... Plays Many Parts

New Job

2008-05-29T13:35:00.005-05:00

I graduated! In the Fall I start a new job. I'm finally transitioning from full-time student to full-time teacher. I'll get to see what the classroom looks like from the other side. I hope I'm ready. Or at least that I will be by then.

At a recent family reunion, my Grandma Daisy told me that our family always valued education and educators. "Education is a good, clean job," she said. I asked her what she thought about the saying "Those who can- do, those who can't - teach." She responded: "That is said by people who can't teach." Even though her memory is going, she is still sharp.

Shameless website promotion

2007-12-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

MigdalOr, a growing progressive minyan in Washington Heights, has a beautiful new website.

Branching out beyond Friday night minyan, we have had some great programs like a potluck dinner, a Chanukah party, and this coming Friday night there will be a shiur/oneg. Also known as a "MigdaltORah" (If you can think of a better name, please comment.)

The name means LightHouse, and you might think it is spelled Migdal Or or Migdal Ohr, but the correct spelling is MigdalOr. And the new website is MigdalOrMinyan.com.

Check it out!

From Death to Life

2007-11-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

A little over a week ago, I spent Shabbat at a JACS retreat. JACS is an organization led by volunteers that connects Jewish alcoholics, chemically dependent persons, and their significant others to each other and to resources, so that they can help support each other through the ongoing process of recovery in a nurturing Jewish environment. Part of that is also sharing knowledge about alcoholism and addiction with the wider Jewish community. Unfortunately, denial that alcoholism exists in the Jewish community is still fairly common.

It was an emotionally difficult and incredibly valuable experience for me to attend this retreat as a "Rabbi observer." In order to educate religious leaders about this population of people, JACS invites Rabbis, Cantors, and similar religious leaders, including students of the above, to visit this private community that gathers a few times a year.

I was introduced to the retreat with the description: "Here you can really see T'chiyat HaMeytim in action." Listening to people's stories of struggle, despair, and recovery, I found this to be true. A few individuals said that they entered a 12-step recovery program with such low expectations that they would have considered it a success if it only helped them not want to die every day. To then be here today, in recovery, with a job, a family, a normal life, this, they said, was beyond their wildest imaginings.

I have been thinking about the theme of T'chiyat HaMeytim "Giving life to the dead" and what we mean by that when we say it in our prayers many times a day.

The Reform movement is coming out with a new siddur, and one of the most controversial things that is going into this new prayerbook is re-introducing the option of saying M'chayei HaMeytim, of describing G!d as One who resuscitates/resurrects/gives life to the dead. It was removed decades ago, when the Reform movement felt that the irrational belief in a future Resurrection had no place in their Judaism. It was replaced with the phrase M'chayei HaKol, acknowledging that G!d is the source of life for the living, without making any promises about the dead. In the course of developing the new siddur, they found that many Reform Jews find meaning in the phrase M'chayei HaMeytim, perhaps in non-literal ways.

A combination of that liturgy discussion and the JACS retreat partially inspired the midrash that I wrote that you can read here: http://bloggadah.blogspot.com/2007/11/sprouting-salvation.html

Original Midrash Aggadah

2007-10-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

When a blogger doesn't post for a while, it could be for a number of reasons, some good, some bad. Currently, I am very busy with several great, productive activities, which is making me very happy. But that does not mean that I am not writing. One of my goals for this year is not only to learn Torah, but also to share the learning and my thoughts on it with others through writing and teaching.

This is something I wrote as a fun exercise in combining text and creative writing in the form of a midrash aggadah. Check out what else has been posted on this new blog, Sefer Ha-Bloggadah; it's pretty awesome.

I'm Back, Inspired

2007-06-28T06:56:00.000-05:00

My trip to Israel was wonderful. I made plans as I went along; visited with friends, walked all over, learned Torah. I had some good discussions with people who think deeply about how their Judaism and Torah learning influences their lives, people that I really respect. They had tips for staying motivated and keeping the learning relevant. I plan to be more proactive this year, asking questions that examine the broader implications and impact of what I'm learning, and also working on a personal project.

