I noticed on BGG another pointless but this time funny post about wargaming dying. Which of course gave everyone with an axe to grind a chance to turn it into a ‘well reasoned’ pissing match.
I had just bounced from two or three threads that were bemoaning the historical fidelity of a certain game due to its lack of forest trails to enable the perfect schwerpunkt as per history, and another that cast doubt on the special forces extra counters. All reasonably explained with a clear headed look at design intent, or in the latter case the scenario rules. In one case not a single die had been rolled yet…sigh.
Wargaming will never die for want of gamers.
But here is how it could.
It has a much better chance of dying from gamers not being able to read a fricken rulebook. {hahahaha, I know thats me saying this !!! Irony is everywhere].
I follow every forum for every game I own on BGG. It never ceases to amaze me the level of nit picking over wording, rules, and mechanics. While at the same time, completely missing the big picture, the very specific instructions in scenarios and a host of other things that many times are folks bitching about a game system before they have rolled a die in anger in it or on it.
Now before you get your knickers in a twist….relax. Yes we have Errata, and some rulebooks could be written much better, tables laid out more thoughtfully etc, etc. More often these days teh exception to a general rule of much better rulebooks than the 70-80’s.
ME… I’m fricken notorious for a lot of the above. But I’m doing it while I’m trying to play, not posting before I play. Lately a conscious effort to slow down before I post a query has led to some self resolved issues with games vs the made scramble while recording a video to get an ‘immediate resolution’
I share my knuckleheaded misrepresentations and errors with you daily !! LOL..
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve hit a stumping point, posted on BGG a question and then 20 minutes later while re reading the rules or thinking on it realized my error or my mis understanding. I usually go delete that question if it is not answered. – I sense this is an instant gratification issue we have grown accustomed to doing these days.
Now here is the key bit. What if designers and support teams just said, the hell with this I am not supporting this game any more out of frustration?
What if designers laid down the hammer and said – “stupid question, off to Gulag for you”!!!
That could presage the Gamepocalypse….
Lets all take a few deep breathes and let the rule issue de jour marinate in our mind a little, then if you can’t solve it, by all means go ask the question online.
Above all recall these are games, they should be fun, and interesting and informative.
Ok, back to gaming #rolldice !!
Pretty much agreed, Kev. Not only does it seem like so many can’t be bothered to read a frickin’ rulebook*, as you put it, the more recent class of gamers are so “soft” oftentimes they need to have someone “teach them” to play a new game or series. As if they’re **afraid** to make mistakes while playing. As you note, that’s par for the course. And it’s not so much “whether you’ll f*** something up,” it usually more like, “**how many** key things will you f*** up?” But, at least you’re in there swinging, and learning, and doing…. and not so much….. *wait for it* ….. counter clipping and actively avoiding the actual **reading of the rulebook**.
Now, I will freely admit that I don’t cruise through (new) rule books like I did when I was a high schooler. Back then, our clique would devour each new bi-monthly S&T as it came out, and get in lots of play with other SPI releases, plus mainstays like WS&IM, Air Force/Dauntless and even some D&D as a change of pace. The only rulebook I bounced off of was Air War, and after three tries, I got that one down, too!!! Nowadays, I read rulebooks, and if they have any new(er) mechanics from the 21st century, I find myself squinting and really “chewing on” them, and taking several sessions to absorb them. It’s the effects of AGE, no doubt. But, overall, I *enjoy* reading rules, and preparing for play, precisely because I want to have the rules pretty much **down** before I begin an actual match (as opposed to, say a “learning session”). One of the reasons I can’t watch Calandale playthroughs is that he is notorious for not having a firm grip on the rules of a game, and then, even worse, he later criticizes the game based on the very mechanics he’s misunderstood. Sometimes he catches it, sometimes he doesn’t. Me, I’m yelling at my screen, “No, no, no!! You can’t do **that**!!!” as he blunders on his merry way…
As for support by developers, yeah, that’s a thankless job (from my perspective, it’s dealing with errata and requests from the many Vassal modules I author and maintain), but you have to apply the Super Chicken Principle to that: “you knew the job was dangerous when you *took* it”. If the designer won’t take responsibility for his output, who will??? Nobody, that’s who. And **certain designers** not to be identified here, who turn out game after game of half-baked dross, and maybe even get a second bite of the cherry and screw THAT up, too … well, there’s a special place in wargamer hell for them. If you can’t write rules to save your life (and don’t get me wrong, it is a special skill in its own right, and not for the faint of heart!!), for God’s sake, get someone on your team who CAN. Either that, or prepare to put in the work on the back end, managing errata, and lots of complaints from unsatisfied customers who lay down a decent chunk of change on the junk you put out there. I know I *cringe* every time I get some whinge on a Vassal module, but, in the end I say to myself, “If it’s *wrong*, then it’s *wrong*”… and it’s up to me to make it right.
* I see this word, “fricken” quite a bit, and while I always think it’s a typo for “frickin’ “, I think back to the ’70s when the in word for “cool” was “bitchen”, which I thought should always be spelled “bitchin’ “. Is there something I’m missing with the -en words, as opposed to the -in’-words? 🙂
Aussie spelling maybe?
I do Q&A for a game system as a volunteer for the game company. I tend to skip over questions that I can find an immediate answer with a simple keyword search and concentrate on the “tough” questions that are not immediately evident.
Good to know!
Well said and I agree with you. From my own experience, taking a step back to think about the rules or look for examples of play, etc. most often leads me to a solution though not always quickly.
Thanks for your post. I greatly enjoy them.
Greg
‘Nuff said 🙂
So much right in your comments, Kev.
– You are RIGHT in that if one took a moment to read (meaning “to digest”) the rules they would have less problems.
– You are RIGHT in that too many folks rush off to ask questions rather than think about it themselves.
– You are RIGHT that in this era of instant gratification too many folks are seemingly unwilling to make the investment of their won brainpower to make a game work.
-You are RIGHT in that too many gamers seem to want the game they imagine instead of the game in front of them.
The last point is the most important—and frustrating—to me. I for one (and only me it seems) wants to understand the designer’s intent. Then I can tell you if the game works or not, in great part because the rules will either communicate that intent—or fail.
Well spoken, Kev! I often get questions about such an impossible situations, by players who never played the game, but are questioning every rule, every paragraph, every detail. It’s my job to provide an answer, but often it just feels like nitpicking. I always suggest: just play it, it will all fall into place. That’s one of the beauties of designing a digital wargame – the PC is taking care of the rules enforcement. 😎
quite agree you should really read through the rule book more than once , i am playing compass games the doomdays game and had to read the rule book again and again to understand how to play . i have never posted a question about a game , if you read the rules through and through there should be no need .
Agreed. Dang these days its two read and notes!!!