Ok, stick with me here, folks, today’s post is not about video games. Hey hey hey, where you going? It’s still about games, dammit, get your ass back here.
Those of you who know me know that I’m into gaming of all kinds, not just the video variety. Those of you who are subject to the kind of tunnel vision that video gaming’s bright lights, wild spectacle and immediate gratification generate may not even be aware of the existence of other types of games outside of Monopoly and Poker. I assure you, there is an entire world of gaming out there that does not occur on a screen, but rather occurs on a surface (and I’m not talking about the Microsoft Surface.)
Goddammit, get your mouse cursor off of that window-close button! You’ll want to hear this. You know why? Because this shit is fun, and you’re missing out on it. There’s another important reason, but I’ll get to that at the end of this, so I can keep your damn attention. Or you can just cheat and scroll down and read it anyway. Fine, be that way. I don’t care. CARE.
First off, take a gander over at the bottom-left of this page and check out my "What We’re Playing" section. See that entry called "Magic Online"? This is actually the PC version of a popular card game, Magic: The Gathering. Yes, I know, "Cards, how quaint." Stay with me here. Magic is a collectible card game, meaning you buys packs of 15 cards, randomly packaged, and try to build a deck of cards that work well together. The object is to beat your opponent in a duel by making a better deck and using better strategy, but you can’t win with just one of those two. The game is nearly infinite in its strategy. Magic has been around since the late 90s, so they’ve had plenty of time to iron out the kinks, and plenty of time to release new cards, which just means more strategies you can unleash upon your opponents, and new ones are being developed every day. Trust me, there’s no better feeling than beating your opponent by a narrow margin and clinching that win.
Next, we have Dungeons & Dragons. I said get away from that close button, motherfucker! I don’t care if you’ve heard D&D is only for the nerdiest of nerds, it’s not as true as you think. If you’ve ever been involved in drama in school, you need to at least try D&D. If you’ve ever enjoyed a book with magic in it, you need to at least try D&D. If you own and have watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies multiple times, you need to at least try D&D. Basically, you create an alternate persona, and it can be as close or as distant from your actual self as you wish. You talk as if you were that character, and describe your actions to the DM, who is essentially the god of the game, and your actions have an effect on that reality. How’s that for immediate gratification??
Of course, there’s more to tabletop than just Magic and D&D. There’s a world of other games out there, ranging from actual board games to self-enclosed card games. House on Haunted Hill is an amazing board game with 50 different gameplay variants, randomly selected. Munchkin is about the most cutthroat card game I’ve ever seen, and comes in a wide selection of variations, from kung-fu movies to vampire-flicks. If you’ve got no shortage of cash, Warhammer & Warhammer 40K is one of the best strategy experiences money can buy; hell, some figures’ attacks are varied on how you painted them. Then of course there’s Descent, Twilight Imperium, Ticket to Ride, Bang, Axis & Allies, Settlers of Catan… I could go on.
Each of these games offers a unique gameplay experience that you won’t find anyplace else, and if that’s not incentive I don’t know what is. I’ll give you one more incentive, though.
All of these games REQUIRE you to be at the same table as the people you’re playing with.
This may not be an incentive for some people, and for still others it may actually be a disincentive, but hear me out. In this day and age, it’s easy to disconnect with other people, even other gamers, because we have the luxury of connecting anonymously through Les Intrenets. It’s so much easier to just play with people from the comfort of our own homes, but I implore you: do not let something like Xbox Live be the sole definition of your gaming socialization. It is not the place to develop your social idiom, because on the internet (especially Xbox Live), everyone has done everyone else’s mom, everyone is a "fag", and no one cares about anyone except themselves. Too many of us nerds have issues with social interaction, and while internet gaming isn’t necessarily the cause, it doesn’t help much. Get out some, find a table, and play a game face-to-face with someone else. I’ve known people who had no social skills whatsoever and learned how to actually be normal cool people who function well in social situations because they sat at a D&D table for years. It forced them to interact with others, forced them to learn empathy and speech skills so necessary to socialization. You can’t get that from playing UTIII.
So I say, kudos to tabletop gaming. It lets us be nerds, but lets us learn how to face other people at the same time. Like it or not, the world is full of people, and we all have to deal with them at some point. Might as well learn how to do it better by playing games.
