Two good things happened today:
Thing the first – a co-worker of mine introduced me to a small restaurant that I would have never seen or eaten at in San Mateo called Shanghai East. It was a completely affordable and delicious lunch and someplace I’d like to visit again.
I’m not an expert on Chinese food in the area, and it’s always nice to find new places to get some Chinese food, especially if they have some Shanghainese menu options not available everywhere.
There’s a dim sum place within walking distance of our house, but we only go there occasionally because it’s often packed during weekends.
Thing the second – a different co-worker pointed me to the EarthBound Funktastic Gameplay, which is an event that happens yearly among the EarthBound fan community and started this evening. During the 24-day “camp,” everyone in the community plays EarthBound (often for the nth time) while sharing their experiences, joys, and sorrows with others online.
It’s a great idea because it means that many people will be in the same rough place in a particular video game that you’re all collectively playing on your own. There isn’t too much communal discussion about video games whilst in the middle of them. Most discussion comes after you’ve finished the game or after different amounts of time with the game.
The EBFGP is not only a great way for fans to share something they love, but to go through a shared experience that is the closest a non-MMO game can come to all being in the same places doing the same things.
It echoes an idea I’ve tossed around my head for a while, which is having a “game club” that’s similar to a book club. We’d all decide on a game to play, all play overnight to the same rough plot points, then meet up and discuss our thoughts on the game: where it was designed well/poorly, what we thought of the plot and characters, and where we’d like to see it go or what we expected in our next sessions. It’d be a fun shared experience, as well as a learning opportunity as game designers. The difficulty is finding a game that’s easily accessible to all of us and being able to divide such a game into appropriate chunks over a week or month.
Still, I think it has promise.
