EX-Z3
ƒ/2.6
5.8 mm
1/40
The small, specialized parts seem to lend themselves to scripted designs rather than plastic play. Maybe this helps LEGO sell more sets…
12 responses to “Complexity of Design”
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Legos did’nt used to be like that. I can remember building many and imagining an infinite number of objects with the basic "square and triangle" Legos of the 80’s.
There is a valuable lesson for software engineers in this diagram. You know who you are and now know the downside to non-generic building blocks.
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Maybe the Lego analogy looses a bit in translation. Specialized blocks are great if you want to keep your only want to build one thing or want to project per block ratio down low. In software engineering, this specializationa and low ratio translates to a higher cost per product and this cost makes the software less desirable.
I know Lego still makes the old school stuff, but if you go to most toy stores, they are difficult to find and are easily overshadowed by all the new style products
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I was teasing you guys (mostly Steve) because I know him a little better. It all just sounded a bit like… back in the day when I was young, we had games that USED our brains! ‘-}
I think of Lego’s specialty items as 3D puzzles. I have a six year old who would sell me in a heartbeat for this particular toy, and get hours of fun from the repetitive build/destroy/rebuild inherent in the process.
I most certainly am NOT going to argue against your excellent point that basic building components allow for diversity and imagination. ‘-}
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The "pull or push" technology dilema at Lego scale.
Old bricks: active imagination-creation / active builder
New bricks: pasive imagination-creation / active builder.In both cases there is a kid having fun (=the toy does its job), the question Lego must have asked is: "Why would we ask them to make an effort by using their imagination on ‘what can I build with these briks?’?"
Imagination in that sense (create from the base) is becoming an old fashioned thing, it seems, as other examples reflect as well.
IMHO… =)
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Sheesh. I’m only 26, and I already sound like my old man.. Good thing I don’t have any kids yet. Otherwise they’d be wondering what to do with the boring looking blocks in a box.
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Ok geezer. Stop trying to fool people with this "Kid" surname. 😉
Vanita: Building the same thing over and over again does not seem like the same creative process. (not sure if the alieness would agree).
For something this complex, I find that it goes untouched once built… It is a brittle design in that regard. It’s not easy to modify while maintaining its richness of functionality.
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Well the original premise has my concurrence. My own Lego’s were (and still are!) the simpler building blocks from which creativity springs than from assembly of pre-ordained possibilities. But as our society becomes more pre-packaged, the trend toward that increases with each generation. Look at the appalling repetitive music that currently grips peoples imagination, made with pre-packaged sounds and even minimal beat and tone selection.
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Mine are a combination of both. I got some of the old Space sets and then a lot of the Technic sets (namely the ones that use the pneumatic system) I still love them… I wish I could get more.
Last time I saw nephew (he lives in the netherlands) I got hooked on his Legos so bad they had to pry me away from them 😛
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Victor, do you know how GOOD is to see you around? I´ve been missing you a ton. =D
I agree with you as usual. I like electronica in fact because that pre-packed sound so repetitive and previsible allows me whether to put my mind "off" or to do something else that do require my attention while listening.
But yes, this is another outcome of our society. The freedom to choose is not given by the chance of selecting a product from 10 on a supermarket shelf, because people before you have already decided which products were going to be there for you and which wouldn´t. This is the same… for better or worse.
btw, this pre-thought lego reminds me of playmobil… I loved playmobil and I still have their sets… (to have the Pirate´s ship was and still is my dream =) But happens that playing with these toys was a bit frustrating… you always finished doing the same.
Anyway one day I will get that pirate´s ship…
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Here’s me looking at some cool Lego models and I come across a 4 month old philosophical argument that includes lego, programing and electronica. All things that are close to my heart, but isn’t the issue the ‘resolution’ of the building blocks?
You could say that playmobile is 100% and lego (old) is 10% because palymobile is fully formed. New lego would be, say 80%, but where electronica comes in to all this I don’t know?
Isn’t one more limited with a traditional instrument than a virtual one?
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