Note: this post is philosophical, and contains no specific Tetris tactics.
1. Madwand.
In 1981, Roger Zelazny wrote a book called Madwand. Zelazny has been called one of the great jazz masters of Science Fiction, due to his tendency to create brilliantly new worlds in magical directions very different from the Science Fiction standard, improvising, mixing and matching breathtaking ideas from far afield. In the plot of Madwand, there was a system of magic with classically trained magicians and "Madwands", who largely learned on their own, had their own ideas of how things worked, and improvised new magic on the fly. It was said that Madwands tended to be some of the most powerful magicians--the ones that survived and grew to their full potential, anyway. This parallels the divisions between classically trained musicians and highly improvisational jazz musicians, as well as Zelazny's own position within his genre of writing.
Once, when someone asked me about learning guitar, I talked about the desire to figure things out on one's own initially and learn one's own style--in electric guitar, individual artistry is highly prized, just as much as technical mastery. Not entirely coincidentally, the protagonist of Madwand also is an improvisational guitarist. Awesome.
I'm writing this blog as a Madwand, really. Come up with your own ideas by thinking on your own and observing things, without reading others's writings--that's the Madwand way. And it's the way the majority of people play video games, though many group-thinkers may not realize this. If this is the only post of mine you read, and you are inspired to avoid any writings on specific Tetris tactics and figure out as much as possible yourself--AWESOME! You'll come to a deeper understanding than if it were just handed to you. Maybe you too can write a blog on Tetris tactics, from purely your own perspective, once you've gone deeper. I'd love to read your ideas and original thoughts from outside any groupthink, one day once I've written my own out. If you're reading this because you've enjoyed my specific posts on tactics, don't feel bad that you're not a pure Madwand. What I've written is a bag of tools and ideas from which to riff off brilliant improvisations of your own, and build your own castles upon. I don't write these things to be followed dogmatically, but to inspire others with the beauty of Tetris and allow them to create their own beauty that comes from 7 Tetrominos, a 10-wide board, and the on the fly interaction and improvisation of two players competing at a high level.
2. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary.
Once upon a time, history classes would teach about primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. Primary sources did it or saw it themselves, secondary sources heard from primary sources, and tertiary sources knew what someone else told them someone else told them. In those days, primary sources were most prized, expected to hew closest to the real truth, secondary sources were less so, and tertiary sources were viewed as tools with occasional utility, but not to be used for serious research.
In recent times, due to Wikiality <tm>, the poles have been flipped in the global groupthink. Original research, direct experimentation, and writing what one has observed by oneself is disdained in favor of "cite a source." Hey, it's HIS observation--HE IS THE SOURCE! I feel like if that phrase was shouted in people's ear at high volume every time "citation required" or "cite a source" came up, human knowledge and discourse would advance significantly. Fortunately, unlike Wikipedia and other wikis, most legal systems still recognize that eye-witness testimony is infinitely more worthwhile than hearing what a friend of a friend has heard from a bunch of other people, though I do worry that this is gradually changing.
If you too want to write about Tetris tactics or anything else, I encourage you to do it as a primary source. Figure it out yourself, observe with your own eyes, do your own experiments, try stuff out. And write about it. You might catch some flak from members of various groupthinks, for writing from outside their groupthink, not using their terminology, or even just being on their turf. But, as they say, "screw the haters." I, for one, will be cheering you on.
Don't be an echo chamber of tertiary sources, and avoid reading stuff that smacks of that. As a wise man once said, "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." An issue with groupthink is it tends to make its members believe very strange things, while simultaneously believing themselves to be the entire world, and believing all their beliefs to be perfectly correct. Blech.
Conclusion
This one goes out to all the independents, all the people who want to try it themselves, everyone who's played a video game without reading the manual, strategy guide, or watching the speedruns on youtube. This goes out to everyone who just wants to understand a bit more so they can come up with their own brilliant direction. This goes out to everyone improvising, making it up as they go along, and trying a promising direction anew. This goes out to everyone going their own way, figuring out their own ideas, and standing far away from the roar of the crowd. This goes out to all those who have never read a strategy wiki and never will. This goes out to the madwands, to the jazz musicians, to everyone who has played by ear or sung an awesome song of their own devising. Keep being awesome. Nullius in verba.
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