It was great to be in Israel, imagining what it would be like to live and learn there more permanently. Aliyah seemed more possible and desirable than it has seemed in a long time. The toughest obstacle is getting a job - I can't imagine moving to a new country without one - though it's not so simple to get a job here either. The types of jobs I could do in Israel are more limited. It would be difficult to get a job as a Jewish educator, since the supply is great. So if that is what I want to do, I probably need to be in America. Though I think I could become fluent in Hebrew, it will never be as effortless as my English, so I'd be hesitant to pick a language-heavy profession. I could imagine getting a job in data analysis, and I'm thinking of improving my skills in that.

Still, living in Israel is difficult, and there is something to be said for the familiarity and comfort of living in the country of your childhood. Aliyah is a big decision that relates to other decisions, such as career and spouse. For now, I'm happy to be back in my apartment, no longer living out of a suitcase. But I'm looking forward to my next trip to my other Home.

To Israel

2007-06-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

I will be leaving soon for a 3 week trip to Israel. It has been 3 years since my last trip there, for an archaeology course. My plans are very flexible. It is my first time coming by myself without some sort of structured program. I'm looking forward to visits with friends who have been living there and wandering around exploring Jerusalem.

One thought I had, to add a little structure, is to try to visit several places of Torah learning. I have friends at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Pardes, Shaalvim for Women, and Migdal Oz. I'd like to make a little project out of comparing and contrasting the different styles of learning and teaching. I think it will give me greater insight into my own full-time learning - whether to greater appreciate what it is, or to discover ways to make it even better. I love being able to learn Talmud full-time, and I have learned a lot in the past few months. However, the most difficult part is maintaining motivation. I'm hoping this trip to the Holy Land will inspire me, to remind me why what I'm doing is important and how it can enrich my life and the lives of the people around me.

When I have time, I would like to continue the discussion from my last post. It was great to see the comments that you (readers) had. I have been thinking a lot about it. For now I will leave you with one word that I think summarizes my current approach: Triangulation.

Reactions of a Jewish Orthodox Feminist

2007-02-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

I just spent the day at the JOFA conference. I got up early and volunteered from 7:30-9:30 am. Then I could spend the rest of the day going to sessions. It was an intense, packed day that left me with a lot to think about. Let me discuss some points that affected me:

1. There is still a huge problem of Agunot, women who cannot remarry because their husbands refuse to give them a document of divorce. This is not (only) a Feminist issue. This is an intolerable problem that needs to be dealt with. To paraphrase one of the speakers at the opening session: "If I can't rely on a particular Rabbi to act on this issue, why would I go to him ask a question about the Kashrut of a chicken?"

2. The absence of women's participation in the Halachic process has led to generations of precedent that doesn't take their perspective into account. Women (and all people) must be treated as subjects rather than objects. (Don't be confused by the idea of a king's "subjects." Remember, the Subject of a sentence acts upon the Object.) Halachic decisors must recognize that they are dealing with individual human being with personal interests, goals, and feelings.

2a. If we accept the conclusion that Halacha as we know it contains a male bias, how do we go about critiquing and amending it? We can attempt to work within the system, using traditional categories and methodologies. The problem is that this can only get us so far. From inside the system, there are some questions that can't even be asked, because they don't fit into the frames that are already in use. As one person put it "You can't disassemble Master's house with Master's tools." I understood what she meant by that. Agreeing to play the game constrains you within preset, biased parameters. You need new tools, new methodology, new ways of expressing your ideas, in order to break down the status quo.

After a moment, though, I realized that our goal isn't to tear down one structure and build another. I don't want to sever our connection to our past. I don't want to overthrow the masters; I want to become one of them, building the structure of Halacha with them. Maybe we will use some new tools, but we will also use the old tools. Renovating and expanding the palace of Torah, not destroying it.

