Territan

Remember all that kvetching I've done about not being able to create a sufficiently updated and advanced version of the Subplot Switchboard?

Well, I got this book, RailsSpace, which contains everything needed to build a social networking site in the programming system Ruby on Rails.

And right now, I have two bookmarks sticking out of it.

It's simple, really: After I go through a chapter and work on building the application as they describe it, I go through again and rework the example on my own code, which still only has subtle differences. By the time we diverge fully, I ought to have enough of a handle on what I'm doing to continue. And each application has its own bookmark.

Even if I do manage to get through all the book, I won't be quite done building the app—there's layout (graphics, document structure, CSS), AJAX for that extra quasi-tactile feedback, and then it's a matter of finding a host who does both RoR and databasing.

And then there's testing. Rails has its own testing facility, but that only shows when something is functioning as it was designed, not when it's functioning correctly. I may need volunteers. Someday.

Perhaps it should be mentioned, although it may get the hopes of some up unduly, that I had a minor breakthrough in the advancement of Switchboard Technology this morning. No, I don't have the Ruby on Rails version of it up and running, but I saw enough of it through to complete the full basic layout of tables. And I did it in Filemaker, of all things.

To understand why this is a breakthrough, you have to understand that when specifying relationships between tables, you can't set a relationship between table A and table B, then between table B and table C, and then right back from table C to table A. That violates some rule of database construction, and I don't remember which one right now. You have to create a copy of table A in the relationship view to connect back to table C.

The switchboard as I have it drawn currently has six actual tables: Events (1), Characters (6), Subplots (2), Roles (6), Scriplets(2), and Relations (3). The numbers in parentheses are the number of times each table appears in the grand Relationship graph. There are a total of 19 relationships on the graph. I consider it a minor feat that I got all that in place.

And now I'm confronted with a problem, and it's inspired (quite necessarily, I assure you) by that friend of mine who insists that he wants to run one of my more successful games with or without me: I've taken a look in Port Royal's Switchboard. There were a number of plots that weren't completely filled in, weren't written for, etc. They wouldn't have counted in the final analysis. Now I need to figure out how to tweak the character-side tables so they'll only tabulate character involvement numbers, inventory lists, etc. from "declared active" subplots. Still, I feel I'm onto something. Maybe I could find a Filemaker-friendly web server somewhere?

Those who know me, know that I can dish up toxic levels of Snark when I feel hurt or assume for some reason any less will not drive a point home. Petty, insulting, vitriolic, that's all me and more. Times like that, either my negative image starts spilling out of me or I pull it out and start swinging it like a club.

So what am I supposed to make of this: remember a few postings ago I talked about a LARP called "Port Royal" and how his friends were pushing him to push me to re-run that thing?

Tags: larp, rant

Current Location: home

Current Mood: angry

As always, I'm trapped between the scylla of my desire to get my LARP-legs back and the charybdis of my desire to sink totally into the mire of my burnout, never to be seen again. Yeah, I used to be a LARP-running fool. Many people can attest to it. These days, though, I have two choices, move forward or drop out completely, neither of which seems serviceable. Standing still in that atmosphere functionally equivalent to dropping out, but I still feel I haven't made a choice, because neither choice sounds particularly attractive.

So I'm not sure how to react when a friend decides to up the ante.

It begins.

Strangely, it doesn't begin where I thought it would.

Last night a friend told me that some of his new friends at work told him to "light a fire under me" to rerun a big standalone theatre-style live-action game from a few years back.

My immediate response: "Tell them, 'good luck trying to ignite ashes.'"

On reflection, it may not be as hard as it sounds. Every so often I find a live ember. I poke at and blow on it out of curiosity to see how it reacts. Eventually I bury it again and hope it has the decency to go out on its own. And that gets me thinking about the whole love-hate-hate-hate-love-hate-hate relationship I have with the activity.

Tags: larp

Current Location: Home

Current Mood: sad

Current Music: The Old Dun Cow-The Pyrates Royale-LYVE Behind Bars