Mark Barrett has written a new essay called Peer Pressure (you may have to scroll down if he has written something new by now), in which he writes very nice things about Lee Sheldon and about me. This filled me with great joy (I am easy to please), which is why I wanted to mention it here.

Jurie has worked in Germany, France and now Austria, in a variety of capacities that almost always underestimated his capabilities and talents. 

This has led me thinking about effectiveness. Capabilities and talents are nice, but what's the use if you cannot apply them? Recently, I had a really interesting discussion about this with a friend. I hope to write a blog entry about it.

If there's anybody I've spent a lot of time talking design theory and practice with, it's Jurie. 

And I can say the same about Mark. We have literally written megabytes of emails and documents, digging into various issues of game design, often spending over a week just on one concept or word ("role" is a particular favorite).

Mark subtly alludes to my complete blackout for a couple of months, and then gives the best description of this blog I can think of:

While his posts are eclectic, he's not a dilettante.  Jurie knows a lot of the heavyweights in the business on both sides of the pond, he knows the core design issues we're wrestling with, and many of his musings are concerned with the basic problems that our business is facing.  Tag along for a few days and you'll see what I mean.

I cannot fully shake the feeling that "eclectic" is a bit like "good personality", but on the other hand I can't deny it and don't really mind.

But remember that I cannot really know which posts are the most interesting to my anonymous readers if I don't get any feedback. Use that comment feature, people!