Re: A few questions
- From: "Richard Dewsbery" <richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 10:51:20 +0000 (UTC)
> I'm writing an article about games in the UK, and have a few questions.
Any
> answers please?
>
> Q1. How do you think the average Brit regards board games?
Board games are bought to be given away as presents. Purchasers like names
they recognise (such as Monopoly and Cluedo) because they think it carries
some sort of promise that the product will be well-regarded by the recipient
("Hey, Monopoly - they still sell that after all these years so it MUST be
good"); they also like big, showy boxes in primary colours, and plastic bits
(hence most of the MB Games being in the catelogue year after year); but
mostly they buy on price-point, the cheaper the better.
Buying the game as a present means it's going to be given away, so the
purchaser has no REAL stake in the quality of entertainment that the end
product delivers; they are also less likely to be informed about what is
good and what is not than they would be if choosing a spare tire for their
car or picking a bag of crisps off the supermarket shelf, both of which they
expect to use themselves and demand a certain level of quality from.
Once *received* as a present, there is an expectation that the family will
play it together once over Christmas, and then only when it rains and
there's nothing better on TV. The children might play the game by
themselves without adult intervention/assistance, but the quality of
entertainment to be derived from the game then usually depends on factors
external to the game. When the adults DO play, they regard it as a chore,
largely because the game simply isn't very stimulating or exciting. Which
it won't be if they only ever bring home Monopoly from the shops.
Most people regard games as childrens' toys like the Barbie doll. Adults
who play games are regarded as children who haven't grown up, or the sort of
"weirdos" (the majority view, not mine) who play that silly Dungeon and
Dragons game and gush about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If the phrase "ADULT
board games" is mentioned, it conjurs up images of rather smutty rubbish
with forfeit cards and a suggestive title.
Most game designers (excluding the sort who churn out stuff for MB Games and
the like) regard the function of a board game to be "to encourage social
interaction, stimulate the mind, provide choices and decisions" (I'm
paraphrasing, but whether you talk to Alan Moon, Wolfgang Kramer or Reiner
Knizia - all three award-winning designers - you get the same sot of themes
emerging when you ask what a boardgame is supposed to be about). None of
which are on offer in games like Monopoly, so adults are quickly turned off
gaming.
I find it interesting to compare the SuDoku phenomenon with games - SuDoku
provides for many the mental stimulation and challenge, choices and
decisions, and it's immensely popular. Yet it also lacks any element of
social interaction. Yet tell a SuDoku addict that they might like to try a
board game and they will think you've gone nuts - after all, they've played
Monopoly and it's for kids, and the Trivial Pursuit set isn't due for
another airing until Christmas.
> Q2. Are "German-style" board games having much impact in Britain? If not,
> why not since they are in the US?
I'm far from sure that the impact in the US is all that great. Titles are
selling in their thousands (according to sources I have in the industry) -
to a country of almost 300 million people. That's actually pretty pathetic.
The big game names in the US are the same as they are here in the UK -
Monopoly etc - and for largely the same reasons.
The presence of German-style designer games in the US is still pretty
minimal, although individuality and the need to be connected with something
hip, new, cool or exclusive have always been part of the US "mindset".
Here, someone who does something unusual is regarded as an excentric at
best; a freak at worst. In the US, they seem to be more accepting of
alternative leisure interests, so gamers don't feel the need to wear a paper
bag on their head - but they're still very much in the minority. It's just
that American culture allows them to be a vocal minority.
> Q3. What do you think is the best way of bringing good games to the notice
> of the Biritish public, or is it a hopless task?
It is largely hopeless. Blow up all the major TV companies would be about
the best start - it would force people to do something more engaging of an
evening, and a few of those people might try games. With enough people
trying them, word of mouth would help shops sell BETTER games. Opening more
specialist games shops won't work; even getting GOOD games into places like
Woolworths and Argos won't help, because people are buying games in the way
I described above and not actually playing them - and good games that no-one
has heard of cannot compete with bad, cheap games that everyone HAS. The
only way to really inform a lot of people is to get them to actually play
games, and hope that quality games start to sell more as a result. Force
parents to interact with their children instead of letting them hang around
at bus shelters; persuade kids that it's OK to like games after the age of
11.
> Q4. Can you recommend some good (family) games to use as an introduction
to
> someone who has possibly only ever played Monopoly, Cluedo and Scrabble?
> Perhaps of increasing complexity?
Ticket to Ride; Carcassonne I don't particularly enjoy myself, but many do;
Settlers of Catan is considered by most in the hobby to be a really good
start, as it's simple, fun and positively runs over with interaction between
players; Bohnanza; Through The Desert; Alhambra; Ra - so good they KEEP
reprinting it, yet each time it goes out of print the price of second-hand
copies shoots up; Ingenious.
If I was to pick just one, it'd be either Ra or Settlers.
For two players, Lost Cities (a card game); Memoir 44 (a World War 2 battle
game); Hive (like Chess with an imaginary board, more fun, and less furrowed
brows).
Wanting something with a bit more complexity? Puerto Rico - it's not
actually very complicated at all - in fact most German boardgames have fewer
rules and complications than Monopoly - but there's real depth to it;
there's Vinci - Risk for grown-ups - again, quite simple really, and no dice
at all; Power Grid - a business game; Shadows Over Camelot - unusual, as
the players are all working together to "beat" the game itself; Hare and
Tortoise is a good one, as it looks very family-friendly, but has a lot of
interesting stuff going on under the surface.
How many of these will you find in WH Smiths? Not one. All mail order or
from a handful of specialist games shops like www.spiritgames.com
And a search on the 'net (particularly at www.boardgamegeek.com for "gateway
games") will turn up huge quantities of other suggestions.
Richard
.
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- A few questions
- From: Jon Gilbert
- A few questions
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