2b. Every discussion seemed to end with the conclusion that we need (more) learned women to become involved in the Halachic process. The need is very clear. As someone who studies Gemara and Halacha full-time, I thought: Are they talking about me? Should I be one of those women who steps up? That was part of my motivation for joining the Program. I do want to have a voice in the Halachic process. Now that I'm in the Program, though, I'm remembering the saying that the more you learn, the more you realize you need to learn. Being a real Halachic authority takes so much knowledge, and is such a huge responsibility. To do it well would take a level of commitment, dedication, and focus regarding traditional learning that I don't know if I have. Getting back to the the issue above (2a), how much must you buy into the system and play by the rules in order to have a voice? Aside from that, I'm not sure that I have the personality to trail-blaze and advocate for myself in unchartered territory.

For something I really believe in, I can't sit back and assume other people will take care of it. How could I participate indirectly? I could support women Halachic authorities in other ways. Placing them in jobs in my community and others. Teaching the next generation of female Torah scholars, children who will grow up with the live possibility of following a Rabbinic sort of career path. The revolution in Torah education for women will be followed by a revolution in who our Halachic authorities are, and what they bring to the table. However I participate in it, I'm looking forward to a richer, more inclusive Orthodox Judaism.

JOFA is celebrating it's 10th year. For reflections on the first conference check out http://abacaximamao.blogspot.com/2007/02/jofa-conference-this-weekend-and-ten.html

Progressive Orthodox

2007-01-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

I wrote "Progressive Orthodox Jewish" on my facebook profile under "religious views," and a friend asked me what I meant by that. All of my formal education has been from an Orthodox perspective, and that is the strongest part of my Jewish identity. I live in an Othodox community and live a Halachically observant lifestyle. The question is, what do I mean by Progressive? Here's what I answered, and it's a relatively good reflection of what I believe right now. However, this is an area of my life that I am actively exploring, and I expect to change my views as I encounter more information and persuasive arguments. (So check the date of this post and don't assume that I still believe the same thing a month later!) I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on this, so please comment.

Hi [friend], nice to hear from you. NY is good, though I can't honestly say that I'm taking advantage of all it has to offer. Does anyone who lives here full-time?

You are the first to ask me to define Progressive Orthodox. Let me see if I can put it into words:

We, who live in the present, make the best religious decisions we can based on all the information we have available to us. [When I say "we", I mean to include our rabbis and religious leaders today. They are the experts in this field, though lay people also have important insights, so the two groups should be in dialogue with each other.] In addition to all the Halachic tradition, this includes science, history, philosophy, and our sense of morality that comes from all of the above. These are all ways that G-d communicates with us about Truth in the world. This means that our religious life is constantly improving - progressing. We are not stuck with decisions [or interpretations] that were made by rabbis in previous generations.

Basing our practice on religious texts and traditions from our past is a very strong value. Continuity is the default, but another sufficiently strong value can take precedence, most notably policies that are oppressive to some individuals or detrimental to our society as a whole.

A Progressive Orthodox Jew, when faced with a Halacha that causes suffering, does not say: "Unfortunately, that's the Law and there is nothing we can do about it" or "If the Law contradicts my moral intuitions, I need to change my intuitions to fit with the Law." The G-d of Truth and Mercy is not playing tricks on us or testing our blind faith. If, with serious consideration, we decide that something is wrong, then we shouldn't do it.

That was probably a longer response than you wanted, but I'm glad you asked that. When I see it written out like that, it may be a stretch to call it Orthodox. Still, I think there is ample precedent for re-interpreting texts and modifying laws to improve them based on the reality of the time. The process just got stuck somewhere along the way.

If you haven't read Tamar Ross's "Expanding the Palace of Torah" I highly recommend it; it has heavily influenced what I wrote here. [Another influence was a visiting rabbi from Ma'aleh Gilboah, a yeshiva in Israel]

Have a great week.
[Nem]

How's everything?

2006-12-25T20:34:00.001-05:00

An update about my life to a friend who lives in another city:

Hi [friend],

...I'm enjoying living in Washington Heights, and I'm starting to feel really settled and comfortable here. I have a great group of friends that I can have shabbat meals with. On Tuesday nights I attend a chaburah (one of us prepares some Torah to discuss) and then host a poetry discussion group in my apartment. (There is not much overlap between the groups yet, but I think that might change; we already got one recruit from one to the other.)

