I don’t know about you, but there have been many times when playing a game with new people or people new to board gaming who are afraid to play the game because they might make someone mad. What do I mean? I mean not make a move against someone even if it is in their best interest for the game. Now, I know some people are social gamers and don’t care if they win or lose but that can mess it up for other gamers who are there to game and not just be social.
So this is to all those people that don’t like to play against someone for fear of upsetting them or possibly messing up their plans. It’s okay to play the game. We are there to play the game and you should feel comfortable to play the game as well. No one is going to get upset with you for playing the game and those that do should be booted out of your gaming group to begin with. You see, part of the wonderful world of gaming is that awesome feeling of the struggle of the game. Having to change tactics or strategies because someone played the game and forced us to play as well. That is what we play for. The challenge. This is why we spend our money on games, we why drive miles to local game meet ups or have people over to our place and make a huge mess. The challenge.
When a player is to scared to play because they are afraid they will offend somebody. It screws the game up for the people they do know playing the game. How? Because the scared player now plays all their moves against their friends because they don’t think they will mind. This creates a very difficult situation for that player. Now they have one person always blocking them or taking their open spaces, they have others doing it as well and they can’t execute a strategy efficiently within reason as they whole table is now playing against them many rounds. This can lead to king making in some instances where, they other players have little opposition and can run away with the game. Now while this is a challenge, it isn’t exactly the type of challenge that is fun to gamers. It is important that each player play the game to do the best they can do and not to not offend an unknown player. For difficult gamers that are easily offended or hyper competitive, it should be someone’s responsibility who knows the players to either pick a game that will better fit the group or hopefully if you are at a gaming night, to keep these two types of players away from each other.
So in supposition, please play the game to do the best you can, don’t let the game play you due to the unknown personal reactions. Don’t worry about offending someone with a move as they aren’t worried about offending you with their moves. They are playing to win. Learn to enjoy the struggle, tension and fun that comes with today’s modern board games. There is plenty of fun to be had, social interaction and deep game playing without worrying about such trivial issues.
Remember having fun is the most important thing but not at the expense of the others around you. A great game allows everyone to have fun and everyone will have fun when everyone plays the game and not the personalities.
Game on!
If you like what we bring you, please vote for us here: http://www.boardgamelinks.com/links/sites
Club Fantasci on Facebook: www.facebook.clubfantasci
Club Fantasci on Twitter: www.twitter.com/clubfantasci
