>...concepts that should be included in the set of symbols
>replication
>self-replication
>consciousness
>infection
>feedback
>propagation
>adaptation
>mutation
>selection
>extinction
Didn't we have a list of core virus ideas somewher in the archive? this
sounds similar...
Anyway, here are some more ideas that I think would make neat cards:
chaos
sub-optimization
equilibrium / homeostasis
vector
mechanism
kludge
model
Prisoner's Dilemma
speciation / schism
hybridization / synthesis
Another game we might learn from is "Magic" published by Wizards of the
Coast. It's a card game with fairly complicated rules (which we might wish
to avoid) but which allows for the integration of new cards (one rule is
"whatever rule is printed on the card takes precedece over all other
rules") There are literally hundreds of cards...but a player's deck is
limited to 40-60, so the individual must design their own deck from the
avaliable materials. As an additional piece of marketing genius, you buy
the cards in randomized decks of 60 (there are "booster packs" of 10-15,
but none that aren't randomized like baseball cards). There are common,
uncommon, and rare cards. And which kind do you think the really good ones
are? High school and college students were known to drop hundreds of
dollars monthly in order to get that one "Lord of the Pit". Just keep
publishing new decks with more cool rare cards...
Eventually, as the players resources became exausted and their lives began
to suffer from their addiction the sales stabilized. My local hobby store
no longer accepts personal checks, though. Of course, all this happened
before with baseball cards...but that's even more encouraging since it
indicates this isn't a one time phenomena...there seems to be a mechanism
we might take advantage of...assuming we can differentiate the product
sufficiently.
Another characteristic of "Magic" is that some cards have the same effect
but use different artwork. I think this is a neat idea...we could have a
number of different pictures of "chaos" for instance.
Reed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------