I spent most of November in Columbus. My Dad needed emergency heart surgery. It was scary, but thank G-d, he is doing really well now. I'm glad I was able to be there to help the family and keep him company while he was in the hospital and then recovering at home. I was also able to do some more packing up and getting the house ready to sell. They [my father and his wife] are still planning to move to NJ before pesach. It's hard to get rid of stuff and leave the house of my childhood, but it was also nice to be able to play an active part in getting it ready for someone else. I pulled up the carpet in [my sister] Rachel's room, and did some of the painting in her room and in mine.

I was ready to quit my internship completely - it seemed like a waste of my time and skills - but when I was in Columbus, they promised me that they had some more interesting projects for me to work on that were more suited to my skills. It turned out to be true. I'm having a really good time analyzing data from website use, finding patterns and making graphs. My findings may turn out to be useful for informing a large-scale study that they are planning.

I'm planning to join the Stern graduate program for advanced talmudic studies (GPATS) [part of Yeshiva University] in January. They'll pay me to learn Gemara full-time. Two of my roommates are in the program now, I love the other students in it, and is seems like a great opportunity.

In about a month I plan to be completely done with my thesis, and therefore my MA degree, which is exciting.... [My roommate] and I are hosting shabbat lunch this week. The men and women I invited don't know each other, so it should be interesting - hopefully it will go well.

That's pretty much the update on me. I'd like to get an update from you...

Best regards,
[Nem]

Correspondance

2006-12-25T20:13:00.000-05:00

One of the strange things about writing a blog is that it's unclear who your audience is. Am I writing for myself? Friends I see often, Friends I don't speak to frequently, Acquaintances, Random strangers?

I'm going to try something new. I've written a few messages recently to specific people in response to particular questions. After taking the time to compose a thoughtful response, it occurred to me that I would like to post about that same topic here on my blog. I could compose something new, but it seems so much more efficient, authentic, and perhaps interesting to use the original message.

If you are one of the people that I wrote to, you should take this as a sign that I appreciated your question and took it seriously. I wrote the response for you, but want to share the insight with others. To be clear, this is only my side of the correspondance, the messages have been edited, and of course any personal information has been removed. I'll leave it up to you whether to identify yourself or not.

If anyone reading thinks that this idea is sketchy in terms of ethics or privacy, please leave a comment, because I am concerned about that. Do I need to ask each friend's permission before posting something that I wrote to her or him? I certainly don't want any of my friends censoring what they write to me, or to think that what I write to them is not written with them in mind.

Update

2006-11-26T13:56:00.000-05:00

It's been almost 3 months since my last post, and apparently I have at least one interested reader (see comment on last post), so I think I'm overdue for an update. I recently imported my blogposts onto my Facebook profile. You can't view the pictures directly on facebook, but at least you can see when I've posted something new and view it on the original blog. That should keep the facebook stalkers among you informed about me. [Update: Actually, now you can see the pictures too, but I still recommend viewing the original blog.]

What have I been up to? I moved into a new apartment in Washington Heights. My roommates are wonderful. I did some work with a company that (among other things) conducts interviews with regular people to test the usability of handheld devices. I also have an internship with an educational tv show. While this is going on, I'm also writing my M.A. thesis. You can ask me more about it if you're interested. For now, I'll just say that it has something to do with another tv show.

More updates to follow!

Refreshed

2006-09-03T21:37:00.000-05:00

After two weeks with my family in Columbus, I'm back in Manhattan. I got rid of some things I don't need: old school notebooks, stuffed animals, wisdom teeth. I also kept some important things. I feel lighter, ready for a fresh start. Moving from one apartment to another, I felt very weighed down by my material possessions. For this week I am a nomad, staying with friends until I can start living in my new place. I'm looking forward to getting settled in a new neighborhood, where many of my friends live already. I also have some exciting job opportunities. Here's to new beginnings!

