important. One rules of Jots is that each Jot must be separate, and all parts of a Jot must be connected. Therefore, a lowercase "i" wouldn't be any good, because of the disconnected dot. A circle with a dot inside is a somewhat different case, but I want to exclude these sort of Jots as well. I do want to prevent having Rooms, which would be large squares, so I'll replace that idea with Pages. Tentatively, I'll establish a "page Jot", which would exist in the upper-right corner of a page in the notebook, and which would "anchor" the Page. Alternative to being in the upper-right, a page Jot could have a circle around it. I would rather not do that however. It's unnecessary, since page Jots will be graphically distinct. There will be immature and mature page Jots. An immature page Jot could be matured into a mature page Jot via the adding of a stroke. This allows for multiple page Jots to exist on a single page. The graphical nature of Jots will determine their class. Sun 9/28/97 * 9:37 PM Well, time to upload this issue of OsoaWeek. Actually, this issue contains writing from three weeks. Wow. I've started missing deadlines again. The two issue I missed are there, and they say that the deadline was missed and to see this issue, 166 for writing from that time period. Get all Obliviana. *OW* -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----