THE POST-CONTEMPORARY REALITY GAME [FRAGMENT 1]

By Paul McLean

Visualize a platform, a chequerboard plane. The game’s physics simulates gravity. On the board each player begins with a few objects. Each form is monochrome. The color set is infinite. The blocks on the board represent alternating possible and actual realities. The platform horizon seems infinite, in the beginning. The player eventually discovers the infinite horizon is illusory. When a player selects a possible move, rather than an actual one, the possible block switches to an actual one. The objects are drawn round by round, one per round. The player begins the game with ten, aligned to the edge blocks of one side, half on actual and half on possible spaces. Scoring combines the number of moves, plus the number of objects, plus the number of rounds played. The game is played by two players. One is the actual player, the other the possible player. They are both the same player, at the end of the game. The final game score is always “1”. The positive “blocks” or “spaces” are assigned a value of 1 and negative “blocks” or “spaces” are assigned a non-value of zero.

Movement between blocks are governed by rules assigned to the individual “pieces” or “objects”. For instance, a piece can move +1 spaces in any direction. Or a piece can move from a positive space to a negative space, then once again to an adjoining block (either positive or negative). In a round, all or none of a player’s objects can be moved. Each game consists of ten rounds. The gameplay is autonomous, not competitive. The game platform or “table top” exists in imaginary suspension within a framework of simultaneous gameplay. The Game is recognized as the only actual game in play. All others are regarded as possible games. At one end of the platform is erected a vertical mirror. The game platform is internally lit. The positive blocks emit light, and the negative blocks do not. The negative blocks are identified as absorptive. The move of an object from an actual to a possible block is called “a change.” Each object is permitted two changes per game. A move from a possible space to an actual space is called “a reversal.” Each object is permitted 5 reversals per game. No game can be won or lost. The actual player attempts to place all objects in blocks adjoining the possible player’s objects within the ten rounds of gameplay. The possible player attempts to move objects in a random manner, while conforming to the rules of individual objects.

When the objects of the possible and actual players occupy connected blocks, they are “adjoined.” Adjunctive pairs remain immobile for the remainder of the contest. A point is given to a player whose object crosses any four possible or actual blocks in one direction in succession. When three of a player’s pieces form a line anywhere on the board other than the starting edge, they close the line of blocks on either side to the nearest edges. The closed line of blocks cannot be crossed by the other player’s pieces for the following two rounds. Each player has three minutes to execute the next move. The opposing players can invite their opponent to move a piece in suspension of any and all other rules of gameplay, from one block to another, anywhere on the platform, once per game. The invitee can accept or reject the invitation without penalty. At any time players can consult one another on the merits of any available move. Suggestions must be made in good faith. Once per game, an object may be relocated to its original spot on the table top, without penalty. No object can otherwise return to a block it has previously occupied during gameplay. Cameras and alerts may be used to track object movements.

Both the players may use a network of consulting observers between moves. The player’s team may consist of no more than five unique consultants. Each may be consulted once per ten round game. The consultant may draw suggestions from any outside network, with no limits. Network suggestions must consist of trackable messages of 200 characters or less. These must be posted in real time during gameplay where both players can see them. Coded messages are discouraged, and may be assessed a foul of two points per violation. Gameplay is governed by three judges, plus an alternate. The three judges are Time, Event and Movement. The alternate judge is called the Umpire. Five times per game, the Umpire may be asked to rule on any issue raised by the players, on any issue not immediately soluble by the three judges. The Umpire may also at any time stop game play once per game to question the legitimacy of any developing scenario of past action. Adjudication on any issue must be raised and resolved within a four minute period. A player can request adjudication by any judge or the Umpire twice per game. The Umpire’s adjudication is not binding unless both players agree to its implementation.

Documentation of gameplay is housed on a shared computer. The primary image of gameplay consists of “empty” versus “occupied” blocks. The E^O image is chronicled over the course of the ten-round, two-person game. E = positive value 1 and O = negative value 0. At the end of the game the round-by-round changes to the game board or “table” are compiled and sequenced for animation. Upon completion, the players are entitled to collaboratively name the animation of the game. If no title is generated, the computer will assign one, using the date and time of the final game move. The archive of game animations is public without restriction. The purpose of the game is to create usable media. Commentary on gameplay is permitted in two categories: 1) Real-time commentary; 2) Commentary post-facto. If possible, all commentary will be stored in the Game File. The game file is public without restriction. Game animations are archived in two locations: 1) In an autonomous file in the Library of Game Animations; 2) In the Game File. Player anonymity is maintained in all game archives, unless a player chooses to specify otherwise. Games cannot be commercialized for any purpose. However, players and other actors may establish professional Gamer Leagues. Gamer Leagues may introduce any kind of exchange, market, gambling, commoditization to standard gameplay procedures and protocols.

