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Defining Terms & Definitions (Layout Test)

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Thu, 12/29/2016 - 02:17
BHFuturist
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BGD_MM-1.png

I have been working on an "article" about the language (word choice/meaning) of board game design. Rather than posting it as a "blog" here, I am testing out the "Google Sites" web authoring tool.

https://sites.google.com/view/boardgamedesignconcepts

I might just stick with the "blog function" here, but this was a fun test.

Let me know what you think of the layout of the page... but also the article as that is what makes it fit into this section on design theory.

Thanks!

-Eamon

--EDIT---
The link to the blog post here on BGDF
---------

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Thu, 12/29/2016 - 20:56
#1
X3M
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I just finished responding to

I just finished responding to one of your responding posts to mine. And immediately after, I see this:

Quote:
In order to talk with someone about any subject, there needs to be common ground when it comes to the words or phrases they use. If the two people think about the same word in different ways they will not be on the same page. This will lead to confusion and they may not reach an understanding in their communication.

I am happy that you know about this. And I am a tough one in that. Fear my toughness in misunderstandings. :)

***

About the layout, it is a bit too wide to read? With the distance between sentences and the long path that the eye has to take. Chances are that one might re-read the same sentence.

But overall, it looks promising.

To tired now to read the rest, but will do so in the morning. Since you got my attention.

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Thu, 12/29/2016 - 21:33
#2
BHFuturist
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Thanks

I am glad you took the time to give it a look. I do agree about the width, but google does that to it automatically based on what you use to read it... something about being mobile friendly... I think I am going to go back to using the "blog" function here on the forum.

I do appreciate the challenge of 'toughness in misunderstandings', lol

Good to know we all suffer from the same things, that is one reason I wanted to start writing about game design. It is my way of trying to give us all some common understanding of things so we can talk about things a little easier... maybe.

-Eamon

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Fri, 12/30/2016 - 07:00
#3
X3M
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At this point. (And I have

At this point. (And I have had the discussions a bit to many, which started already 5 years ago). I think that each designer should have some sort of reference page with the definitions that they use.

Clearly stating. Here are the definitions that "I" use:...

And keep adding to the list, every time when a misunderstanding happens.
When starting to discuss something. Always referring to that page as well at the start of the discussion.

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Fri, 12/30/2016 - 15:06
#4
BHFuturist
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humm

Well, I do agree that each designer has to have their own way of doing things, and their own way of thinking about things.

However, I think we as a design community all need to adopt the same way of talking about things. Having a common set of terms and definitions will go a long way to helping us to be understood. It would remove the "well this is how I say it" and then we can all point to the unified list when talking about things and just move on.

Common language is the foundation of society

George Orwell, 1984 wrote:
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

I am not saying that "my" definitions are that standard by any stretch of the imagination... as you said for me those are my versions.

But if we as designers can start to collaborate on the meaning of terms and definitions, we could build a dictionary tailored to board game design.

This could be stored in a "page" here on the forum under "Game Design" and be controlled by the moderators. Designers could start threads about a term, and we could debate and determine the meaning of that term and the moderators could then add it to the list.

This way every new designer would not have to do the work of building their own version of a dictionary... we have enough work with designing games as it is.

What do you think?

-Eamon

P.S. Could you post your list of terms and meanings? This would help me to build out my list, at least until we can get a combined list together.

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Sat, 12/31/2016 - 11:33
#5
X3M
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I agree on the definitions

I agree on the definitions list. Not only because they can change over time. But also personally, they can change.

I disagree on having everyone using the same definitions. Instead. I propose that the meaning is the same, yet then we get ourselves a list of definitions that belong to that meaning. >Synonyms<
Synonyms, some of them grow out of the differences in languages and then the translation to one language.

eg. We keep both "power curve" and "keeping balance". And if there is a slight difference in the 2. Only then, we can add something to it, to make things clearer for others. They feel different, yet as for now, they have the same meaning between just the 2 of us.

eamon wrote:

P.S. Could you post your list of terms and meanings? This would help me to build out my list, at least until we can get a combined list together.

Perhaps it is better to have a list of meanings. Then have people respond to it with their definitions. This is a tremendous job. I think, it would need to grow over time. Not something that you start working on to finish it asap. That would take too long. And we get new people from all around the world with their new definitions.

Sometimes, we all agree on describing things. Then we give different names. This due to language differences. You can't expect new guys to take over definitions, used by other people used on the other side of the globe.

Having one, specifically on balancing. Would be cool.

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