Voting Methods

It turns out that there is no perfect voting method. This is mathematically shown with Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. I won't thoroughly describe it, but the gist is that if you want a voting system to have certain properties, they can't all be satisfied.

There are many different voting systems, each with their ups and downs. Here are some of them.

Popular Vote:
Everybody picks one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins. This is the only type of vote we see in America. The problem with it is that it only works perfectly in a two option vote.  I think that because this system works best in two-option systems, it forces us towards a two-party system. In multi-option votes, you often run into the situation where people don't vote for who they really want, but instead for the 'potential winner' who most accurately represents their views.

Approval Voting: 
Each person gets to vote for as many candidates, and the one with the most votes wins. This is type of voting allows people to vote for their preferred candidate without 'wasting' their vote on a loser. There are complaints that this system tends to elect the least hated as opposed to the most liked, if you will, since voters cannot weigh their votes differently.

Point-Based Systems:
Voters are given a number of points to distribute among the candidates; the candidate with the most points wins. This system has the problem that a person cannot support multiple candidates without giving up support for their favored candidate.

Ranked Voting:
There are many versions of this system, the most basic of which asks the voters to rank the candidates and order and each ranking bestows a number of points. The candidate with the most points is the winner. The problem with this most basic version is that you have to decide how many points a certain ranking is worth, and it's a somewhat complicated system that can force people to make hard decisions about their exact rankings.

Single-Transferable Vote:
This is a system that Australia uses. Each person ranks any number of candidates to their liking. The vote goes to the number 1 ranked candidate on each ballot initially. Then, any ballot where the number 1 ranked candidate is a sure loser is reassigned to that ballot's number two candidate. Losing parties are eliminated and their ballots redistributed again until a winner is clear.

There are two important factors when it comes to voting systems. How they work needs to be clear to the votes. They also need to accurately represent the desires of the voters. Striking this balance is difficult, especially since there is no perfect voting method. Soon, I'll talk about the ways that I would change our American electoral system.

Elections, voting, and the Problems Contained Therein

I have this problem. I get these 'obsessions' from time to time. Something will get in my head and it will consume a large portion of my thought. It distracts me from the other things in my life, spanning both work and my free time. Part of the reason that I started blogging more prolifically was so that I could work my way through these obsessions (see Adventures in Amateur Game Design), because that seems like the most effective way to stop them from consuming me.

It's not secret that there are problems with politics. I think that everybody has problems with politics. My problems with it I believe stem from our 2 party dominant system. Because there are only two real parties, they are bitterly opposed. It seems to me like they have to split every issue halfway and instead of promoting their position, they attack the other position/party. Right now, when people to negative campaigning, anyone who is convinced can only really switch over to the negative campaigning party.

I would make changes to our voting/electoral systems to promote a wider distribution of parties. I feel that having multiple parties would reduce negative campaigning because when people decide to leave the attacked party/individual, they aren't necessarily going to change over to the attacking party. I feel that if we had multiple parties, they'd be more able to cooperate to get important legislation passed, since it wouldn't be as much about pride.

I have particular ideas for what to do about the presidential election and about the elections for congressional positions. This will comprise a series of posts, because it's a very broad issue and I have obsessed about it. So expect more of this in the future (I'm sorry).

1:44

One day, a about two weeks ago, I saw a post it note on the handrail in the stairwell. The note read "1:44." I have no idea what it was about, who put it there, or what happened/happens at 1:44. What I do know, is that every day, for at least a week the note would be in a different position. 

At first it seemed like it was slowly moving up the rail. Then one day it was on the wall. I kept thinking that I should go to the stairs at 1:44, just to see if anything would happen. I could never remember to, thought; I'd always get wrapped up in my work.

Then one day last week, it was gone. I looked far and wide for it. After all, maybe it had just gone somewhere hard to see. Every day I look for it as I ascend the stairs to the fourth floor, and every day I don't see it. What was it? What happened at 1:44? Now I'll never now. What did I miss? Was it somehow my chance to be transported to a magical world? Did I miss the portal to Narnia, Fillory, or Hogwarts?

Now I feel a sort of emptiness when I walk up the stairs, their barrenness a reminder of what I missed. I ponder placing my own sticky note there to see if anyone comes to meet me. I wonder who, if anyone, will.

The New House: An Update, with cool wall art!

We been sleeping here for about a week and a half now. We have all the furniture and stuff in the house now, but it hasn't all been put away. We've bought several new pieces of furniture to replace the crappy stuff we still has leftover from college. We still have several pieces of furniture that we have left to buy.

The cats had lot of trouble adjusting to this place at first. They were very nervous when we were transferring them in the car and they freaked out quite a bit. George spent the majority of the first couple of days just hiding under our bed. It's taken him another to not be afraid when we open the front door. We also need to buy a screen for the fireplace so they don't get themselves sooty.