More Art

2006-08-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Two more pieces from Intro to Drawing.

From My Sketchbook

2006-08-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

I bet you didn't know I was an artist... I didn't either until this drawing class.

Mom and I

2006-07-18T15:59:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of my Mom (of blessed memory) and me. It was taken at my cousin's Bar Mitzvah a few months before she died. I was 16 years old. I have another picture of the two of us that looks more posed, but I like this one better. In this picture we are genuinely happy. You can see the close comfort that we had with each other.

No particular reason why I am posting this now. I was just cleaning my room, and I wanted to put this picture somewhere special.

Drawing

2006-07-06T20:41:00.000-05:00

I returned early this morning from a trip to San Diego, where I enjoyed the sun with my immediate and extended family. After a long nap, I went to pick up a sketch book for my final class at TC. What better way to end off my MA degree in Fun than with a Drawing class? After many courses on theory of cognition and applications of technology, I was ready for an elective that takes me in a very different, hands-on, creative direction.

The professor takes a constructivist approach -common at TC - where we discover drawing through doing it. Basically, class today consisted of two hours of doodling on large pieces of paper, as a group and individually. The one "rule" was to avoid figurative drawing; the forms should not be recognizable as representing anything in particular. We experimented with different kinds of drawing implements. We were encouraged to move around the paper, use large gestures, and invade other people's space. Afterward, we reflected on the experience of working as a group and creating art together. Several people commented on the emotions of working in the same space, including feeling territorial about their parts of the drawing, feeling safe to try new things, and feeling good about collaborating with others.

In my past experience with doodling, I realize now, I get to a certain point where I think very carefully about what else to add. I would rather keep things as they are rather than "ruin" the drawing by making it look worse. This is probably an example of a deeper inclination in my personality. In any case, today I challenged that inclination. I tried violating patterns, making marks I suspected would make the drawing "worse." The thing is, you don't know what something will look like until you try it. In the end, I was happy with some, not all, of my drawings. More importantly, I was happy with the process of turning down the volume on my internal censor, letting the marks flow freely without critique.

It's part of a larger experiment that I'm trying with my life in general: to recognize how I tend to act in certain situations and then to break out of my own mold. Nothing drastic, just small, calculated social risks, acknowledging that I may look back on some choices as mistakes, and that that is okay. When you are too afraid of getting hurt, you miss opportunities for growth.

Transition

2006-06-08T23:23:00.000-05:00

I started this blog as part of a course on games- playing, analyzing, and designing games, which was great. Now that the semester is over, I'd like to keep the blog alive and expand the scope. I won't make any promises about how frequent updates will be, but check back here in the near future for thoughts on playing this game we call Life.

Go

2006-04-23T21:18:00.000-05:00

I played several games of Go over the past few days. I hadn't played for a while before that, and I lost that first game to my brother Louis. I went on to defeat my sister, Rachel, (we played half a board) and then my father. The final game, against my step-brother Moshe, we actually tied exactly - 60 to 60. That was quite surprising.

I use many cognitive skills when I play Go. A very important skill is to change your perspective and attend to different parts of the board. Sometimes you need to zoom in on one or a few pieces, but you also need to zoom out and look at the big picture of the whole board. You need to be able to recognize pieces that are connected as one entity, and also to see where there are breaches where you can divide and conquer.

You need to be constantly evaluating your strength and the strength of your opponent in different areas. You need to make judgements. Can I capture this group, or should I quit before I lose more pieces? Could I successfully start a colony within the territory my opponent has claimed? Maybe this cognitive skill is related to metacognition - the awareness of what you know well and what you don't know, as well as what strategies you should use to improve your thinking and learning.

I also used social skills while playing Go. I noticed that time spent thinking about a move varied by my opponents, and by the phase of the game. Generally, I felt compelled to match the other player's pace, even though that isn't part of the rules of the game.
Socially, winning and losing gracefully is important. My father taught us from an early age always to shake hands after a game. I think it shows that however competetive the game was, your relationship transcends that. You and your "opponent" were actually helping each other to have that play experience.

