This is the body of an e-mail that I sent out to some colleges on elegance in data decay. Its something I came across in researching new and upcoming trends in things like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Wave.

Its pretty technical stuff, but if you are able to follow it I welcome some discussion on the subjects and all inter-related areas.

Dear Reader,

This is some info on the elegance of data decay principle that has arisen around the newest generation of web-technologies. (And by that the users and systems that underpin the field.)

Articles on the issue are tied to the idea that information overload and the push for "how to manage real-time data creation and display" in the field of web-development. Developers on the web are migrating away, rapidly and for several years, from the school of thought that lead to our current GAO-like internal systems. These older systems are stove-pipes, leading individually to serve one purpose but eventually the weight of so many stove pipes is questionable. Modern systems tie usability, design, and interopability as key drivers for how users create data as well as how they interact with that same data. Here are some good articles that get at the concept. (The buzz word is "real time web" but once you get past that its all about connecting user need to know things with a managed approach of displaying and retiring that same data.)

So, finding the EXACT articles I'd been reading into on the subject has proven difficult. However, I did clarify that the concept of "elegant decay" is a suggested principle rather than an existing one. This is pretty cutting-edge data management theory (and the whole of the field has different ways of doing things. No one true system is the best.)

Article Below: Point No. 7 has the tightest tie-in to the need for this decay and the debate surrounding how to do it. (Note that how to do it, there will never be one-true system. Thankfully web-designers have finally learned that earlier programing and other areas that point methodology into a singular avenue are fallacies.)

http://yihongs-research.blogspot.com/2009/09/real-time-web-in-nutshell-for-web.html


Further background and or angle:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_real-time_web_a_primer_part_1.php

Less useful for specifics on data management but good for context or introduction if needed:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/30/live-web-real-time-call-it-what-you-will-its-gonna-take-a-while-to-get-it/

Waking up, Isamu expects to find himself, against the concret wall, not far from the Black Lagoone, but instead to find that he is lying down on a bed. Looking to his left, he sees his brass knuckles on a bed side table, next to a handgun. Rolling to his side, and for some strange reason finds is somewhat painful, Isamu sees a girl standing in front of a window, smoking a cigerette. Turning his head to the right, Isamu sees that the sun is comming up, and looks back towards the ceiling, before getting up in a hurry, and stops suddenly, holding his side in pain. "Shit"

The woman smoking the cigerette turns away from the window to face him. "So you're finally awake" She starts moving towards Isamu. He notices that this is the woman he tried to save, the night before. Taking a better look at her, he sees that she is fairly well built. Laying down, Isamu waits for her to get closer, before, he swipes on of his brass knuckles, and grabbing the woman, shoving her against the closest wall, pushing the brass knuckle against her neck.

"Where am I?"

"You sure are fast, but I'm faster"

"I wouldn't be so sure of tha-" Isamu stops his sentence right as he is about to finish it, and sees a barrel of a handgun sticking out of her right sleeve "Shit the whole thing was a ruse to lure me in. The gun on the bed-side table, with my brass knuckles right beside them for easy access, and the way sure calmly walked towards me" Isamu backs off, placing the brass knuckle back on the table, sitting on the bed, feeling stupid for falling for such a trick

"Who are you, and where am I?" asks Isamu, looking at the room they are in.

" I can't tell you my name, but this is my apartment. Likely I have a spare bed for you. Now is there anything else you want to know?"



Waking up, Isamu tries to stretch but can't moves his arms. Looking down Isamu sees that he is tied up with a steel wire, and is just able to move his wrists. Clasping them together he felt that he was no longer wearing his gloves. He tries to moves his hands close to his pockets, but can't quiet reach them, so he isn't able to determine if he still has his brass knuckles. Deciding to look up, he notices that there are two strangers in the room with him

"Where are we?"

One of the strangers turns around, glaring at Isamu with no expression on his face
"We are on the boss' sky ship."

"Right. Okay. And what is the name of your boss?" Isamu asks while trying to move his hands, hoping to lossen the robes tied around his hands. Come on, just a little more. Ow. Hot. That's going to take a while to heal. There. Rubbing his wrists behind his back trying it seem like his hands are still tied. Reaching into his pockets, Isamu finds his brass knuckles. Lucky him. Sliding them on to his knuckles, Isamu watches as the guy who spoke to him turns back around, before sliding his hands out of his pockets, and jumping from his spot taking out both of the guys in one hit.