We managed to move my desk again, and now I have hesitation about moving it again. Each time we move it, something else bad happens to it. The leg where the two sides meet is a little messed up from me trying to adjust the desk's position after I had already set it up last time.  It's still 100% sturdy though. I don't plan on using my desk as much since the move so me put it in the guest bedroom, which is a little out of the way. I don't really plan on using it as much, I'm thinking about getting a chromebook.

We've set our eyes on some great art to adorn our walls. Specifically, we're looking at these pieces: a Harry Potter spin on a theme, a couple Doctor Who ones, and I just found this cool Metroid one. It should be noted that we aren't necessarily going to get those ones as their super-expensive canvas form. Possibly a print.

As we unpack, we're throwing away, recycling, or donating tons of stuff that we don't need. We had tons of stuff that was simply superfluous that doesn't fit into this smaller (yet infinitely more awesome) house. That's most of what's been going on. Slowly unpacking. Working. Normal stuff going on here. Once things are unpacked completely and we get some wall art up I'll take some nice pictures of the place.

Adventures in Game Design, part 11: Rogue Abilities

Internet is back on and I'm ready to blog again. I came up with tons of ideas while I was under the internet blackout, and not all of them pertain to this game. But this does. I came up with an incomplete list of abilities for the rogue class. Abilities are listed in no particular order, may have a limited number of uses, and will likely require a roll to succeed.

Dagger: 

Main Spec Ability: Sneak Attack - When an opponent can't defend themselves properly, the rogue deals extra damage. 

• Running Slice - The rogue can take an attack while moving past an enemy
• Blind - The rogue uses a powder to blind the target temporarily, lowering their vision, attack and defense
• Quick Attack - The rogue takes a single attack very quickly (uses one of the rogues main actions, but grants initiative speed as if the rogue hadn't used the action)
• Disarm - The rogue deftly removes the opponent's weapon.
• Deflect - The rogue (makes a roll to) use his daggers and skill not to parry an attack, but to actually cause that attack to hit a target adjacent to the rogue and within the range of the attacker.

Bow: 

Main Spec Ability: Multishot - The rogue fires multiple arrows at once, each attacking a different target.

• Moving Shot - The rogue takes a less accurate shot during a move
• Ricochet - The rogue causes the arrow to bounce off a wall to hit an otherwise unreachable target or to catch a target off guard.
• Aimed Shot - The rogue takes a full turn to fire a longer flying, more accurate, more damaging shot.
• Arrow Stab - The rogue uses an arrow to stab an opponent (when stuck in melee range). Allows the rogue to attack in melee without using an action to switch weapons. If the enemy dies, the rogue is granted a shot as a free action.
• Undecided.

Trap:

Main Spec Ability: Grenade - The rogue throws a grenade which explodes, dealing AOE damage. May have an explosion delay.

• Flamethrower Trap - A stationary turret that spouts flames at nearby targets.
• Bear Trap - If stepped on the target sustains direct damage, bleed damage, and a movement penalty until the trap is removed.
• Grappling Hook - I'm still thinking about the combat uses of it. Tie up opponents? Disarm weapons at range?
• Smoke Bomb - obscure vision while in the cloud and for a certain number of turns after. Provides a block of line of sight for a safe getaway.
• Trip Wire - pretty obvious

A suspension of disbelief or "it's magic" may be required with regard to how the rogue stores all these tools. I worry about the trap rogue. I want to make sure they feel viable. I think it may really come alive with whatever magical abilities it gets to choose.

No Internet :-(

We won't be able to get our internet hooked up until the 28th at the new place. For a small time, we are still able to check it at the old place, because we have plenty of time to finish moving out. Until then, things will be infrequent/nonexistent. I'll just be using my phone in the meantime.

I know, you're going to hate not having my weird twitter messages and blog spam. I'm sorry...........

Adventures in Amateur Game Design, part 10: Initiative and Action Systems

A shirt from Penny Arcade

There is this mantra that seems to exist in the RPG community. It is "Move Minor Standard" meaning that on your turn you get a move action, a minor action and a standard action. I've always had a problem with that system, particularly that your move and standard actions can't be mixed. In D&D, you can use your standard action as a move action but you can't substitute a move action for a standard action.

My plan:
My plan for my game (which needs a proper name) is to have two standard actions and a minor action on a turn. A standard action can be either a move or another action. This means that you can take two attacks on a turn, an attack and a move, or two moves. Because of this choice, I don't plan on having a D&D style attack system where you get multiple attacks on a turn as you level up. An attack is 1 attack if you have one weapon, and 2 attacks if you dual wield (but weaker of course).

A problem with this system is that moving feels like a penalty, because in moving you give up an action. And movement doesn't kill monsters. So how do you ameliorate this? I approached this from a class specific viewpoint.

