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× Talk about whatever you like related to games that doesn't fit anywhere else.

Do you believe in " game experiences"?

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05 May 2018 19:52 #272715 by Erik Twice
You know, it's not a game, it's a experience.

Or is it? What do you think? Do you believe in games that are more of a "experience" or do you think it's an excuse for bad design? And why? What games come to mind?
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05 May 2018 20:09 #272717 by Sevej
Kind of... but there is no real reason why the two should be mutually exclusive. If I want something that's exclusively an experience, I'd take movies. Less pain there.

Among my games, the closest is probably Talisman.

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05 May 2018 20:41 #272718 by Black Barney
I say that sometimes about a few movies but I don’t think I’ve ever had a game experience which didn’t remain a game. Battle star Gal’actica is probably the closest for me
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05 May 2018 20:56 #272720 by Shellhead
The Gothic Game might be a good example of what you're trying to get at here. Stripped to the basics, The Gothic Game is a simple-roll-and-move game with various stacks of cards scattered about the board. Some of the cards are good or bad events, and some are weapons. There are various locations on the board that represent hazards or opportunities. So not a deep or strategic game. But what takes The Gothic Game to a higher level for me is baroque board and the darkly humorous cards, along with the goal of murdering all the other characters. Given the choice of playing The Gothic Game or a classic euro about a dry economic subject like farming or building, I will take The Gothic Game every single time for that elusive experience.

This discussion might have arisen from your comment about Android in your game recommendation thread. Although Android has a visual similarity to Arkham Horror, the majority of the game does not offer a strong sense of narrative. You move around the city in your flying car to various suspects and crime scenes, but that generally only results in the drawing and placement of evidence tokens. Or you manipulate the conspiracy puzzle, or screw with the personal stories of other players. The only time the game takes on the sense of an experience is with your own character's personal story. But because the relevant card may not show up if your opponents leave you alone, or you personally don't pay much attention to your personal stories. Or maybe you do, but then sometimes irrelevant cards related to a different story come out instead, or your story cards come out in a disjointed way. Either way, your stories may not strongly affect you in a given game, so the experience is not a strong factor. What makes Android more interesting is the wide range of possible actions each turn, the very flexible movement system, and an interesting mix of mechanics implemented in a novel way.
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06 May 2018 11:33 - 06 May 2018 11:36 #272735 by DarthJoJo
If you’re looking for an experience, why not just play an RPG? Even if no one wants to GM and you’re not up for a campaign, the genre has expanded to offer something for every interest and timeframe for dirt cheap.

If I’m playing a game, I want to make meaningful choices and win.

At its ideal something like Sentinels of the Multiverse can be both like when my angel paladin dropped the space warlord’s ship on his head for the win, but far more often it turns into Fluxx and I just do what the game tells me to.
Last edit: 06 May 2018 11:36 by DarthJoJo.
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06 May 2018 12:34 #272736 by SuperflyPete
The Exit games are definitely an experience game.

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06 May 2018 20:19 #272750 by Ancient_of_MuMu
Mushroom Eaters

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07 May 2018 09:29 #272776 by charlest

Ancient_of_MuMu wrote: Mushroom Eaters


This. I totally subscribe to the notion that some fantastic designs out there sit more comfortably as an experience.

The idea of a game has specific connotations and baggage and that don't necessarily apply. These "experience" games are some of my favorites.

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07 May 2018 10:01 #272781 by engelstein
In my book, all games should strive to create experiences. I teach my game design students to start with the experience they want to give to their players, the stories they want them to tell afterwards.

But it doesn't need to be a narrative story. It can be a moment of cleverness, or tension, or fiero, or whatever. Jenga can give an experience.

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07 May 2018 12:12 #272795 by bfkiller
I don't consider Tales of the Arabian Nights to be a game. It's a blast, but it's not a game.