I brought the Go board to NYC, so let me know if you want to play!

Ice Skating

2006-04-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

A week ago, walking in Central Park, I discovered an outdoor ice skating rink very close to where I live that I hadn't known about. Yesterday was the last day they were open this season, and I decided to go check it out. It was a very warm, sunny day, and the ice was literally melting under our feet.

Ice skating may be a sport, but I don't know if it is a game. I'm thinking now about casual rink skating, not figure skating or speed skating, which are goal oriented and competitive. In casual skating, people just go around and around in a circle. The main fun comes from the physical feeling of movement, of gliding across the ice. I think this is what game theorist Roger Callois calls "ilinx." In this case, the feeling is one of augmenting your normal human abilities - going farther with less effort, changing direction with a slight movement. Maybe the ice skating rink is a toy, something that you interact with, that you can make up goals around.

My ice skating play did have goals - well, one main goal - Don't fall! Then there were variations on that goal. How fast can I go without falling? How sharply can I turn without falling? It was great, unstructured fun.

DDR

2006-03-25T23:44:00.000-05:00

I've been at a few undergrad events recently that have, among other tables, a Dance Dance Revolution station. Tonight there was one at Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Two control pads were connected to a TV, so two people could play at the same time. I've only ever played a handful of times, so I still stink at it, but I think I'm starting to improve.

It's interesting to compare experts and novices in this domain. Novices tend to station themselves in the center, tap one of the arrows, and return their foot to the center. Experts move around the pad without returning to the center. They keep in mind where the arrows are in relation to their feet without needing to looking down.

I didn't notice the first few times I saw this game the importance of the music. I had thought of it as just accompaniment to the game of hitting the right arrow. However, now I see that the rhythm of the music is a strong clue for when to tap. The constant beat allows you to plan a few steps ahead, knowing when exactly it will be time to step.

Experts see not just individual arrows, but also patterns of arrows and can convert those mentally into a combination of moves. There is an automatic conversion from visual stimulus to behavioral response that, in my novice mind, takes several concious steps.

I'm planning to talk about this and other video games that involve physical activity in my Children and Media research practicum. What do you think about using this game to improve physical fitness? Can you think of any other games that require physical activity beyond pushing buttons?

Scrabble

2006-03-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

Scrabble is not one of my favorite games. I tend to prefer non-linguistic games over word/letter-based ones. (e.g. Set or Go over Scrabble or Boggle.) I like the universality of games that don't rely on a particular language or vocabulary/spelling knowledge. Perhaps it has something to do with my being less good at linguistic games, but it is unclear which causes which. (Do you like games that you are good at, or become good at games that you like? Probably both.) It had been a while since I'd last played Srabble, and it is a classic game that I figure any game expert should be familiar with, so when two of my friends started up a game today, I joined in.

You might think that everyone knows how to play Scrabble, but there were actually a few rules that I needed to clarify, especially about scoring. I don't play Scrabble very often, and sometimes when I have played we didn't keep score. What I realized today is that playing with keeping score totally changes the game. Aside from just coming up with interesting words, players also think about when and where it is best to play their words. You want to get the most out of the bonus squares, while also blocking your opponents from making good moves.

As a novice, I didn't think too much about where the bonus squares were. If I had a word, I would try to place it where I would get the most points. My opponents, however, were very aware of where the good squares were (such as the triple word score squares in the corners) and when a player had "opened it up" by placing a word nearby. There was strategic planning that looked more than one move ahead, and that was a part of Scrabble that I was not previously familiar with.

I came in third out of the three players, though not so far behind. I had two moves that each got me over thirty points: "QUERY" and "ZOOS", with the first letter of each on a triple letter score. I was proud of those, as well as of "DIGIT" which became "DIGITAL" which became "DIGITALLY" (The Y was there, I just added the second L.)

All in all, a fun, clever game, which I assume you get better at with practice.

