ideazone

I love computers and what they can do, but I hate the results of most modern technology. There seems to be a fixation on “single-serving tech,” whether it’s the MP3 player, the cellular phone, text messaging, hand-held gaming units, or the miniature TV/video players for which I recently saw a commercial. The problem with these is that they shut people off from their immediate environment. Anybody who has had a conversation interrupted by a cellphone call knows what I mean–social interaction between two face-to-face people takes a back seat to whatever the technology delivers. Don’t get me wrong–I find the technology itself amazing, and I do see its value in terms of potentially connecting people when there’s something important that needs to be communicated, or in terms of entertaining a person when there’s nothing else happening. However, where others are present, there is a tendency to favor the tech over the individual.

Even with something as simple as an MP3 player, the results are pretty incredible. As an experiment I did a couple of years ago, I took a player full of music with me for a day. I have to admit that the music improved my general mood, transporting me to a conscious plane of oceanic sound. However, it also caused me to miss sound cues in my environment while going about my daily business. When actual people got my attention, even to help me, I found myself getting slightly aggravated by the interruption.   Cellphones, for me, work in the opposite direction–when I used to have one primarily for work purposes, I found that people would frequently call me just to talk about things that weren’t important… you know, stuff better handled by e-mail, at leisure.  If I missed a cellphone call, the message would make me feel guilty for ignoring someone.   These days, I keep one for emergency purposes, like on long trips, so that if my car breaks down, I can call for help.

This is primarily why, when I design games, I design board, card, and roleplaying games.  It encourages people to interact with each other, face-to-face.  They keep people, more or less, in this world and enrich their connections with others.  Games over the internet, for all their richness of content and internet-socialization, just aren’t the same.  They leave the user at home or, in the case of hand-held device users, travelling “virtual bubbles.”  To me, it often feels like people are sealing themselves off from each other, and that seems rather sad.

October through December annoy the crap out of me because these are ridiculously busy months–not just in terms of business that needs to get done–in addition to getting our books out, the conventions, the signings, and other regular events, there  are also “holidays.”  And again, I’m not just talking about the obvious things, like Thanksgiving or Halloween, but also Columbus Day…  if the banks and post office are closed, I can’t get work done.  In addition, there are all the personal distractions from friends and business acquaintances, all of whom would like you to attend their events… which are usually all bunched up on the same days for some reason.  I know it’s crazy to try to please everybody, but I do want to try and do things with people.  Aside from the friendship factor, it’s just right to try to support others who try to support me.

It’s too much obligation.

This is why I invented a holiday called “Zuul” some years ago.  It replaces all the major gift-giving holidays in my year with one that I can invoke any time I can actually afford gift-giving.  I explained this to all my friends, and they understand that they don’t have to feel obligated to get me anything, or vice versa, but if something should make them think of me, and they can afford it, it’s up to them (and vice versa).   I’ve had Zuul come multiple times a year–sometimes with giveaways of soft toys, others, self-made art…  It’s all a question of inspiration and what I can afford.

Give because you want to, and just be a litttle bit more friendly and charitable each day.  It’s WAY easier than trying to save up all your friendship and brotherhood and expressing it all at once.  The retail sector may not like it in the short term, but if everyone did this, then they’d see increased business year-round instead of depending on one huge spike at the end of the year.  It would save them on their workload and general stress as well… and that’s always good, too.

As you’ll remember from a previous post, Matt Walters of WTF had that ultra-spooky costume that he did for his performance at Party with the Dead. What I forgot to mention in that post was that he set his head on fire!!! And not by accident, either.  It was part of the costume!

Nobody was harmed in the process.