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07 May 2018 12:48 - 07 May 2018 12:52 #272801 by Jexik
I want my games to create indelible, memorable experiences somehow. If it's by getting people I like together, or by creating an interesting situation in-game, it's immaterial to me. Boring games played with boring people are the worst. Let's just go get dinner or something instead.

I really hate middle-weight Euros because they just don't seem to know what they want. They masquerade as being something more, or training wheels for "real" worker placement or something, but they're vapid. A game as simple as Kingdomino is something I can play with my son, or play a ton of times with my wife in between waiting for the dryer to go off, but the LoW and Stone Ages of the world just seem like too much hassle for too little payoff. I'll take Settlers of Catan, Power Grid, or Nexus Ops over these any day because they create more meaningful interactions between the players.

When you base a game around an experience, it has a higher chance to fall flat (or hit an emotional high note). Something like Betrayal At House on the Hill can be super fun if people are in the right mood for it, but if you care too much about who wins, you're doing it wrong. At the same time, one time I got a bit drunk and played the entire game with an outrageous accent, and I think I was the only one who really thought it was that funny...
Last edit: 07 May 2018 12:52 by Jexik.

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07 May 2018 12:52 #272803 by SuperflyPete
This is why I have to produce Hoodrats.

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07 May 2018 15:05 #272826 by iguanaDitty

Jexik wrote: Something like Betrayal At House on the Hill can be super fun if people are in the right mood for it, but if you care too much about who wins, you're doing it wrong.


Specifically about Betrayal, I think you also have to care enough to be invested. My regular group I play this with takes time to figure out a strategy and discuss a plan of attack after the reveal; then of course things go horribly wrong and people do whatever they want and that's fine. But it's enough to draw me in. Once I played at a retreat with a new group of people, and they didn't take time to plan anything after the reveal, just started taking turns, no conversation, nothing. It was a terrible experience and I suddenly realized how some people could hate the game!

ubarose has talked before about how some folks need to point at something in the game and say "this is me; this is mine". Maybe my experience with Betrayal is an extension of that.
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07 May 2018 15:10 - 07 May 2018 15:11 #272829 by Jexik
My most recent experience with Betrayal was one where I was the betrayer, and it seemed like their wincon was way too easy. They could essentially kill me at any range, and it wasn't that difficult to do. So like 2 rounds into the haunt, they found what they needed and exiled me or whatever. 19 year old me would have pored through the rulebooks and tried to prove that they had to be adjacent to me or something to seal their win. 32-year-old me glanced at the relevant paragraphs, glanced at the clock (3:00 AM), shrugged my shoulders and said, "nicely done fellas." And called it a night.

I do agree that trying to win and plan a bit is a good idea, but winning at all costs is rarely the correct path. Especially in a 1 v many game, the many winning is almost always the desired result, as long as they kinda felt like they had to work at it or they deserved it. Maybe I've DM'd for too long now.
Last edit: 07 May 2018 15:11 by Jexik.
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07 May 2018 16:27 #272835 by Shellhead

iguanaDitty wrote:

Jexik wrote: Something like Betrayal At House on the Hill can be super fun if people are in the right mood for it, but if you care too much about who wins, you're doing it wrong.


Specifically about Betrayal, I think you also have to care enough to be invested. My regular group I play this with takes time to figure out a strategy and discuss a plan of attack after the reveal; then of course things go horribly wrong and people do whatever they want and that's fine. But it's enough to draw me in. Once I played at a retreat with a new group of people, and they didn't take time to plan anything after the reveal, just started taking turns, no conversation, nothing. It was a terrible experience and I suddenly realized how some people could hate the game!

ubarose has talked before about how some folks need to point at something in the game and say "this is me; this is mine". Maybe my experience with Betrayal is an extension of that.


It should be easy for somebody to point to their character in Betrayal and say "this is me." But maybe some people are so completely brainwashed by BGG dogma that they can't enjoy a game unless it comes with a brown box, a historical setting, and an elegant set of mechanics involving the generation of victory points.

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