So, it's been a long, long time since I role-played in a forum. I don't know if I will keep it up, and/or be a deticated as I was in VS. I make no promises. That was six years ago, and I am a much different person now. But I did enjoy making that short post. I always think about Din's story. Especially while I'm at work. Security is such a boring job, and it leaves me with much time to think. I hope that anyone who reads that post, and any others I may make will enjoy Din's story.

So if anyone has been following my roleplays, Ganna is turning out to have something of a sense of humor about everything.

A character with a sense of humor is sort of new for me, as I usually play heavy, dramatic, grave characters that hardly ever find ANYTHING about what's happening to them funny. They usually come from tortured backgrounds and histories they drag with them every agonizing second of their life.

It's a departure, but not at all a difficult one, I'm discovering. All that history and drama following a character was sort of getting me down, and whereas with past characters I felt a ton of pressure to put out the height of literature
(that's not to say I ever was, but it's what I shot for :razz: ), with Ganna I can sort of let myself hang out and not take the character, game, story, or roleplay so seriously. It's very liberating.

Still (by far) not the height of literature or even comedy, but pretty fun.

In an effort to reach to the world at large I've worked up a small article I will be sending out to begin the stepping stones of promotion for InMyth. The article follows.

The Future of Mankind

What is in our future, where do the stars point? It’s a question many have broached over the course of human history. They look around; notice the changes that have happened even in their short years and wonder. Turning skyward it’s hard not to do the same in our time, when the world is rocked by financial, political, and environmental hardships that highlight how much change is needed in all the underlying systems.

That need for change, the drive for something that will function better over a longer-haul, is one of the key elements I find pushing the development of InMyth.com and Starborn forward. We are working towards answers those questions on a personal level, developing a definition, a picture of a future universe of men and women approachable to many.

Forecasting the Now

Tying our timeline to modern day was a key design decision we made as a team early on. The discussions several months ago lead us all to agree that it was best to focus on where men were headed, and to highlight important spots that would make a difference. We’ve used historic, modern, and potential near-future events, developments, and trends to underpin the whole of the game.

These tie-ins take many forms inside the Starborn setting. I specifically enjoy highlighting social-economic issues, and this new economic turmoil and panic are great fodder for my imagination. Several others have enjoyed playing towards the dynamics of race, ethnicity, and prejudice. As we ramp up towards launch its important to keep in mind that Starborn is designed with these tie-ins in mind. These tie-ins are important as they give the Sci-Fi of Starborn its truest flavor.

If you read Sci-Fi novels you can recognize familiar themes that the author’s pull from a forecast, a statement, or a theory on what will be. Starborn in this same fashion is a speculative game that is intended as a framework for the questions and potential answers to those same questions players will soon create.

Modern Marvels

In reference to the source at the end of this article I want to close with a statement on a theme we’ve interwoven into Starborn that will be readily apparent in the deep history of the setting. This theme is the conversion of energy from a limited commodity to an abundant, nearly unlimited resource.

We’re taught in school humanity has several needs: Food, Shelter & Clothing These needs are further refined by many third parties, but eventually the need of energy or the ability to create and maintain energy crops up in some form or another. This need of energy is something that is causing a lot of turmoil for the leader's of today's world, men and women assaulted by large industries and a population that is calling for cleaner methods.

We approached this problem from the angle that asked: "What if this need for energy for a source of power to fuel the needs of mankind was a moot point?" This large question brings about many changes as energy is abundant, cheap, and reliable. See the Asio-OPEC conflict in the time line for more information on the Starborn stance.

Start thinking of other questions, because they are what make the games grow.

For partial inspiration behind this article please see: "New Solar Balloon Creates 400 Times More Energy Than The Average Solar Cell."

I found myself running into the old problem of browser crashes and misplaced button clicks that would delete entire posts. With the help of Jeff, I have a solution to this ever-so-annoying problem that had me working from outside word processors and then pulling the material onto the forum and datalink.

For those of you using Firefox an easy fix exists to combat the plague of lost work: AutoSaveText - http://netticat.ath.cx/AutoSaveText/AutoSaveText.htm

This extension is a great add-on for anyone who uses the site. It latches onto fields and automatically saves the input with each character. Recovery is a breeze, either automatic or button press "restore".

Check it out if you are as tired as I was of using outside programs when we have perfectly good input fields and editors here.