Puerto Rico II

2006-03-14T23:12:00.000-05:00

As promised... (I know you have been holding your breath)

A week after my first experience with the game "Puerto Rico," I played it again. My friend Jamie was hosting lunch at her place. I had first heard about Puerto Rico from Jamie's fiance, Yossi, and I had expected that we might play it at this group gathering. What I wasn't expecting was that Josh from last week would also be there, visiting from Philadelphia. That's when I knew Puerto Rico would be on the agenda.

After lunch, some people left, and five of us remained who wanted to play. The number of resources available in Puerto Rico depends upon how many people are playing. With more people, there were more resources supplied but also more demand for resources, with a net result of scarcity becoming an issue. This created an added element of strategy. In addition to the strategies I had used before, I now had to consider that if I waited too long to do something, e.g., to buy a particular building, someone else might buy it and I would have missed my opportunity.

I felt the need to plan several turns ahead. It was pointed out to me that there is only one element of the whole game that is random, but it feels more random because it is difficult to predict what each player will do, and those actions affect your turns. Therefore, planning ahead involved quite a bit of uncertainty. The other side of scarcity is the strategy of maliciously buying or taking something just so your opponent can't have it.

Personally, I prefered the 4-player game, where the goal was success through excellence, to the 5-player game that included more tactics that mess other players up.

Footnote: Jamie and Yossi are the couple whose request became Multiplayer Wedding Game, in case that wasn't apparent.

Puerto Rico I

2006-02-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

The past two weekends, I've had the opportunity to play a great board game called "Puerto Rico." I've been busy, and I haven't gotten a chance to blog about the experiences until now, but the ideas have been percolating in my mind over that time.

On Saturday night of a weekend retreat called "Jews in the Woods," an acquaintance of mine, Josh, set up a game of Puerto Rico. One of my friends really likes this game, so I wanted to try it. It took some time for Josh to explain the rules. They were straight-forward, but there were many pieces to describe.

In Puerto Rico, players each set up a colony with plantations that produce goods and buildings to process and market those goods. (This is an over-simplification, but you get the idea.) A unique mechanic of this game is that the players take turns choosing which role to take on, such as craftsman (produce goods), builder (buy buildings), or captain (ship goods). Every player then gets an opportunity to take on this role and enact that phase of the game. Then the next player chooses what phase will come next. This creates some uncertainty about what is going to happen each round, and the order in which it occurs is an important area for strategic planning.

As a first time player, I didn't have a strong idea of what a good move would be, or even what all my options were, at least at the beginning. However, as the game progressed I got a better feel of how things worked, and by the middle I felt that I was playing strategically. I even came in a close third after the two experienced players. It is a strength of the game that it can have complexity and still be within the grasp of a new player.

I liked the lack of aggression in this game. The competition involved each of us trying to improve our own colony, making it more productive and successful. There were times when a player made a choice with the intent to mess up another player, but the focus was much more on making choices that benefit yourself. It was fun, challenging, and very strategic without being violent or destructive.

There were two other players whom I didn't know from before. Socially, the game provided a forum for us to interact which I preferred to the unstructured mingling that was going on around us. We didn't say a whole lot unrelated to the game, but we did create some sort of social bond that made me feel closer to these three other people even after the game was over. An important aspect of play is the power it has to connect people.

I didn't know then that I would have the opportunity to play Puerto Rico again almost exactly a week later, also with my acquaintance-turned-friend, Josh. In my next entry, I'll discuss how my second Puerto Rico play experience (with five players) differed from my first (which had four players).

Charades

2006-02-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

I've gotten into the habit of asking friends what their favorite games are. I had five friends over for lunch on Saturday, and one of them, Ilana Pister, mentioned that she had recently enjoyed playing charades. Since the game that Elyse and I were designing takes a mechanic from charades, I thought it would be a good idea to play this classic that I haven't played in years. My guests were up for it, and we had a very entertaining afternoon.

The way I remember playing charades as a kid, the person whose turn it is chooses the phrase that he or she wants to act out. However, the consensus here was that the actor is given a phrase, either from a card or from the other team, which adds to the challenge.

