Day 7: Score one Interview

I start my serious work today by finishing the last part of the Start an Exercise Routine quest with another strength training session.  The session (25 points), the quest (100 points).  Not a bad start to the day.

As I am taking my shower, the phone rings.  It's Walmart, where I applied to work, they are looking for a cashier and are offering me an interview tomorrow.  As part of the get a job quest, that's another 100 points.  Definitely not a bad start to the day.

In order to be ready, I decide there are some things I'll want for the interview, a nice shirt and a razor which will give me a better shave than my electric, so I have to make a trip to Walmart (25 points).

After that it's off to my parent's house.  They need help moving some stuff (10 points), and I need to do laundry (10 points).  While I am there another problem is brought to my attention.  The university I attend has sent me a letter.  I had to drop a class in the Fall semester, and as a result I am one hour short of the number of hours I need in order to keep my scholarship.  So I add a new quest, Complete a Summer Course that is Worth 1 Credit Hour.  The first part, which I complete today (signing up for a class), is worth 25 points.  When I am given a syllabus, I will add a series of mini-quests based around assignments, as well as end game scores based around grade.

Here is the Picture of the Day.

On the way home from my parent's house, I play around with the camera.  Lights are so fascinating at night when caught on camera, and the shaking of the car caused by the road adds another variable.  I take a lot of pictures, but this one is my favorite.

Today's final score: 314 pts.  A new high score!

But this is the end of the first week, so it's time to tally the score for the week, and distribute points to stat categories to see if I've leveled up.

Score for the Week: 1,175 pts.

Total points in:

Artist Goals: 75 pts.

Health: 472 pts.

Knowledge and Spirit: 70 pts.

Personal Aesthetic: 286 pts.

Misc: 272 pts.

I haven't leveled up, however it is becoming very clear the areas in which I need to focus more effort.  Even so, this has been, by far, one of the most productive weeks I have had in a long long time.

Day 6: Blocked by the Universe

Some days it just seems like the universe just wants to get in your way.

I have my breakfast this morning, followed by the energy drink I usually drink part of before I start my exercise routine.  I go to the bathroom, and am about to wash my hands when I find that the water has been temporarily shut off in my complex for repairs.  For many people this would not be a big deal, but I am not many people, I am an OCD hand washer.  I just can't bring myself to touch anything until I have washed my hands, and finally I use a paper towel to open my fridge, and grab a bottle of flavored water to use to wash my hands with.

It's not a good start to the day.  Since I can't shower until the water is back on, I don't want to do my exercise yet, and end up lazing around watching TV.

By the time the water is back, and I'm about ready to start my exercise, the universe finds another way to frustrate.  A tornado watch has been issued, my parent's call me to say that they're planning to head to my aunt's storm shelter if it gets raised to a warning.  I do my exercise, though without the usual gusto, shower, and head over.  Most of the day is spent waiting before finally going to the shelter, which is stuffy, too hot, and mildly claustrophobic.  It feels just a little bit like a bad trip.

By the time I get back home, I'm pretty tired.  Still, I really want to do something at least resembling work on my graphic novel.  So I spend some time working on character design.  It's good practice, especially because it's one of the areas where I'm weaker, and need a lot of improvement (25 pts).

I try to take some pictures today too, but in all honesty, none of them are worth writing home about.

Today's score: 83 points.

Day 5: Set out on a Quest for Employment

I beat my previous high score on exercise again today.

I only beat it by three points this time, granted, but a win is a win, and it's just nice to be pressing myself.  Not only that, but after two more days, I will have completed the quest Begin an Exercise Routine.

I feel pretty beat afterwards, and let myself laze around for a while, but after that it's on to the very beginning of a much bigger quest.  Get a Job, a quest in the Misc stat with a final objective set at 250 points, is a big one.  Along the way I earn 75 points for the first application I submit, and 50 for each after that.  Mostly because it's a process I genuinely hate.  Each interview I score is worth 100 points.  There is a lot of opportunity here.  Today I just submit my first application.