We're approaching Starborn with the idea that the worlds are complex, living entities as evident in the world around us. An intricate weave of life, chemistry, and internal processes interlocked to create a greater whole. Like a body with cells life on a world requires balance. That idea of balance and environmental stability is present today in actions from groups like the U.S.'s Dept. of Interior.

Over the past two hundred years mankind has engaged in what we consider to be the infantile stage of the "planetary era" in which men are able to shape the world and control the life-systems at play. This idea of proper management and growth is taken further in our game to explore whole-scale ecological engineering where teams of engineers engage in managing world-wide processes. In the future we believe that these men and women will help shape the efforts of manned colonization in space from habitation on worlds to extensive habitat creation on stations and bases. The science evolves with time to provide a new avenue of human endeavor - which leads to the whole scale terraforming of worlds.

For an interesting read on the feasibility of some early stage climate control techniques check out this amazing article by Wired: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/georank.html

~ Matt

A little bird told us to try out Twitter.

So we have, this short-messaging service is a useful tool for on-the-go people. While I cannot claim any proficiency in the mobile arena, I can tell you this - we want to keep you up to speed.

As such we'll have periodic updates on general information likely otherwise left untouched in our developer's journal. Be sure to check out our "twits" here at the InMyth Twitter Page.

If you are an avid user, add us and stay informed. We're looking to expand our use there with time, so getting in on the ground floor can help in networking.

I've been trying to edit my profile but everytime I do I have to relog in and then it tells me that I'm not in the system.:confused:

this is the frist time that I've done this and I don't know what to do here.

I'm currently in the process of looking at some very powerful back-end systems for us to implement into InMyth. If we decided to go with any of these they would add a powerful angle to all game-maker games, yet some are decidedly better than others.

Each system is focused on providing potential game makers with incentives to actually build games. We all, of course, get intrinsic value from our construction efforts for games. Yet we hope to be able to provide real incentive for content creation for game makers. Implementation of any of the game maker empowerment systems will come a ways after the launch of the IGD as we fight with strained resources, but the potential of the implementation is huge and would shape large swaths of player, game maker, and resource provider relationships.

At this point I don't want to go into much detail about the specific systems as to ensure we don't accidentally upset any of our potential providers, but I want everyone to be aware that we are looking at ways to make games pay the game maker back for their time and interest in creation. I don't know that anyone would lament the ability to foster improved games on the network and hope that the idea gets you to thinking.

We're here to foster creativity and gaming - so I believe that this empowerment and reinforcement, through reward, is our primary means to promote games on the network.

One thing we've been working on heavily with IGD is the concept of Slots and Attributes for both Items and Races. The idea is that both items and races can have both slots and attributes. I think there's no better way to explain it than with a few examples.

Attributes

An attribute for a race could be something like strength, stamina, or speed. An attribute for an item could be something like range (for guns, crossbows, etc.), durability, ammo capacity, etc.

Slots

Slots is the idea of equipping an item to either a person or another item. For a person (race), you would be able to equip a cutlass in one hand and an axe in the other. In another genre, imagine equipping one arm with a cybernetic appendage and replacing an eye a laser. Although not that practical, it would be an option with the IGD if the game's staff chose to add it. Another option would be to equip an item to another item as an upgrade. Using Starborn as the example, slots will allow upgrades to a space ship. Imagine a ship having 2 drive mounts, 5 gun mounts, 3 landing bays, etc.

Our Approach: Attribute Sets

In IGD development, our approach is giving game staff the ability to create templates called Attribute Sets that can then be mapped to items or races. In these sets, staff will be able to add as many different slots and/or attributes as they like. Here's some examples of Attribute Sets you could create:

• Cybernetic Upgrade Slots with several slots such as Right Leg, Left Arm, Neural Interface, Right Eye, etc.
• Humanoid Racial Stats with both slots and attributes. Some slots would be Right Hand, Left Hand, Torso, Back, Feet, etc. and some attributes would be Strength, Speed, Stamina, Vitality, HP, MP, etc.
• Freighter Blueprint with both slots and attributes. Some slots would be Primary Drive Mount, Secondary Drive Mount, Turret Gun Mount A, Bay 1, etc. and some attributes would be Thrust, Mass, Shields, Power, Armament, etc.

You'll be able to attach multiple Attribute Sets to a race or item as well, so you could add both the Cybernetic Upgrade Slots and Humanoid Racial Stats to a race you create.