Comments on: Rallying Point http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/ The fascinating world of EVE Online, explored and explained. Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:57:06 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: drew http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/comment-page-1/#comment-104 drew Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:17:29 +0000 http://jumponcontact.eatthepath.com/?p=24#comment-104 Heh, funny you should mention that. I'm knee deep in "Varieties of Social Explanation" which everyone keeps giving me funny looks for reading. It's definitely in the shoring-up-weak-points category for me. I've consumed a lot of social science research, but never really thought at a high level about how people make arguments in those fields, and this book is supppper great at filling in that gap in my training. But yeah, I think part of being an academic is recognizing the value in things in the second and third categories. Reading only the very best work doesn't help give you a sense of taste. Reading things that you can critique and things you can position yourself in opposition too is just as useful as reading things you really admire. I think the way to bring this back to the subject of the article is to say that having experiences we find distasteful or menial or boring lets us better appreciate and understand the really enjoyable experiences. Hooray for context! I'm really glad you're reading! I hope you can get something out of it. We really should chat about genre sometime - I will get off my lazy ass and email you. Heh, funny you should mention that. I’m knee deep in “Varieties of Social Explanation” which everyone keeps giving me funny looks for reading. It’s definitely in the shoring-up-weak-points category for me. I’ve consumed a lot of social science research, but never really thought at a high level about how people make arguments in those fields, and this book is supppper great at filling in that gap in my training.

But yeah, I think part of being an academic is recognizing the value in things in the second and third categories. Reading only the very best work doesn’t help give you a sense of taste. Reading things that you can critique and things you can position yourself in opposition too is just as useful as reading things you really admire. I think the way to bring this back to the subject of the article is to say that having experiences we find distasteful or menial or boring lets us better appreciate and understand the really enjoyable experiences. Hooray for context!

I’m really glad you’re reading! I hope you can get something out of it. We really should chat about genre sometime – I will get off my lazy ass and email you.

]]> By: Cagle http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/comment-page-1/#comment-103 Cagle Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:24:39 +0000 http://jumponcontact.eatthepath.com/?p=24#comment-103 Drew, I was very excited to read this: "You can think of EVE as being a lot like life — there are things you really enjoy doing, things you do to pay the bills (and fund your fun), and there are chores." Frankly, this could be a spot-on description of how I read. Often there are books I just zip through and love, others I have to read for school so I can get a degree and a job, and last come those books that I simply have to have read at some point to shore up weak spots in my mental library. Often, folks don't understand why I enjoy even those books in the latter two categories. I've been trying to explore that question myself, and the best I've come up with is that <i>everything contributes somehow</i>. So, even if I don't enjoy a book for itself, I can appreciate how it contributes to my enjoyment of other things in some metacognitive way. Enjoying the blog, although I play no games. Thanks! Drew, I was very excited to read this: “You can think of EVE as being a lot like life — there are things you really enjoy doing, things you do to pay the bills (and fund your fun), and there are chores.” Frankly, this could be a spot-on description of how I read. Often there are books I just zip through and love, others I have to read for school so I can get a degree and a job, and last come those books that I simply have to have read at some point to shore up weak spots in my mental library.

Often, folks don’t understand why I enjoy even those books in the latter two categories. I’ve been trying to explore that question myself, and the best I’ve come up with is that everything contributes somehow. So, even if I don’t enjoy a book for itself, I can appreciate how it contributes to my enjoyment of other things in some metacognitive way.

Enjoying the blog, although I play no games. Thanks!

]]> By: drew http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/comment-page-1/#comment-9 drew Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:27:20 +0000 http://jumponcontact.eatthepath.com/?p=24#comment-9 Oh, it's not a formal thing, just a way that I think about the stuff I do in-game. It's also one of the big puzzles of a game like EVE - why do players spend so much time doing stuff that's kind of boring? Most MMOs try to design out boring errand-like drudgery for casual players, while EVE embraces it. In the end, there are lots of nice side effects of drudgery - I've been moving all my stuff into my new home region, and I nearly got in a very bad situation with a pirate. It was kind of scary and harrowing, but made me really glad I was on my toes. I could easily have lost the 150M ISK worth of cargo in my hold if I didn't have a corp mate. It ended my evening while people tracked the pirate down, but near misses like that definitely make you feel like you're immersed in a world with consequences. Oh, it’s not a formal thing, just a way that I think about the stuff I do in-game. It’s also one of the big puzzles of a game like EVE – why do players spend so much time doing stuff that’s kind of boring? Most MMOs try to design out boring errand-like drudgery for casual players, while EVE embraces it.

In the end, there are lots of nice side effects of drudgery – I’ve been moving all my stuff into my new home region, and I nearly got in a very bad situation with a pirate. It was kind of scary and harrowing, but made me really glad I was on my toes. I could easily have lost the 150M ISK worth of cargo in my hold if I didn’t have a corp mate. It ended my evening while people tracked the pirate down, but near misses like that definitely make you feel like you’re immersed in a world with consequences.

]]> By: Zach http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Zach Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:46:17 +0000 http://jumponcontact.eatthepath.com/?p=24#comment-6 What is this "type" classification of tasks? What is this “type” classification of tasks?

]]> By: Jump On Contact | How to Save Time and Lose Money http://jumponcontact.com/2009/12/rallying-point/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Jump On Contact | How to Save Time and Lose Money Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:11:51 +0000 http://jumponcontact.eatthepath.com/?p=24#comment-3 [...] when I was sorting through the items left over from my mission-running days? It turns out that selling items is substantially more [...] [...] when I was sorting through the items left over from my mission-running days? It turns out that selling items is substantially more [...]

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