I spend the rest of the day at my parent's house doing laundry.  While I'm there I have time to think about my graphic novel.  It's been at the front of my mind since I started playing this game, and while I haven't gotten much work done yet, I feel like I'm right on the verge of it.  The constant brainstorming has allowed some big story components, components I have really had a difficult time figuring out, fall into place.

I would like to take a moment as well to point out that my kitchen, which I cleaned five days ago, is still immaculate (at least by my standards).

Usually by now the sink would be full of partially washed dishes, and the counter covered with dishes that I didn't have room to partially wash in the sink.  I give myself a point every time I rinse a dish off and place it in the dishwasher as soon as I'm done eating out of it.  As you can hopefully see, it's paying off.  It's nice to have a clean kitchen.

It has been raining today.  The pill bugs, as I read recently, are not bugs at all.  They are actually crustaceans, and while they can't survive underwater, they do like it when it's wet out.  As such, I have seen a lot less pill bug traffic in my apartment today.  Only seven, as compared to yesterday's forty-eight pill bugs.

I instituted the jar today as a way of dealing with the overwhelming numbers I had yesterday.  There were so many that all too often I would find four or five at once, pick them up to take outside, and as soon as I was back inside I would spot two or three more.  Needless to say, that was frustrating.  With the jar, I can simply take them out at the end of the day.

Today's Picture of the Day is not my best.

It is taken on the way to my parent's house.  It's barely drizzling out, and unfortunately my camera dies shortly after taking this picture, preventing me from catching some of the more incredible elements of the storm as the day goes by.  Perhaps I shall have to start carrying batteries with me to avoid something like this happening again.

Final score for the day: 130 points.

Day 4: Power Down Power Up

As happens all to often, I am woken early this morning by my phone.  This time, however, it is not a text or phone call, but the sound my phone makes when it has been detached from its power source.  Yes, all the power in my apartment has suddenly been shut off.  I panic at first.  Did I pay my electric bills?  I turn on my computer to see if I can see any of the other networks in my building.  None do.  It would seem that power is out in the whole complex, I haven't forgotten to pay for my electricity.

After my sigh of relief, I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated.  It's strange to realize how integral a part of my life TV has become.  I always watch something when I eat, when I'm having breakfast, and much of the rest of the time as well.  But those things I can do without power, how am I supposed to get a shower when there are no lights in my bathroom?

As I become more awake, I remember, it's okay, I'm playing a game.  So I make a decision, when the power's out, I'm powered up.  Everything I do is worth double points until it comes back on, and I find myself increasingly excited at the opportunity I have been handed.  By the time the power comes back, I have eaten breakfast (2 pts x 2), done my exercise (25 pts x 2), and read for an hour (15 pts x 2).  Not a bad score to start the day with.

After the power comes back, I'm still feeling it, so I start the quest Clean the Living Area of My Apartment.  I get a lot of work done.

Is it all finished?  No, not by a long shot.  But compared to how things were looking just a day ago, this is a massive improvement.  (100 pts)

The pill bug game needs work.  I set the score for each pill bug at 5 points a piece.  I realize this by the time I have saved the tenth pill bug (5 pts each x10 = 50pts).  By the time the day is done, I have saved 48 pill bugs, that's 240 points.  If I keep that set as it is, the pill bugs will by far outweigh any other activity I take part in for points.

(These are just a few of the pill bugs that I save over the course of the day.)

For now, I'm just going to have to make them 1 point a piece, that still nets me an incredible 48 points for the day.  Nothing to scoff at.

My Picture of the Day, incidentally, is one of the pill bug pictures I took.

My score for the day 254 points.  It's by far my high score, and considering that it's been one of my most productive days yet, I feel that I've earned it.

Day 3: Walmart at the End of the World

Achievement Unlocked: Survived the Rapture

Today, which, as it turns out, was not the beginning of the end times, was at least mildly productive.

