Hey everyone. So Michelle and I are big gamers and we've been looking for options for long-distance gaming since it's been a while. One option that Michelle discovered is Board Game Arena, which is a free site where you can play around 70 different tabletop games online. I haven't heard of many of them, but there are a few familiar names, like Saboteur and Hanabi, but also classics like Backgammon and Hearts.
It's been a few days and we've both played some games - with each other and random people online. At this point, my verdict is... meh. On the plus side, the site provides users with a variety of games that you can play for free. On the minus side, it lacks the comradery that comes with playing games in-person, at least compared to the group I've connected with in the area.
Take for example, a game called Stone Age. The basic premise is that you are the head of a small tribe and you are trying to gain villages and artifacts, while managing resources and gathering food. The last time I played it in person with Gnome Games friends, we had a great time that was partially about the game, and partially about the stories and jokes we made up. For example, I had a massive hunt one turn that let me grab a 10 food token, that we dubbed a mammoth. As the game progressed, I would joke about the mammoth rotting (since I had other food to feed my people) and by the end of the game, I had enough fine mammoth wine to celebrate my tribe's victory. I played a game of Stone Age on the game website and the chat was silent. The game mechanics were still there, but it simply wasn't as fun (and I'm not just attributing that to me not winning).
From another perspective, learning a game by online instructions is also less than ideal. I like learning games from others, because I know that they (1) know what they're doing... usually (2) can help answer any questions. I've picked up a couple of new games on the website, but even though I read the instructions before each game, I still didn't know what all was going on until a few turns in. The games I was picking up were pretty casual/quick games, so I don't know if I would have been able to learn Stone Age through the site.
From another another perspective, I'm torn about having the games being online in the first place. The website does a good job of keeping track of points and resources, but there's no tension as points are tallied or determining who had the end-game bonuses. Plus, I think there's something to be said about fiddling with game pieces and building little game piece pyramids. Then again, the biggest appeal of the site is that there are always people who are online and ready to play games. The fewest I've seen online was in the 400-500 range, and while many of them are playing games that I don't know, I can still take part in games that I do know. So the site can be helpful if I need a game fix and people in the area are busy.
Ultimately, if I was choosing between the gaming website and gaming with people in the area, I would go with in-person game basically every time. However, I do appreciate having the website as an option and will definitely say that it's better than nothing.
Alright, it's time for rest. Tomorrow will be a bunch of days including Fall Astronomy Day, Int'l Eat an Apple Day, National Gymnastics Day, and Talk Like a Pirate Day. It will also be SNC Day on campus, so hopefully I can take part in some of the festivities. I do have grad school work tomorrow so I can't let my whole day slip away, but I am volunteering to clean up SNC Day, so I'll at least have that to get me away.
DFTBA
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