Fixing the problems with this system:
For the warrior, they get the charge ability. If they move at least 10 feet (2 squares) and it is in a straight line, then if their next action is an attack, it is more likely to succeed and will do more damage when it does succeed. For the rogue, there are two different situations. For a dagger rogue (which is a dual wield type), once during any move, if they more past an opponent, they get a single free attack (only one weapon) on that opponent. For a bow-wielding rogue, they can take a running shot, which is a less accurate attack that can be done while moving. I haven't decided what my opinion is on attacks of opportunity yet, I may not have them. For the casters, some of their spell will be cantrips, more simple/less effective/more minor spells that can be cast while they are moving. This opens up the possibility for some of the spell upgrades that can be invested in to change a spell to a cantrip.

As a side note, for casters, some spell will take the full turn, most will take just one action, and some will be cantrips. Cantrips can also be done as a standard action, they don't have to be done while moving.

Another shirt form Penny Arcade

Initiative:
Tying into this is the initiative system. In all the systems that I've seen, initiative breaks down into turn order. What I want is for everybody to have a speed which determines how often they get to have a turn. Essentially, each person has a number for their combat speed.

At the beginning of combat, everybody rolls for an initial initiative. The person with the highest initiative goes first. After each person takes their turn, their initiative is set to zero and everybody adds their speed to their initiative and the highest person is chosen to go again. In the event of a tie for who is highest, both people go in a random order and then only after both have gone are their initiatives set to zero and the speed are added.

How do these tie in together?
In my system, there may be times where you choose not to take one of your actions or you may not use either of your actions. Choosing to not take an action should make your next turn come faster. If you only use one of your actions, your speed in increased by 50% until your next turn, meaning that is should come in about 66% as much time as normal. If you choose to forego both of your actions, your speed in increased by 100% so your next turn only takes 50% as long to happen.

All of this comes from my own dissatisfaction with how standard RPGs function and ways that I think they could improve. One flaw with this initiative system is that it's complicated, there are lots of numbers to keep track of. Perhaps and iPhone/Android app or computer program is in order to help keep track of this. Or DMs can have their players keep track of their own initiative and the DM keeps track of the monsters.

What needs to be decided:

1. How is initiative speed determined? I kinda want rogues to be slightly faster than other players
2. How is initial initiative determined? 

Health Concerns

Seeing as I've been saying 'house' frequently lately, I figured I'd talk about a different 'house'.

Have you seen the episode of House with Laura Prepon? In it she plays an obsessive blogger and Dr. House can't figure out what's wrong with her. They even dig through her old blog entries looking for clues.

Then Dr. House realizes that the key to her illness is something that nobody would blog about, their poop. She gets better and happy ending, or whatever. Although, it was probably an unhappy ending, given that it was House.

Anyway, to all my future doctors out there, I would just like to say that my poops have been regular and have been of normal quality. I'll keep you posted of any changes. You're welcome.

PICTURES!

That is a picture of the front of the house we're moving to. We started to move stuff in there today and we'll continue to do so over the weekend. There are more pictures here. Some rooms didn't get pictures uploaded because they were unremarkable, fyi.

There is a hot tub in the back yard (EXCITE). It needs a professional cleaning and inspection, but it's there. Many of the baseboards need to be touched up with paint (which is in the garage) and the front door hardware could stand to be changed, especially since the door cannot be opened from the outside since the outside handle doesn't work (we weren't made aware of that feature).

We also got a new bookcase and an office organizer thing that was WAY heavier than it seems like it should be. Seriously, I hurt my wrist trying to lift it. I'm worried that when we open it up to build it there will just be a bunch of rocks and a note that says, "HAHAHA, try explaining THIS to Target customer service!"

The floorplan makes a circle, in which out bedroom is kitchen-adjacent. So now instead of running up and down the hall, our cats can just run circles around the house.

I'm infinitely sad that there isn't a webpage where I can upload images and superimpose the crack in time from Dr. Who Season 5. I would have made a funny joke for the internet. I would have posted a bunch of pictures but the last one would have a crack in the wall and I would have been like, "OH NO!", BUT I GUESS I DON'T GET TO DO THAT.

Turning Points and New Beginnings

Today begins a new chapter in our lives. Today, Sarah and I start to move to the new house. So many things will be different now. I have a full-time job. We won't be living somewhere that is owned by my parents. We can start planning our wedding. We'll be living there when we get married. It's where we'll come home to. Although we won't live there forever, it certainly represents a new beginning.

A new beginning, that just struck me. I need to remember to do something.

Sarah and I finished season 5 of Dr. Who. That was pretty dang crazy, you know. Big Stuff. We're still very much enjoying the show and can't wait to catch up on season 6.

Work has been pretty crazy lately. Between the 45 minutes SQL code runs (which would have taken longer if I hadn't had the foresight to create an index) and the projects that were due quite suddenly there's been simultaneously much and not much to do. Since tomorrow begins a new month, there will be plenty of things for me to do. I've been finding myself dressing up and creating documentation for all the code that my predecessors left me. Just like a good Boy Scout (which I was, briefly).

I feel like I had more to say here, but I guess I don't. Sleep time is now (since I composed this last night and scheduled it for today). I'll make sure and post pictures of the new place later.