The Begin an Exercise Routine quest requires that two of the seven consecutive days of exercise be strength training.  It has been seven or eight months since I last did any strength training, and to be honest I'm a little afraid, but I'm not going to let it get in the way.  I start with crunches, but they don't take long before I move on to the main course.

My method involves starting at a high weight, doing a small number of reps, moving down a notch, doing a slightly larger number of reps, etc, until one reaches the last notch and does a large number of reps.  When I was exercising every day before (the aforementioned eight months ago) I would start at 80-90 pounds, depending on how I was feeling that day, but I just don't think I'm ready for it.  So I start at 50.  It's not as bad as it could have been, but that's still far from great.  Nonetheless I make it, and I'm glad I did.  (25 points)

After that, I jump into the rest of my day.  I'm really trying to get some stuff done.  I have some laundry that needs to be put away (10 points).  After that I move on to a bigger task.  It has been a long time since I did any cleaning in my bathroom.  I've cleaned the sink area on occasion, but the shower and toilet area has been seriously neglected, it's nasty and it needs fixed.  I tackle the whole thing (30 points).

Now it's time for something I've been dreading.  Mini Quest: Venture to Walmart (25 points).  As I enter the store, I observe that no one seems particularly concerned with the coming apocalypse.  Perhaps it's because hell isn't that scary when you're already in Walmart.  As I move about the surreal landscape it occurs to me that I should add game elements to the Walmart experience, but nothing comes to mind.  Still, if I could find a way to make Walmart fun, how much human suffering could I eliminate?  It's hard to say, but either way, I make it through unscathed.

It's summer, and I have a visitor.

For some reason, I live in the pill bug equivalent of the Elephant's Graveyard.  They come here to die, or so it seems.  When I'm in my better moods, or at least wearing pants already, I will take these little guys back outside when I spot them.  I can't guarantee this will provide them with a long and happy life, but I can at least give them a shot.  It occurs to me that a new game element is called for.  Saving a pill bug, 5 points to the Misc stat.  As strange as it seems, I'm now looking forward to finding more pill bugs to take outside.

Time for the Picture of the Day.

This is the view I can see through my apartment window (though the picture was taken outside).  All things considered... it's actually pretty gorgeous.  After taking it I wander out into the field to try and get pictures of some of the wild flowers, but the camera focus is fighting with me, so most of them don't turn out too well.

Final Score for the day:  134.  I haven't topped that first day yet... but I will.

Day 2: A New Task and A Walk

The completion of steps one and two in the Quest to Replace my Microwave has brought with it unforeseen consequences.  A shining light, but not one I wanted.  It comes on whenever I open the door to my microwave.

My old microwave had a light, but it only came on while you were cooking something (and sometimes not even then).  As such, I have developed the bad habit of simply leaving the microwave door open when it's not in use.  Do the lights in microwaves go out if they stay on too long?  I don't know, and I don't want to find out.  But I keep leaving the door open!

Fortunately, I have structured the rules of my game in such a way that I am able to evolve it to help with this problem.  By recognizing behaviors I need to work on, and adding rules to incentivize those behaviors, I earn 5 points in the Misc stat.  My new rule?  Every time I remember to close the door of the microwave I score 1 point in the Personal Aesthetic stat.  Let's hope that's a problem solved.

Exercise today is crazy good, and adding that element of competition to beat my previous high score really kicks it up a notch.

Not only do I score 324, beating yesterday's 307, I get that score in a shorter amount of time.  If that's not improvement, I don't know what it is.  Though I'm pretty soaked in sweat by the time I'm done.

Later on I go for a walk (10 points base score, plus 4 points for every fifteen minutes spent on the walk).  There are two lakes very close to my apartment.  One is Boomer lake, it has a paved path which circles around the lake.  I go to the other, lake Sanburn, it was raining earlier, and all the paths look like this...

