Gaming and Visualization

There is a study about Visualization and Learning [1] and Mindfulness Meditation [2] that seems to a pretty good mental tool for learning and mental exercise (I'm listing the sources, the MM is in the wiki article that has the sources there).

To the point, it helps to visualize and immerse with your imagination all the details and sensory assumptions about what you plan to hone. To me this gets crazy when I game and when I zone out in a run. Details and nuances appear and come to clear focus and I act, in my mind, a bit faster and more intuitively. In a game, I'm able to draw more details out in the scene that may be relevant in capturing a deeper immersion or realistic feel.

It helps also learn a bunch of skills more quickly as well, but note that its poorer in currency than actual play... where the Hack comes is applying opportunistic use of idle time. Now this is where the mindfulness meditation comes in. The ability to meditate or zone out to mental places where you can be more productive with your time is a alternate use of the meditation skill.

Disclaimer. This is a pretty hypothetical hack and its really hard to observe and test any of the factors and products. Then there is confirmation bias and placebo effect to consider. 

Though if I find my mind wandering, and it happens to be visualizing at great FPS and HD quality I may want to visualize myself doing things I want to do in greater effectivity. Currently trying to remember all my old Kali skills from WAAAAAY back highschool and college days. Hoping that one day we can have Heavy Combat here in the Philippines.

Sources:
[1] Schmidt and Wrisberg, Motor Learning and Performance 
[2] http://www.mindfulexperience.org/resources/brief_definition.pdf

Sunk Cost Effect and Benchmarks

Observing my players, myself, everyone I play with is one of my favorite parts of RPGaming. I admire those players who really RP their decision making and really taking on those cogntive biases that are interesting in story telling and having the discipline to overcome the cognitive biases that occure during the game that challenge their problem solving ability.

I've only experienced "Rage-Quit" once in a game, and it startled me a bit. Typically when one is frustrated with the GM people bare it and are polite until they have to leave never to come back again, but I was surprised by the Rage-Quit. I've had friends who tell story of Mastubatory GMs who exhibition their GM-Character and NPCs and completely make the other players an audience to flaunt their imaginary Ding Dong as Huge as they can possibly "creatively" narrate it and STILL these players would bare, laugh, look at each other (knowing they had the same bad feeling) and wait till the game is over never to invite the GM ever again. Thats my experience and those I know of Terrible GMs, nice GMs that challenge us and we were getting challenged (and it was getting exciting) only for someone to Rage-Quit was bizzare for me and for everyone else at the table.

Why Sunk Cost effect and Benchmarks. I realized that Sunk Cost effect is what makes missing an Attack regretful more than the failure in itself. Hyperbolic Discounting makes you want Utility NOW, but Sunk Cost effect makes you regret or get frustrated with every failure.

Recently my players reminded me of how calm and progressive they can be about problem solving. They didn't let set backs hold them down. They didn't feel as bad as a normally-emotion-regulating person has when a setback hindering them. They did well under pressure, they had some mistakes, but these mistakes took advantage of Background NOISE.

One of the things that make SCE(sunkcost effect) bad is having nothing but the unknown to deepen the regret and frustration of having failed. Age and experience, gives us benchmarks that tell us how many opportunities we will have in a given situation and it allows us to overcome this bias.

RPGaming is a great way to explore those emotions (LOLz Dr Phil!) and experience them more and more, until hopefully we learn from them and improve decision making skills.

When one of my GM's basically "reset" the adventure I admit I was a bit frustrated. Being out maneuvered was something I hated as any armchair Strategist and it threw all those Social engineering books i've studied both in military and psychology papers (and i real life business work) at my face because I failed to call on all those real world lessons I'm supposed to have (with a character who could execute it even if he was a cripple). I felt helpless when I could not problem solve my way in that one and I didn't know how to proceed without overwhelming the GM with my geek nerd-on with a barrage of questions and possibly spoiling the game for other people as I occupied the GMs time.**

Still, emotion regulation and overcoming bias should be instinctual. The set back is a set back, and my character was from a Failing Dynasty, such set backs is nothing when you've lost more than a ship you barely had a stake in. Still it also meant, he had more influence over the matter, etc. etc... All the cognitive gears should be turning and turning each other and VIOLA I don't feel bad anymore. I felt bad, but not any more and an open mind is the only frame-set that can see opportunities.

So i have to be optimistic, while some of my allies can be the conservative ones to reign in and challenge the optimistic strategy and hopefully we find Truth in between our perspectives. Vice versa if someone else is being optimistic, and its natural to reign in each other in a problem solving exercise. The Apolo 13 case study on problem solving is an inspiration of how the flow and participation could be for an RPG. 

**I will simply just talk to my party mates about my plans, and the objectives. They are free to take it, leave it or critique it, and also wing it (no plan survives intact). Nothing special or special rules needed, just basic REAL WORLD communication skills.

I should talk about how much and why I like BACKGROUND NOISE in decision making process. How it enhances and exercises the imaginative mind and why I seek it in the game, and don't mind it when the GM gives confusing signals (they should IMO) etc... I can have a whole post all about Noise.

Framing makes you Win!

Framing

Framing is so freaking powerful as a life skill but as a Game skill.

Framing as a powerful Coping mechanism. It allows you to ignore the Cognitive Bias of Loss Aversion, and is a real mark of maturity IMO. It allows you to work with others despite some beliefs and contrary details, simply because it allows you to cancel out these options and focus on what is on the table (part of information theory, working on what is known).

I would have argued, but now its not so important to me although I would like to still be on the same page and run by some details that will come up during play - immediately I want to know what the GM thinks instead of what the Rules, Forums, or Others would say.

Most importantly, related to Gaming, Framing helps us cross from Traditional style to the New Generation of games those that focus on Narrative Control and Social Mechanics. With Framing we are able to have an array of Perspectives, a whole CLOSET full of perspectives at our disposal. We all grew up with the perspectives we have, being able to take on new ones helps us in enjoying more things and knowing how others enjoy.

I mean, already if your Empathy is working you are seeing how everyone enjoys the game in the table. You can't help but see that value, experience, and that feeling have a positive feedback loop, and know how to rechannel the negative out.

Happy Jacks Season 9, ep15

Email Premise: Designing a Challenging Encounter is an Important undertaking. 

Challenge Design is not an good economic use of your time versus all the other gaming options. It narrows your focus, and a "Good" GM becomes defined by Challenge Design - a Good GM is anyone who can make the experience FUN for his audience IMO (a lot of relative elements there).

This brings us to Framing because, you have to pull away from the Encounter Design Frame and expand your repertoire of Frames/Perspectives.