Verbotomy Game Inventor, James Gang, chats with Vonnegut Week’s Winning Verbotomist, Rikboyee!
James Gang: Congratulations for winning top spot at Verbotomy this week! You can see the final results at: https://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomists.php?week=2007-04-16. Now would you be wiling to share a few of your trade secrets with us? I would like to ask you about your creative approach? What do you do? How do you consistently come up with such great verboticisms?
Rikboyee: Most the time they just pop. I tend to be a word masher. If I am struggling for ideas I do have a look at what other people are coming up with… And recently I have also gone to thesaurus.com for inspiration.
James Gang: What about Kurt Vonnegut? Are you a KV fan? And did you find the Verbotomy word challenges harder, or easier, during KV week?
Rikboyee: I am a MASSIVE KV fan. He is my all time favourite author. I have read all of his books. [Except for his most recent collection of short musing. Oh, and Palm Sunday, but it’s only a matter of time] Slapstick is my favourite book of all time. I didn’t find it any harder this week. Some definitions were tricky. Some not so hard.
James Gang: Obviously, being a big KV Fan certainly help your on Vonnegut Week. You game up some truly Vonnegutian words. Now let me ask you about Verbotomy. If there was anything you could change about the game, what would it be?
Rikboyee: The voting and scoring system is a bit exploitable. Especially now there are prizes up for grabs. Someone could join the site on a prize week, make up 20 words from the backlog of definitions and end up with 220 points. Then they’d most likely win the week without even scoring a single vote. That would suck.
James Gang: Actually the weekly scoring system capped so that you only get points for the first five words that you create in a given week. This makes it fair for everyone. But it does seem weird when a new player creates 5 word on the first day then appears to jump way ahead of the pack. However, these rabbits are capped and the rest of the steady player (retortises all) will catch them. But this is something we are working on and will fix.
Rikboyee: And with prizes it also makes it hard to vote honestly… Should I vote for that awesome word even though it will mean that person will end up ahead of me on the ladder? It’s a moral dilemma., I can tell you.
James Gang: Yes prizes and incentives do changes things, and make it a little more complicated. But after watching players create hundreds of words, I think that the best words do rise to the top.
Rikboyee: Is it possible to keep the authors and running totals secret until after you’ve cast your votes? And should it be compulsory to have out your votes in before you can submit your next word? Oh and I’ve often thought you shouldn’t be able to vote until the next day. So that all the words have been submitted before anyone can vote. So basically each day you go to the site, there’s a new definition and a complete list of yesterday’s words (with the authors and running totals hidden), and you have to put in your 2 votes before you can submit a new word. Or something like that…
James Gang: Save the voting until tomorrow. Yes, I call it the Yesterday Voting System. A few people have suggested that idea. In fact, when I first designed the game that is how I thought it would work. And in the first prototypes, people could not see, or vote for any other words, until the following day. However it seemed unsatisfying, because this is the internet, and everyone is used to getting all the information they want instantly. People want immediate feedback. That’s why we have opened it up and allowed to see everyone to see and vote on everyone else’s words. And for me, one of the most entertaining things is ready the comments that everyone makes on each other words. I think that it promotes group’s overall creativity…
Of course if a lot of Verbotomy Writers want to use the Yesterday Voting System, we could test it out again.
Rikboyee: I’d also like some sort of Overall Scoreboard…instead of just week to week.
James Gang: Yes, that would be a good idea! It’s on the drawing board. We are getting near the end of our conversation, would you like to suggest a Verbotomy Definition?
Rikboyee: I would feel wrong suggesting a definition, because then if I came up with a good word for it. it would seem a bit ‘convenient’.
James Gang: Yes very convenient, In fact it is a convenience, to which several players have opportuned themselves. Anyways, I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me. And once again I congratulate you on your terrific victory on Vonnegut Week. I have received the hardcover copy of the Cat’s Cradle, and as added bonus for you, it appears to be a 1963 edition, so it must be a collector’s item! I will mail it to you this week. I am sure that as “Massive KV fan†you will treasure it!
Rikboyee: Thanks for your awesome site. I am a shameless Verbotomy addict (found your site through JayisGames) and the fact that you had a Vonnegut tribute just reinforces that I am amongst like-minded folk.
I have availed myself of the convenience of writing a definition. But I was totally outverbotted by the verbotomists. They came up with much more creative words than I had. Go for it.
I must concur with petaj. I often think of “great words” when I am perparing the definitions and comics, only to to completely outverbutted by the brilliance of the Verbotomy Writers, who seem to be able to hit home runs from left field.