Despite the occasional muddy spots (and overly excited bug population) I enjoy my walk (34 points), and I take lots of pictures (10 points).

I try to devote the rest of the day to writing, but find myself too easily distracted.  I get some done (I count it at 5 points worth), but not near as much as I would like.

Below is my Picture of the Day.

I take it right at the start of my walk, and as soon as the image shows up in the preview, I know it's the one.  I love the semi-baren tree in the center, the sky and greenery are wonderful.  But my personal favorite touch is the little tendril of smoke from my cigarette, which drifts in front of the lens at the perfect moment.  A very fortunate accident.

My score today 114 points.  Not a high score, but, I suppose they can't all be.

Day 1: 'Game On' and 'The Quest to Replace my Microwave'

I start my game three hours earlier than I had planned when a friend texts me and wakes me up.  It's alright though, after all, what gamer would not be ecstatic at the chance to play a new game three hours before it was supposed to release?

My first task, after breakfast (1 point) that is, also happens to be the start of a quest.  The quest Begin an Exercise Routine, it's worth 100 points and has two requirements I must fulfill.

1) Exercise 7 days in a row.
2 )At least two of those days must be strength training.

On top of the quest, my normal exercise routine is worth 25 points a day for the Health stat (plus one point for every consecutive day on which I exercise, capping at a total of 50 points possible per day).  I can also earn bonus points for every ten minutes I go over the length of my normal exercise routine, and for beating previous records.

Today I am on the exercise bike while I re-watch the ridiculously awesome Gurren Lagann.  I am still texting with the friend who woke me up, I don't stop exercising to respond, but I do pause the program, so my exercise routine lasts normal than longer, but I am happy with the results.

307 Calories burned in one exercise biking period.  From now on, that's the high score to beat.

My next couple tasks are less exciting.

My normal hygiene routine (shower, brush teeth, shave, comb hair, put on deodorant) nets me five points in the Personal Aesthetic stat.  Watching the news and reading a book net me 14 points in the Knowledge and Spirit stat.

It's time for something more exciting, a quest I can complete today, The Quest to Replace my Microwave, which counts for points towards the Personal Aesthetic stat.

A couple of months ago my parent's gave me a new microwave, instead of setting it up, I put it on the floor.  There it has become less of a microwave and more of a very small table for stuff that doesn't belong on any table regardless of its size.

Not only should I get this microwave off the floor, I need to replace the old one.  It's old and more than a little disgusting since I can't remember the last time I cleaned it.

The Quest to Replace my Microwave has three steps.

Step 1) Remove and clean old microwave (25 pts).

Step 2) Clean counter area and insert new microwave (25 pts).

Step 3) Take the old microwave to a charitable thrift shop to donate.  (25 pts)

Oh well, it's a start.  Quest... not quite yet complete.  

The rest of the day is mostly uneventful, though my kitchen went from this...

... to this (20 pts)

Bedding was washed (15 pts), and two healthy meals were had (6 pts).

Finally, in order to develop a catalog of pictures which I can use in my artwork, I have devoted myself to taking at least 10 pictures a day which I could use for a piece (10 pts).  As such, I will be leaving my favorite picture of the day here, as the picture of the day.

I took this photo in my parent's back yard while visiting them to do laundry.  It was a tough pick for me between this picture and another flower I took a picture of, but ultimately the kind of droopy quality this flower has endeared it to me.  Maybe it's sad because my father has been complaining that the sunflowers have been blooming too low to the ground... or maybe it's just the bird shit.  Who's to say?  Either way, it is my picture of the day.  

After tallying the numbers, my score for today is 146.  Let's see if I can't top that tomorrow.  

Day 0: Pregame

This is my apartment.  It is, in many ways, a reflection of my life...

I have lived here three years now I believe.  It has gone from clean to messy so many times I can not recall.  Tomorrow, I am going to clean it again, but for once, I'm excited about it.

