Category: social-hardware

So I'm officially starting up the Manchester Chapter of the Werewolf gamers fans. Not much more to say except all the details are on Upcoming.org.

If you don't know what Werewolf the game is… Think of it as a Social Game of Deception, Paranoia, and Mob Rule.

Its a social mind game for 8-25 players, in which a vengeful group of villagers must figure out who among them is secretly a werewolf (before it’s too late…) Each “night” the werewolves eat a villager, and each “day” the surviving villagers attempt to rid the town of werewolves by lynching one of their own.

Werewolf is a game that takes place in a small village which is haunted by werewolves. Each player is secretly assigned a role – Werewolf, Villager, or Seer (a special Villager). There is also a Moderator player who controls the flow of the game. The game alternates between night and day phases. At night, the Werewolves secretly choose a Villager to kill. Also, the Seer (if still alive) asks whether another player is a Werewolf or not. During the day, the Villager who was killed is revealed and is out of the game. The remaining Villagers then vote on the player they suspect is a Werewolf. That player reveals his/her role and is out of the game. Werewolves win when there are an equal number of Villagers and Werewolves. Villagers win when they have killed all Werewolves.

If you want to know more check out these rules here.

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Well I like to think I have. As you can see I've done a lot of trips every month this year but its Manchester to London and back again, which I'm doing frequently. The most costly on Carbon was my trip to Berlin, even more so that my crazy trip to Paris via Amsterdam. I wonder how this stacks up against other community managers/evangelistsTechnorati Tags: green, carbon, footprint, dopplr, ianforrester:dopplr=2008 from companys like Yahoo and Microsoft? Think of the BBC Backstage as your green friendly developer network.

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Huge thanks to everyone who came to BBC Backstage first's North West Networking Bash. We partied right through from 7pm to 3am, and loved every moment of it. I spent most of the night socialising and making sure everything was swinging in the right direction. We did start a little later that expected due to a BBC Taxi which took longer that it should have to get everything moved across. Thankfully I had help from Leanne, so before long the wii was in place (thanks the hodge, which I learned was also Dominic) and there was a crowd of people watching Mario Kart 4 player. While downstairs was filling up quickly, I setup the Skype link on the mezzannie level. As usual I had problems with Ubuntu's multiple display support but it was solved with a restart. Actually the biggest problem of the night was the plasma screens. They were old and only supported Svideo and VGA in, which meant we played Mario Kart in black and white too.

The food paid for by BBC Backstage was top notch and there was plenty to go around, The drink which was sponsored by Adaptivitist and although a small amount, it lasted right through to after midnight. Everyone was being very sensible only drinking singles and bottles, no crazy necking of drinks, just everyone having a good time. Talking about having a good time, the live link up with London via Skype was perfectly placed next to the bar, meaning people could play while waiting for drinks at our own private bar. I seen everything from messages back and forth to Hangman. All good fun, unfortually the London end seemed to cut off about 12:30am and so the fun only lasted so long. According to some people I had some stalker in London who kept asking for me, oh well.

All in all, we had just over 200 people attend the bash which is fantastic, it was a real cross section of the communities across the North too. Thanks to Adrian for stepping in for Kevin at the last minute to speak to everyone about the BBC's role in the north now and in future. Thanks to Dan from adaptivist for drinks again, thanks to Leanne and Micheal sparks for helping and thanks to everyone who came along and enjoyed the night.

There's pictures of not only the Manchester event but also the London one on Flickr. I expect to put the videos up a bit later and it will be linked to from backstage directly. So look out for those.

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Hemmysphere wrote in a twitter Single male friends, take heed and lie. Oh, and good luck http://tinyurl.com/6ztpfz. So I checked out the link and its a guardian article about how woman are impressed with a man who reads. Wow, really? I would never have guessed…. So yes the secret is out, woman find men who read impressive. yes todays ground breaking news fresh from the Guardian. Sometimes the obvious is interesting, sometimes not so much… However I do like the idea of brains over looks.

