Work in the Time of Corona Virus

Ahaha, same here :smile:

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you people drink and code? @trythis @matthias ooook

On the other hand, board games that can be played in a small household may be selling well no?
We started playing card games at home and now trying to get my hands on a scrabble, but many online shops say it’s sold out!
Video games are also apparently going up.

It’s probably harder for game creators like you guys and crowdfunding entrepreneurs :frowning:

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Could it be possible to seed video chat counterparts to board games ourselves here? Was never all that into games till I came across Cards against humani. Not sure it matters if playing it with friends online in a closed video chat or offline in a room.

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We had started a D&D campaign with some friends before the crisis and are continuing it now via Video call and will start another one with some friends from London later this week. RPG’s work really well that way as they rely mostly on imagination and conversation either way. However…this is more “freetime in times of Corona” than work ;).

Maybe we could find a GM in the community to set something up for people to join once a week? Or even open? Being a GM guiding people well through such an experience could even be a minijob currently. Do you guys have ideas how a system could be set up most easily for people to donate online to a Game Master? When meeting up in person one also always brings snacks and drinks, now people could donate money instead if maybe people would like lead online games semi professional. In sweden that would be easy with swish, but what about internationally?

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what do these abbreviations mean? It could be good to have a mini dictionary, also what is Swish

D&D = Dungeons and Dragons (what they play in the beginning of stranger things, just that you do not really need a board, just one person to tell the story and other to play in it. You can print character sheets, where you put your characteristics like how strong or smart your character is which modifies with your dice rolls (https://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dragons/what-is-dd))
GM = Game Master (the person who leads through the story and plays all the monsters) (sometimes also: DM = Dungeon Master)
PRG = Roll Play Game (also pen and paper game) in this context: A story-based game where the players play roles.
Swish = Swedish pay system/app, You send money with 2 clicks to the phone number of someone and it is transferred directly from your bank account to theirs. Very useful to split bills or when you have no cash anymore.

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Kickstarter funding fell by 40% in 1 week so, yeah :slight_smile:

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Yeah it is possible. There are no games specifically being designed for that. All “roll and write games can be played like that”. Also games like Roll Player, where you basically play parallel games and not against each other.
Cards against humanity could work easily.

Interesting idea. A fan of DnD and a good story teller would do a great job. I never played DnD or similar games because they require a significant time investment but I did something similar long time ago in creating scenarios for a fantasy video game.

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I think right now more people than usual would be up for that type of time investment. Maybe we could make a call for a story teller?

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Yep! When if not now? :smiley:

:heart:

How much I miss RPGs. Especially Kult, but also good old D&D, and the live of Vampires The Masquerade

You could try Banagrams, if you don’t know/have it already; before I played it for my first time, I used to like Scrabble too… :wink:

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I love how this conversation begins with coping with work and evolves into a hunt for board games.

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Also a good time to read that really long novel you’ve wanted to read but never found the time. I do this to get away from the endless bombardment of news, most of which is either inaccurate, speculative or both.

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Since none of us really know how the events of the day are going to play out, I think it useful to take on a futurists way of looking at things. This is from the Institute for the Future on learning to think like a futurist:

In 2019, IFTF’s executive director Marina Gorbis wrote “Five Principles for Thinking Like a Futurist,” which lays out five actions you can take to better prepare your organization for the post-pandemic world. They are:

1) Forget about predictions

Instead of trying to make a crystal ball prediction about a single event in the future, pay attention to “the interconnection between technologies and society and economics and organizations” as a way to comprehend “big, complex transformations.”

Try this today:

Look at trend data directly and indirectly relevant to you or your organization. Imagine scenarios in which these trends are disrupted for one reason or another. What kind of plan could you put into place to adapt to these futures?

2) Focus on signals

Keep an eye out for signals of the future. Signals are “things or developments that are on the margins. They may look weird or strange. They are the kind of things that grab your attention and make you ask: ‘Why is this happening? What is going on here?’”

Try this today:

As you read, watch, and listen to information ask yourself, “Is this a signal from the future?” If you do this everyday, it will turn into a useful habit.

3) Look back to see forward

“While we cannot fully rely on past data to help us see the future, there are larger patterns in history that we tend to repeat over and over again.” Read about how people responded to previous economic downturns and pandemics and think about how you can apply past data to the present and the future.

Try this today:

Reading suggestions:

4) Uncover patterns

Former IFTF president Ian Morrison “argues that in any period of large transformation—which I think we’re going through now—we are simultaneously living along two curves.” The first curve represents today’s way of doing things, which will descend and be subsumed by a curve that represents an ascending new pattern.

Try this today:

Look at the signals that you collected from Principle #2 that could indicate the beginning of an ascending curve.

5) Create a community

“Thinking about the future is a collaborative and highly communal affair. It requires a diversity of views. We need to involve experts from many different domains.”

Try this today:

Use your social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, to connect with people from diverse backgrounds that share a common interest. Arrange physical meetings through Meetup, or communicate via Slack or Zoom.

By putting these core principles into action, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an effective long-term futures thinker.

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https://adage.com/article/digital/zoom-sued-allegedly-illegally-disclosing-personal-data/2247166

My youth, relived.

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yeah we need to just drop Zoom . Can we do something else @noemi @MariaEuler @kajafarszky @hires ? @felix.wolfsteller mentioned some alternatives that can work well even where people have suboptimal internet connection…