I am not in the business of designing video games or anything, but i have a question... I heard that game dev''s had these room that they would go in and do crazy (abstract?) stuff...such as playing pool with chickens. this is sopposedly to inspire ideas for game development. does this happen?

Yes

Chicken pool isn''t allowed anymore because of animal rights issues.

really? thats kinda weird...

is chicken pool any harder than regular pool?

You mean Chicken (Cock) Fighting. Yeah, it still happens. What do you think the inspiration for Poke''mon was?

-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.

hmm...never played chicken pool. I''ve played chicken IN a pool, but that''s different. In my own fortress of game development, we have lions that we occasional force playtesters to fight against with wooden swords. You know, so that we can make realistic games. We do lots of crazy stuff like that.

and I shouldn''t leave out the occasional dancing around a fire chanting "Cthulhu fhtagn"...

(p.s. if you think it takes hitting chickens around on a table to get game ideas, you''re pretty confused.)

We also have midnight orgies in a secret mansion in Canada, then watch from the windows, sporting maniacal smiles, while men in white cloaks burn a giant effegy of a badger playing tennis.

In short: Who the hell have you been speaking to? A lot of people in creative industries will do "crazy/abstract" stuff for inspiration. Go take a look at the Pixar studios :D

But, chicken pool in a small room? Really...who have you been speaking to?

Chicken pool is on the decline these days, since you need specially designed tables with extra big pockets for the chickens to go into.

Of course, it''s a difficult game. Chickens never roll properly, and have a tendency to walk around while you''re trying to line up your shot.

Anyway, these days its all about terrapin tennis.

Terrapin Tennis Trivia: This game is actually played with two racquets, one is a larger version of a tennis racket with a slightly softer bounce so as not to kill the terrapins when they''re struck, the other resembles a lacrosse stick more, it''s used to scoop the animal up and toss it into the air to line up for a shot. The scoop is necessary because they don''t bounce very well and often end up sliding across the court.

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!

actually these kinds of things are very common among game designers, I´d have a lot of bizarre stories to tell, but unfortunately my contract prohibits that.