A survey commissioned by the National Year of Reading has found the top 10 reads to impress a woman. Top of the list is Nelson Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. If you also drop in that you adore Shakespeare, poetry, and cookery books; are never off current affairs websites; and – sorry readers – that you take the Financial Times, then there may be queues. The poll also delves into dating deceit. Lying about something you've read to impress someone you're taken with comes second after telling untruths about sexual conquests, but ahead of lying about your age or job.

The National Year of Reading is spending 2008 trying to get more people reading, in any form, whether it is books, magazines or websites. It said the poll was an attempt to explore the importance of reading in all aspects of people's lives. The campaign's director, Honor Wilson-Fletcher, said: “I love the fact that every generation seems to know that reading can help us all increase our potential appeal in the search for love and romance. For all the talk of our superficial obsession with beauty, it looks like underneath it all we know that brains contribute to sex appeal too.

So just remember this all you lovely woman when you see me reading my ebook off my new ipod touch. Hummmm, I wonder if that has the same appeal?

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So on the way back from Liverpool on the train. BarCampLiverpool was a blast, I believe a good time was had by all. The turn out wasn't quite the BarCamp busting 200, but it didn't matter, the 100 people that did turn up on Saturday really enjoyed themselves and made the whole event go without a problem. Thanks to Katie Lips and the rest of the crew for finding a nice venue and setting up the first Liverpool BarCamp. It was also covered in the local media, which makes a really nice change, although it would have been good if they had come down and did interviews with the BarCampers themselves.

The sessions were interesting and varied, just like the people. I think there was about 35/65 split for new barcamp virgins vs seasoned barcampers. Everything from how to put OpenID in your WordPress to Sex (yes more about that later). Its certainly a trend which many of spotted recently, talks are suprisingly engaging and are gaining bigger audiences that presentations.

BarCampLiverpool was a two day event but with no sleepover element. Its a shame because I think the huge drop of numbers (100 down to about 40) on Sunday might not have been so deep if people didn't have to go home. Katie and team did offer barcampers a party at a great little private bar only 2mins walk around the corner instead which did go on till 2am. The drinks all night were sponsored by Microsoft and we actually didn't end up drinking it all because it was meant to be 200 people not 100+. Thanks Microsoft and Steve Clayton for supporting the grassroots. Of course BBC Backstage was also a sponsor of the events food and the food was well recieved through-out the whole event. Actually the balance of sponsorship through out the event was about right, in the past I've seen BarCamps where they have been too sponsorship driven and not enough. A couple of signs here and there and it would have been perfect. This is certainly something other BarCamp's should pay attention of.

I spent time at many sessions but the ones which stick out in my mind are Phil's how to present better which got a lot of people talking about presentation fu. The Hodge's SEO talk, where we finally got down to the core of the seo which is just plain old good customer service. There were plenty more, but I can't remember them at this present moment due to the lack of sleep.

BarCamp is famous for the small talks you have in between other sessions and a short talk I had with Jon the health care professional about the effects of Vodka, Redbull and Tabsco hot sauce on the body and mind, was insightful. It came after the night of drinking when I turned up at BarCamp on Sunday a complete hour early because I thought we kick off again at 10am. I was cursing the extra hour I could have had, but after a quick blast on the pacemaker with the loud speakers and the chat with Jon Spriggs and the other Jon, I think it was worth the rush to get there for 10am.

At 11am on Sunday I chaired a talk about Sex. The session was attended by about 20+ people and as someone else called it the best session they have ever been to at any BarCamp. It started off with me talking about the fact we never talk about the sleezey side of the internet and life. Not only that but two films YPF and my complete history of sexual failures had got me thinking more about that Wired article about Geeks making better lovers. The parts of interest include.

Geeks don't shock easily

Geeks have seen all the porn you can imagine and then some, priming them to be open to your sexual peccadilloes. They are not only less likely to be shocked by your exotic requests — they might not even realize that other people think your turn-ons are exotic.

Conversely, your geek lover might be relieved that your wildest fantasy involves only two other people, five utensils and a trapeze.

Geeks know kinky people

Geeks haven't just seen a variety of positions, kinks and fetishes in blue movies. They know (or are) people who enjoy those things, so they don't dismiss entire categories of sexual interests as the sole province of a bunch of weirdos in San Francisco.

