Fandom: Star Wars & Board Gaming

Just came across this article and thought I'd get the F:AT reactions and thoughts on which board game you have that same love/hate relationship with.

For me, it's gotta be Betrayal at House on the Hill. I love the game for all it's thematic and narrative qualities, but digging through 500 chits to find "blob 3" or "bug spray"? searching the FAQ for every other room you enter? reading and rereading the original and printed Haunt booklets? It's almost enough to completely take you out of the very atmosphere its trying so hard to create. But only almost. And so I love it dearly, but hate how hard it tries to sabotoge itself.

Geeze, I guess I'm not a true Star Wars fan then. There are aspects of the movies I don't like but after seeing them all together, I see why they are there.

It's funny because it is so absolutely true.

That was a pretty interesting article. I'm kind of glad I'm a casual Star Wars fan that just enjoyed the original 3 movies. Yes, Empire Strikes Back was my favorite but I don't worry too much about the rest of the stuff. A funny thing about Star Wars my wife is the only 30 - 40 year old in America who has never seen a Star Wars movie.

As far as the relationship between boardgaming and this article, that's pretty interesting. I sometimes feel the biggest fans of boardgames are also the biggest haters of boardgames. The whole AT vs. Euro battle seems to have been started that way. Sometimes I have to remind myself it's better to be a casual gamer that plays frequently and enjoys almost every minute of gaming than to be a boardgaming "Fan" that bitches and complains during half the games they play.

Back in the day, there used to be flame wars over Star Wars Vs. Star Trek. At the time, it was only the trilogy and comic books. It was just before the Zahn series and Star Wars lore started to blossom again. Star Trek had the edge with 6 movies (even though the one where they met God was a woofer) and a ton of novels. Then these expanded to who would win in a match up. But I digress.

The whole Euro Vs. American games seem to be a similar fight. Both have some good points and both have woofers. I guess I don't see why there needs to be the two camps.

I never understood why Star Wars fans were so critical of so much. Now it makes sense. If I was that deep into the details, I'd want to see consistency and coherentness. I see their point. But I'm not a fan and I still enjoy the movies.