We quickly settled on what I felt was a good balance between competetive and cooperative play. The person who just finished his or her turn thinks of a phrase for the person who just guessed correctly and is now "up." This way, only one person needs to refrain from guessing (since he or she supplied the phrase) rather than a whole team. We didn't keep score, and everyone got at least one turn, but those who "got it" more often got more turns.

One friend, Alan Goldsmith, liked to pick phrases by flipping through the book Life of Pi. (It was on the table because I had suggested it, and there was disagreement over whether the title had three or four words. I had thought that the title was The Life of Pi.) This resulted in some unusual phrases that did not fit into the typical charades categories such as movie, book, or tv show.

One memorable moment was an effective depiction by Hart Schwartz of "rigor mortis" at the suggestion of Rebecca Blatt. Louisette Soussan, though shy at first, also performed excellently.

I was surprised at how engaging this simple game was. I also noted how the focus of everyone's attention on a single individual feels different than our usual social interactions. When else do you stand with all eyes on you and act silly without saying a word?

Many thanks to my friends for playing with such enthusiasm. They were willing to play, and I was willing to mention them by name on my blog. (Are you happy now?)

Lemmings

2006-02-05T19:10:00.000-05:00

I volunteered to be the class expert on the computer game "Lemmings." I had played Lemmings a few times, many years ago, on my cousins' computer, but I hadn't played it since. After reading some comments about the various sequels on wikipedia, I bought "Lemmings Revolution" from Amazon.com.

The game begins with an animated sequence, setting the puzzle game within the context of a story. The colorful 3D animation is accompanied by voice-over narration from a Lemming with a British accent. Basically, the evil Weasels captured the cute little Lemmings from their idyllic homeland and trapped them in these column-shaped puzzles that they designed for their (the Weasels') amusement. In the words of the narrator, "We didn't find it very funny."

This intro, while very well done visually, makes me a little uncomfortable every time I watch it. I know it's just a game, but I can't help feeling that I'm one of the bad guys here. The Lemmings are in these deadly puzzles for my amusement. Sure, I'm also the one helping them out of it, but they wouldn't even be there if the software company hadn't made a sequel for the customer, i.e. me.

Putting aside my exagerated suspension of disbelief, I don't necessarily agree with the rating "E for Everyone." The rating notes "Mild Violence" but I found it more disturbing than mild. When the Lemmings walk off a cliff that is too high, they land with a "splat" as their 3D body pieces fly in different directions. When you give a Lemming the instruction to self-destruct, as is sometimes necessary, it crouches down, holds its head in its hands, lets out a high-pitched "Oh no!" and then its head comes off with a "pop" and the body pieces scatter.

I don't think I would find this so disturbing if they were mindless ants or robots. In some ways they are mindless, for example when they walk off a cliff to their deaths, but in other ways the game reinforces the idea that they are people that have feelings. Aside from the touching introduction, each round starts with that high-pitched voice saying "Let's go!" and ends with either an applauding Lemming if you are successful or a crying Lemming if you fail. I was surprised by the emotional impact the applause or crying had on me. Any actor knows how great a round of applause feels, and who wants to make a cute little Lemming cry like a baby?

This gave me a lot to think about in terms of the metaphor that you use when designing a game. How much do you want the player to care?

Once upon a time...

2006-01-29T01:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog! This is where I write about my game play experiences. You will get to read my thoughts and reflections on the games that I am playing and designing.

Some of my friends call me Nem, hence the URL, NemzPlaytime.blogspot.com (get it? sounds like Nem's).

A little about me: I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. I've been living in New York for the past few years, first as an undergrad and now as a graduate student at Teachers College, Columbia University. I'm in my second semester of the Cognitive Studies in Education M.A. program.

I like games that require thinking and strategy. Puzzle games, quest adventure games, board games like Go and card games like Set. I don't like games that involve too much luck (or violence, for that matter). I remember, when we were kids, my older brothers would read magazines with video game tips, telling them how to successfully beat each level. When I was playing those games, my older brothers would want to give me advice, but I would always silence them. To me, figuring out what to do next was the best part of the game.