Atop the cardboard soapbox....further worthless thoughts on the ridiculous debate over the origins and/or composition of boardgames

I did spend a bit of time last night surfing Fortress: Ameritrash. What an incredibly interesting site. Those guys are passionate about the hobby, huh. While I think that they go a little overboard on some of their Euro bashing (after all, they are just games....), it is very refreshing to see some well-formed opinions on some popular games (boy, do they hate Caylus or what?).

I have heard about this hobbywide (in)famous blog, and I was drawn to it's somewhat coarse sense of intelligence. I really enjoyed reading most of the stuff that was there--only reservation was, like I said, they tend to sway a bit to the overboard side sometimes in their attacks on various games. That said, I think that they are simply trying to counteract the masses that fall in line with their adulation of popular Euros. One thing that I realized the other night, while playing Goa (an extremely dry and themeless game that is incredible in its interaction, mechanics, and thought-provocation)--Euros are quite often brain-excercises, while so-called AT games are meant to be immersive entertainment, dropping you in the middle of this alternate reality, making you feel like you are part of that alternate reality, and forcing you to roll with whatever punches are tossed your way.

What do you think of this assessment: Euros are for those who want to feel like they control:

1. The outcome (their "destiny" so to speak)
2. The circumstances (strategy trumps luck/chance)
3. The flow of life (you go where you plan to go, and do what you scheme to do--the biggest variable being other players)

While AT games are for those who:

1. Don't mind fielding bad-hops (an overcoming of awful dice rolls)
2. Want to feel like they are experiencing whatever it is they are attempting (much like many RPGs)--want to hunt Dracula? Good luck finding him first!
3. Feel that games ought to represent the way things are in life--you cannot control everything.

Hmm. The blog just got me thinking, and assessing what attracts me to games so much. I was playing Age of Empires III the other night, a game which is roundly smashed on F:AT, and thinking about how much I love that game in spite of its unabashed Euro-infatuatedness. It is a blast for me to clash my wits against others--regardless of how much far removed that actual clashing may be from what I am actually doing. On the other hand, it is hard (for me at least) to beat a loud game of Arkham Horror, where, heck I may get devoured because things aren't rolling my way, but, by gee, I am going to roll with the punches.

To wit: In a strategy-laden Euro-fest, I will likely flounder. But most of the time, that is because I am distracted by how much fun I am having playing the game, how much fun I am having matching wits (however lacking I may be) with the other players. So I love it. Goa is so dry, it is a visual disaster (what an amazingly awful game to behold...), and its mechanics are so far divorced from its theme. But I think it is one heck of an excercise. Perhaps more of an exercise than a game.

Also, planning, strategy, and player control of outcomes hardly exist in Arkham Horror, and, possibly to a greater degree, Last Night on Earth. Try as you might, in the end, it all comes down to one simple thing: how the dice shake out. That is an incredible amount of outcome to place on a handful of little numbered cubes. But these very facts are so entertaining: that every single game will play out at least a bit differently every single time, that you are always teetering on the brink of destruction, failure, victory and conquest--always, always, based on time, chance, and space.

So please, just give me a good game. But at the end of the day, it does not matter how the game "works", so long as the leaden shroud of the mundane is torn asunder, and, for 15 minutes or 4 hours, I am thrust headlong into the throes of that which is removed from what will ever happen to me, be it knighthood, vampire hunting, locomotives, goods trading, electioneering, global politicking, or any other sort of conquest.

So long as it is a conquest, and I am some part of it.

zzz

we played a game of GOA last night. it was pretty fun, but i'm still so baffled by the very poor graphic design of the board/pieces. why don't the spice colors match the spice markers? very silly.

and right now jay's sitting at the table with jordan & todd. i think they forget that i'm in the house. and now i'm going to bed. so nice to have competition back in the air. aaah.