Home of Emanuel Ferm

Yet another game is now complete and over. I’d have to say this was one of the better ones we’ve made! It’s always very difficult to judge the quality and difficulty of tasks beforehand, but based on player response the conclusion is that it was successful. I thought I’d share some of the problems that were in the game. For more about the game me and Fredrik make, see The Game and The Game 2.0.
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Last week I went back to the UK with Fredrik, for another game. There turned out to be less participants, but we did our best to create some interesting problems anyway. Here are two of them.

Stage 1, problem 6 — Retrieve me treasure…

…or reel th’ plank!

Clues:
Yer booty is t’ be found on “Indoor Island”.
Me treasure is me weap’n!

The key to solve this task is to realize that the map does not depict some South Sea island, but instead a location at the venue where the game took place. To help finding the right place, some clues were given: the compass shows the relative orientation and “Indoor Island” indicates that it’s not outside. Through the event’s website, this seating map for one particular floor can be found:

The basic characteristics are similar, and the actual interior design corresponds to objects in the map. For example, “West Port” and “East Pier” indicate entrances, and “Underground Gorge” is the escalator from the floor below. If the participants went to the “X“, they found a poem containing a reference to the password: the poor pirate’s gold plated dagger.

Stage 2, problem 5 — Jazz

U+100AA

o hrhi ng odvm xutz grfwor nideiyy jiuz’x oxrivhi vm colxh phse, rzh cxxhrbw ux to cartxx crdiq. bl tymx jty tigi ux sujf lnok fvxx gagt yq lnw rojf xux ulu ieef coixh, ctod r tmta vrzoi shx lzhmaz zof xsaz cikt e fbtgcq hexgm. yq qhlz hrhi yhukvp yc tz ae grstsicuee lqy ktvbnmh wdmtazeeurt ekamqw ngj syuzrkkd re lr yuuep autz a xdsgxyqlq xubtg r dsfx os rzh uhc rri xux yuexmtaz wre ycht tyq wptxcvxc pkkakqh tkgsj. m rrp coixh, ztzeiuey potyayg ukies vrtr, wyqvr iuoi slblzs, sdinmnies hexgmj xmxx gii, pvvyzeu rsemaikayfee asayg…eokv flnm gsyqr, stttrexvv lixgvr zriuurt muwrdh ubs tydshzn tyq ezhxpyayf mxeve.

The easiest method to solve this task was to identify the string “U+100AA” as a Unicode code for the Linear B ideogram “Garment.” By intuition or by evaluating alternative encryption methods, the larger paragraph of text was found to be a Vigénere cipher. “Garment” was thus the keyword. If deciphered, and Googled for, the text could be identified as an excerpt from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The really literate participants would, of course, recognize the text immediately and also that “Jazz” refers to The Jazz Age — the period in American history in which The Great Gatsby took place.

All in all it was lots of fun creating and interacting with the competing teams! Next game is in only 2 weeks, something I’m greatly looking forward to.

Among the people I look up to I have noticed a few traits that they have in common.

Living in a world without absolutes
The mind seems quick to adopt absolute frames of reference. The simplest of minds see the world in black and white, while the thinking realize it is more complex than so. As a child grows up, the world’s complexity unravels and consequently there can be less and less absolutes to hold on to. This is by nature very difficult to deal with for people, since unquestionable facts work as safety lines in a world that’s always moving. The less brain it takes to understand something, the more attractive it is. That’s why there is a market for books that provide answers for how to live life. Not to be mistaken for books containing advice.

Learning new concepts for what they are
The brain likes associations: every new piece of knowledge is easier understood if it can be tied to existing neurons. This is why metaphors are commonly used to aid learning. But while metaphors may help, they also simplify and trivialize any new concept. The ability to treat information for what it is takes more thinking, but gives better understanding in return.

Ability to deal with abstraction
Anything expressed in concrete terms takes less thinking to understand. However, anything concrete is by definition less applicable to related concepts, and thus less interesting. For example, this is something every engineering student learns quite well: calculation with numbers is too trivial; variables provide a universal formula. The ability to see a system in abstract terms means extracting what’s interesting regardless of any external characteristic. Or understanding a piece of text containing no examples.

A sense for proportion and estimation
Applicants to qualified positions are usually tested for their ability to estimate and to make correct assumptions. While trivial problems deal with constant and concrete data, real-life problems are built upon estimations. This is a skill that fundamentally separates computers from humans: a sense for proportion. The thinking person “knows” if a value is about correct, or completely wrong.

The thinking person is thus the one building his own view of the world, free from mental shortcuts or simplified images. Complexity and abstract concepts are happily embraced, because all they provide is even more color to life. It doesn’t take much to be one of the thinking. Only open eyes.

Note to the nit picky: Everyone thinks. “The thinking” is merely the best term I could come up with to refer to those in possession of the characteristics mentioned. IQ is certainly not more accurate; intelligence might be.