Hobby Warts

agree with Blams. Earl Hornsby is frickin' hilarious. The one that turned me on to Blams for life was teh pee-poops one.

Best blam ever, no contest, is the Kitchen Nightmares one (it gets paired up with the Cat Whisperer). That one left me in stitches

Steve Weeks wrote:

The question is Steve. With all this shit that's bad for the hobby... what is good for it? I don't think it needs anything personally. I find more then enough good games each year to buy and in fact need to get rid of some from time to time.

What the hobby needs is really good ambassadors to welcome the willing newcomers into the fold. I believe soon the pendulum is going to swing the other way and we are going to have a huge backlash against technology and a back to basics approach. The conditions are ripe for this and boardgames will be a prime entertainment feature in the home again. Many people are facsinated with boardgames and would like to give them a try but they feel they might be too complicated or they will lose badly and feel foolish. I pride myself in being a good Ambassador of gaming. If I am playing with a new group I keep it friendly and don't go for a crushing defeat. I have a game ready for almost any kind of crowd you can think of from any background.

One would think that conventions would be a good place for these Ambassadors but I find just the opposite. Most are deep insiders and believe it or not they actually like keeping the membership to the hobby small because it makes them feel like a member of an exclusive club.

You would think game stores would be prime spots for this kind of "welcoming ambassador" but again this is not my experience. Every game store I have been in has never recommended a game for me, nor shown any hint of good customer service, its no wonder they are failing.

Huh??? Gamers have a secret club that they don't want to let new members in because they want to feel special?

I think that there is room for improvement, but don't attribute the current con mentality to the same reasons you do.

First off, cons are not usually the place a newcomer to the hobby will go unless brought there by an experienced friend.

It comes down to several factors. One is that for many gamers, cons are sort of an escape from the real world and they want to maximize quality gaming time. I know I get burned out always being the teacher/leader and welcome the chance to be able to just sit down and play a game. Others do a disproportionate amount of their annual gaming time during a few cons a year and thus want to maximize their fun time. Teaching runs counter to that.

Second is that other than the mega cons like Origins and Gencon, companies are usually not demo oriented but merely sales oriented .And those two cons are not exactly newbie friendly.

And finally, many people are gun shy about sitting down with strangers and the possibility of a bad time can make them hesitant - combined with the limited time angle, makes people pretty clique like.

There are some improvements. WBC is implementing a color coded system for open gaming - red for new players, green for experienced players - to help people find opponents. Buckeye Game Fest has something similar and I think maybe GenCon may do something like that, although their Open Gaming set up still looks to be a work in progress .


Ideally stores are a great opportunity, but there isn't a consistent driving force from manufacturers to make it happen like they do with CCG. I was in a very small FLGS this past weekend in an area I don't normally visit. Even though they only had about 600 sq feet, they had a decent and relatively tidy selection of games, minis, comics, cards. Alas, I couldn't really look at most of it, because they had two game tables in the middle of the tiny footprint that were full of geeks not playing games, but eating lunch and too oblivious to scoot their chairs in to allow people to pass, so I left. There seem to be more socially unfriendly stores like this than ones with the business sense to try to grow their customer base.

Steve Weeks wrote: Most are deep insiders and believe it or not they actually like keeping the membership to the hobby small because it makes them feel like a member of an exclusive club.

This is probably more true then many want to admit. I keep different games around the house, some for non-gamers and some for my nerd buddies, even then I break it down further and some of the games are crossover.

My big problem with this is I don't really see how or why it's important to make the hobby grow. I don't care if there are too few women playing games, if kids don't play them anymore, if the general public thinks board games are antiquated. I don't care if the hobby grows or not. I have some friends that play and the friends I have that don't know about the market are always willing to play whatever I put in front of them. The people I know don't want to research board games but are more the willing to play them, learn the rules and occasionally go buy a one after I taught it. My Dad, who is not a board gamer at all, bought Space Hulk after one play. I played TI:3 with non-gamers and they dig it. Most of the games people think of as hard core nerd games are not that at all. People are willing to try almost anything, the midset of the public is far more open then most in the hobby think it is.

I guess I just don't see the need for it to grow. It's not that I want to be in a exsclusive club, although I agree the mentality exists, it's just that in my life it works fine so I don't care. Maybe I'm selfish. My basic point is that I think the hobby is doing great. Games are released every year that appeal to the needs of anyone I can think of.

Most people on this site are probably good ambassadors of gaming and teach games to all sorts of people. I game to be with friends, not go to cons and meet gamers. I've made friends though gaming but without the friendship bit, I probably won't game with you. That comes first for me.

I dunno, I never looked at liking board games as some sort of exclusive club. If it is, it's likely like the Chess Club, who many people openly ridicule and look at with a condescending eye. Better to be a Jock, at least they get the pussy, right?

I'll play a game with anyone, anytime. Well, almost anyone.

I don't care if the hobby grows whatsoever, aside from the fact that the more people that are entusiasts, the higher my probability of finding someone local to play with.

SuperflyTNT wrote: I'll play a game with anyone, anytime. Well, almost anyone.

I'll play a game with almost anyone... once. After that who knows. But even before having gamed with them once there are some people I just know I will never invite out to a games night even though they ask. It's not that I'm arrogant or exsclusive. I just don't think they would be fun to game with or they would work with our group. I'm actually quite picky on this one. It's hard to find the right people to hang out with in any hobby or just life in general.

There's a guy at work who want to bike home with me every night and you wouldn't believe the lengths I go to in order to ensure that doesn't happen.

JonJacob wrote:

Steve Weeks wrote: Most are deep insiders and believe it or not they actually like keeping the membership to the hobby small because it makes them feel like a member of an exclusive club.

I guess I just don't see the need for it to grow. It's not that I want to be in a exsclusive club, although I agree the mentality exists, it's just that in my life it works fine so I don't care. Maybe I'm selfish. My basic point is that I think the hobby is doing great. Games are released every year that appeal to the needs of anyone I can think of.

I think this is the root cause, not the "secret club" reason. For many, their boardgame "life" works fine. They have what they feel is enough opponents to play with, be it either local opponents or people they know from conventions. There isn't really a compelling reason to devote time, a precious commodity for some, in teaching new people games.

Jesus wept.

I am JEWISH, and this is still how I react.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/tedalspach/...-compendium-vol1and2

jeb wrote: Jesus wept.

I am JEWISH, and this is still how I react.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/tedalspach/...-compendium-vol1and2

I was surprised they have been able to find 25 people to even buy that terrible comic in book form.

I'd pledge $1 to see it removed from public view.

It's delightful comedy without provocation of barbaric emotions such as laughter.

Remember: If you don't get the joke, it's too intelligent for you.

That comic is even worse than those people who wear meeple shirts whenever they play a game.

Since this thing met it's goal we should pool together $250 to get a

A new Board 2 Pieces character to debut in the comic in 2012 with your name, and your personal board gaming personality (the games you like, the gamers you like, etc.)

With steve weeks or someone's personality.

Or pool $500 for the cover and make it say something goofy plus the above.

What gamepiece would represent AT anyway?

lfisher wrote: What gamepiece would represent AT anyway?

Probably something creative, like a six-sided die with googly eyes and a perpetual smile.

An aggressive-aggressive Risk artillery piece with evil eyes that fires at all the friendly meeples.

A punched sprue with blood on it.

The big black dildo from El Grande