Why, you might ask, would I be excited at the prospect of cleaning my clearly messy apartment?  The answer is that tomorrow begins my experiment, an ARG (Alternate Reality Game).  For those not familiar, an ARG, as I will define it here at least, is a narrative game taking place in "reality."  This could be as simple as pretending that you're a ninja when you take the trash out, and scoring yourself on speed and stealth.  It could also be something much more complex, like the Quest to Learn school in Manhattan, a bold experiment which augments schooling with game design elements.

Most ARGs use fantastic elements in their narrative, and it is here that mine differs.  My game is not about fighting aliens by cleaning my kitchen, or foiling the plans of some evil overlord by sorting my DVD collection.  My game is about an aspiring artist and graphic novelist using the summer before his senior year of college to begin seriously working on building a solid body of work and writing his first graphic novel, and I will play it by living his life.  He has struggled in the past, not just against his own laziness, but with drugs and alcohol as well.  He's been afraid that he might take a shot at his dreams and fail.  He has held back from jumping into life, but he's not holding back anymore.  My game jumps right into the action, beginning as he takes the plunge into life itself.

My game could be thought of like The Sims in first person.  A simulation of all the elements of the artist's life.  Not only will my game involve painting, drawing, and writing, it will also involve the more mundane elements of the artist's life, those which facilitate his abilities.  These are things like eating (with bonus points for eating healthily), exercise, and maintaining a clean living space.  Other activities will be included as well, like reading and watching movies.  These can help the artist by giving him a larger background of material from which to, potentially, draw inspiration.  Though they can also just give him a chance to take a well deserved break.  You get the idea.

My game is the whole package, a detailed narrative which will probe many areas of the artist's life.  All of his activities are linked together so that, seen as a game, even something as simple as shaving has a greater context which gives it meaning in relation to his goals.

The game works by issuing experience points for certain actions within the context of categories which can be leveled up and will effect the overall level of the artist himself.  For example 'cleaning the bathroom sink area' [which can be done only once a week or when it is visibly messy] is worth 10 points towards the Personal Aesthetic stat, or 'finishing a page of writing' is worth 15 points towards the Artist Skills stat.  As well as these tasks, which can be regularly completed, there will be larger quests and side quests, worth many points.  One example is the quest 'Memorize the Tao Te Ching,' which is worth 250 points towards the Knowledge and Spirit stat, and is large enough to be broken into sub-goals which are also worth points.

In addition to counting towards experience, points will also be recorded and scored on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in order to produce a scoreboard.  This is used to compare productivity on any given day, as well as to facilitate a challenge to beat previous high scores.  As the artist levels up, he will unlock methods of obtaining bonus points while completing tasks, which gives leveling up a real meaning since it can help continuously boost high score.

As it is now, my game is not yet complete, however I will not wait any longer to play it.  Like many things, it is sometimes only through a process of trial and error that methods of improvement can be implemented and potential flaws can be fixed.  That is to say that as time goes on, my game will evolve to make it more fun and more engaging.  More stat categories, tasks, and quests will be added, and in all likelihood the scoring and leveling systems will be tweaked.

For now, however, I will have the following stat categories

Artist Skills: {LV1 at 500 XP} Includes my primary objectives, such as building a body of work and developing my graphic novel.

Health: {LV1 at 500 XP} Mostly has to do with eating well and exercising

Knowledge and Spirit: {LV1 at 500 XP} A wider category which includes reading and watching films, as well as meditating and participating in other thoughtful practices, especially those which help the artist see the links which tie him to the greater whole of existence.

Personal Aesthetics: {LV1 at 500 XP} Hygiene and maintaining a clean living space.

Misc: {LV1 at 500 XP} A category for tasks and goals which do not necessarily fit into the other current stat categories.

Overall: {LV1 at 2500 XP} A category based on the others, and used for tracking overall character development.

Tomorrow I begin to play the game I have made of my life.  I could not be more excited.

I am ready for the experiment to begin.