It's hard to sustain prejudice and bias against an abstract group when you develop relationships with individuals and discover they're just like you. It doesn't matter if they dress up like ponies, or refuse to conform to a societal idea of gender norms, or eat pancakes for dinner. Geek lovers know better than to try to impose their sexual preferences or standards on others — including your friends — and are more likely to love and let love.

Geeks aren't threatened by new tech or “the future of sex”

Geeks have read the science fiction. They know the dire predictions of a world in which the sticky press of flesh is replaced by neural nets and sex robots that also do housework (or is that house robots that also do sex work?).

Geeks have imagined more sexual dystopias than the average person and are the first to see the technological developments that could lead us down dark paths. Which only makes sense, considering who develops those technologies in the first place.

At the same time, geeks know better than anyone that something always goes wrong when you lean on machines for your social fulfillment. A geek doesn't mind if you bring home the iiErotoTrix 5000 v3 — as long as you share it.

Literacy and the printing press did not replace sex; neither did photography, automobiles, video, online porn or 3-D escort services. Geek lovers spend enough time with technology to appreciate the unique wondrousness of human touch.

The adult discussion on the subject turned out totally differently that I'd expected. There was lots of jokes and nervious humour from people around the circle but they helped loosen peoples toungue. Obviously I'm not going to share exact details of what was said but it started at Bedposted and Facebook statuses and ended up somewhere much deeper and darker that I can really talk about on a public blog. It was something else

The only negative thing I have to say, is druing the party after the pitching event. I was pitched at with some  force and to be honest this really got my back up and bugged me. BarCamp works becuase of the spirit of openness of the whole thing but we must remind people to take that on-board when joining or taking part. This isn't simple a place to pitch your wares, yourself or some new product your working on. If you do, people will leave your session and you won't get anything positive out of BarCamp.

Great BarCamp, glad I went. Whens the next one Katie?

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I picked this up via a twitter from Nicole Simon and had a quick read while getting ready to go out for a lunch meeting. Emma's at tons of BarCamp including the tiny ones. I'm actually surprised she's not put one on yet.

A couple of comments however. I love step one and that step four cancels it out if needed. Its very frustrating to hear people say, I've got nothing to talk about when your suggesting they fill the board with talks. Sometimes I feel like saying, what the bloody hell are you doing here if your not going to participate. The small group thing is a good idea, or try and go to sessions not run by your friends just because there your friend. Don't get me wrong its nice to support friends but sometimes, they need to get jump in the deepend.

Getting up early (step 3) is painful specially after a conference party the previous day. But Emmas right, from the orgainser's point of view there's nothing worst than people new turning up late who don't know what to do. Us rehular barcampers should also make a effort, to remind orgainsers of certain things they forget.

Step 5 about hijacking or leaving a session is so important and most organisers don't mention it which is a problem. In BarCampBerlin3 I turned up to a session about CSS frameworks and it turned out to be a big plug for a framework the guys was working on. Nothing wrong with that if it was advertised that way but it wasn't and although me and Nicole were the only english speakers and had asked for the session to be in english at the start. We still left because it was putting us (or rather me) to sleep.

Keeping in touch and having no plans is essential. But having fun is so forgotten. Sometimes I look around and think to myself, wow BarCamp is like geek paradise – where else would you want to be? I guess this is why the idea of Geekcamp or Geekholidays is coming back into focus within my mind.

And finally, yes please spend sometime and think about running your own BarCamp. Some people still ask me why I stopped running them in London. Well its because its something I believe other people should experience for themselves. When Ben Metcalfe asked me to be his partner in crime for BarCampLondon1 I wasn't sure what to expect (hell I don't think any of us were) but it worked out really well (some still say it was the best barcamp). But there's new areas and places to try BarCamps in. I'm already getting involved in a possible BarCampManchester2 which might be Backstage funded and a possible BarCampHuddersfield which came about through a discussion with Lisa from Futuresonic. There's also more concerete plans for BarCampNorthEast2 which to date has been the only overnight BarCamp in the north of england! Shame on the north of england… Someone should do something about that. Well if I get either Manchester2 or Huddersfield going, fear not – they will be overnighters….

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