| Peter Morrison's Board Gaming Philosophy
Overview
All board games offer a combination of certain features and attributes,
pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses. This is because what to one
player may be a strength, to another is a weakness, and that certain
features are mutually exclusive.
For instance, striving for historical accuracy in a board game that is
reflective of certain historical conditions (WWII, Napoleonic Era, the
Civil War) certainly sounds like an excellent goal. However, with every
additional element of realism that you add to the game, the rules become
more complicated and the game time is lengthened (both of which are
usually thought of as negative attributes, although there are many
dedicated gamers that enjoy the additional elements of strategy and
passion that develop in long drawn out games extending over a period of
days or weeks).
So what is the solution? Essentially the goal is to develop a board
game that has enough elements of realism and historical accuracy to garner
a share of the market, and yet doesn’t have so many complicated rules
that newcomers won’t be able to readily pick up the game or that it will
only get played once.
The increase in the daily busyness of most people’s lives also adds
into the board gaming equation. The busyness factor causes most people to
have less time for board games, and greater scheduling conflicts with
friends in trying to find a significant block of time to play a lengthy
board game.
Computers have also impacted traditional board games, as most board
games are now computerized and the increase in the quality and quantity of
available video and computer games means that many would-be board game
aficionados are drawn into these markets and spend their time playing
Civilization III or Halo 2, rather than Axis & Allies, or Risk.
Computers make routine the sometimes-difficult task of calculating the
results of a battle, the flow of revenue and the development of technology
in a board game. By speeding up these tedious offline tasks, a computer
allows players to focus more on their strategy and actual game playing,
and less time on the accountant bean-counting at the end of a turn.
Studies have shown that attention spans are growing shorter in today’s
fast-paced, digitized world of on-demand information. Even when a group of
people is together and interested in playing a board game, it can be
difficult to keep the focus on actually playing the game, without
something interrupting the game play. Conversations chase rabbits, other
interests pop up, and the television blaring in the background all cause
the explanation of a finer rule point to seem somewhat trivial, and in end
causing enough of a distraction that long board games don’t seem to get
finished very often.
With that said, interest in the post-9/11 world in board games is on
the increase, and board game sales are on the rise. Board games have
always been, and are still, a very popular method of coming together as
friends or family and spending time doing something that builds both
memories and relationships. |