Governance of all non-professional gameplay will be conducted by the Game Committee (GC). The Committee will consist of a President and six Board Members. Each year the Committee will convene to review Game Rules, as they appear in the Game Rule Book. Before meeting at the Rules Convention, the President and Board will be given access to all Umpire adjudications from the previous year’s gameplay. Players are invited to submit comments and queries to the Board in the sixty days prior to the Convention. These submissions are anonymous, unless otherwise specified. Upon receipt of the player submissions, the Committee may invite players to an open meeting at which the parties may discuss the issues presented in the submissions. This Round Table Platform takes place annually thirty days prior to the Rules Convention. Game Commentators and Critics are invited to the RTP, but are not permitted to participate. Instead, Commentators and Critics are invited to submit briefs in text-only format to be attached to the Gamer Annual, which is published each year, ninety days after the Rules Convention, in both virtual and print form. C&C Briefs must be in accordance with the protocols outlined in Appendix 12 of the Game Rule Book. Topics include: Players; Play; Adjudication; Time; Event; Movement; Platform; Network; Consultation; Collaboration; Critique; Theory; Design and Aesthetics; Object; Color; Image; Archive; Technology; and Media.

Each player piece is fitted with either a transmitter or receiver, five each per side. The game objects are designated sentient. During the game, the pieces share information to any number of external networks, but they also share data with each other. Player One objects host a dedicated internal network for internal data exchange, updated each round. The same holds for Player Two objects. The two teams’ objects also share some information with each other. Players may choose to access the object-chats on a round-by-round. Once per game, a Player can permit his objects to initiate a play autonomously. Once per game, Player One and Two can permit all object to initiate a play collaboratively. Object plays cannot be edited by players after the fact. At the beginning of a game, two blocks on the platform can be encoded with special features. These include, but are not limited to: Special Powers (lasting 1-3 rounds); Time Out (lasting 1-3 rounds); Go Dark (lasting 2 rounds); Hop (lasting 1 round); Switch; and Link-up (lasting the remainder of the game). When an object occupies an encoded block, an alarm sounds, and the Assignment is announced. Full descriptions of the encoded special features are included in the Game Rule Book.

Players are drawn from two general categories: 1) Organic Natural Human (ONH) and 2) Artificial Humanoid Machine (AHM). An ONH will always play as the actual player, the AHM as the possible player. The AHM can be an enhanced ONH. Other possible players can be single-unit AI, robots, cyborgs, hybrids, and self-contained drone systems. Remotely controlled drones can play either as actual or possible players. Clones have not yet been certified eligible for gameplay. The Regulatory Committee (RC) annually reviews and updates player classifications, in the interests of maintaining equivalence in the gamer entity pool. Leagues and tournaments are set on a five-year basis. Modifications to Game Association General System Operations occur twice per decade, with integration cycles alternating annually. Cycles include 1) Change; 2) BETA; 3) Analysis; 4) Adjustment; 5) Fixture (or Rejection). All in the Game Community and Conference (GCC) participate in the modification process. At the end of the integration cycle, a game modification may be extended. The average modification adoption procedure takes twenty-five years, including a five-year Test Phase. The final Test Phase is conducted through provisional gameplay. Players at the beginning of each game are asked whether they wish to play provisionally. If both players agree, provisional rules are applied. Once applied to a game provisional rules cannot be submitted to in-play adjudication, but must be formally appealed within five days of game’s end.

Conceiving of the context in which the game occurs is the purview of the Gamemaster GM. Within each game, at the beginning of the fifth round, the Gamemaster will inform both players of any intervention that will affect the second half of the game. Interventions will fall into two categories: 1) Dynamics; and 2) Forces. Their nature will determine in what manner gameplay is affected. Typical interventions shorten the duration of turns and rounds. Others favor one player over the other, which is reflected in scoring. Still others require the players to collaborate. Dynamics and Forces (D+F) include Spiraling, Infusion of Energy, Acceleration, Resistance, Depression, Diffusion, Intensity, Bracing, etc. There are many Dynamics and Forces listed and explained in the Game Manual. They (D+F) may be paired or combined for triangulation in any game, although triangular play is usually reserved for advanced players participating in the annual tournaments. The Compendium of Effects (C of E) has been collected in the Gamemasters Appendices, which are updated every five years. Effects are recognized as the most common player responses to the GM interventions by the Gameplayer Association (GPA). The C of E is divided into categories and sub-categories, which are called Catalogs, e.g., the Catalog of Distortion and Echo.

Each player object is assigned an identity. The original Identity Pool included Hero, Citizen, Thief, Villain, Ruler, Wizard, Priest, Sage, Artist, Technician and fifteen others. Over time, Identity Pool has expanded to over 2500 officially recognized and sanctioned identities. Certain rule sets for specialized game scenarios permit the formulation of new identities, or alternate (unofficial) identities for player pieces. These identity variants are most common in the Specialist Games, a tournament for gamers and administers of all types who have distinctive specialties in some aspect of their gaming profile. An identity determines an object’s characteristics in gameplay. For instance, the two players both have Hero pieces. Both Hero pieces will “try” to move directly toward the opposing Hero. Known object behavior, arising from identity assignment, is outlined whenever possible in the Game Manual. Novel identities are added and profiled or formatted periodically, based on the frequency of appearance and usage in sanctioned gameplay. During a game, play can be paused by a player between any of the first three rounds, to request the Umpire to review object identities and rule on any anomalous behavior. Randomized identity play is permitted only in the Experimental Games, which occur every four years. The Experimental Games began as a testing and proving ground for novel gaming technology and practice. Now, they are one of the most popular tournaments hosted by Game Association.