Over the weekend, I was with a friend whose family enjoys games like Catan and Carcassonne but who one would not call "in the hobby." At one point, he brought out Mice and Mystics and Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, which he had bought at the FLGS but never was able to really get into. He mentioned feeling like the rulebooks were written for people who knew something he didn't know, which is a fascinating observation: it makes me want to study rulebook readability and its relationship to games literacy. My friend mentioned that he had wanted to try one of these two (I cannot remember which) with his family, so they sat down together to play, opening the box for the first time then and looking at the rules. This, too, is fascinating to me. As a hobbyist, I would never do that, but it's a completely reasonable thing for an intelligent layperson to do.
My friend pointed to the boxes and asked, "What do you call this kind of game?" I understood the question and was stunned at my own inability to reply. Now, if it had been Runebound or Mage Knight, I would have said, "Fantasy adventure game," or if had been Descent, I would have said, "Dungeon Crawl." The two games he had on the table are kind of strange hybrids of these. One could certainly go to the FLGS and say, "Please show me a game like Mice & Mystics," but I did not really have an answer for him as to what to call such a game from first principles. When I talk to hobbyists friends, we often refer to games as constellations of mechanisms, like "deckbuilding strategy miniatures game," but that's basically jargon.
Puzzling over the conversation, I am left with several questions. Is there a useful nomenclature for games that non-hobbyists can use, or were his problems with these two games really because you must experience a rite of passage into the hobby in order to approach them? What knowledge do I have, that was assumed in the presentation of the rules, that he does not have? How can one design a box to convey the idea that the purchaser should open the box, explore the contents, read the 20+ pages of rules, and probably watch an introductory video before sitting down to actually play it with people?
I've been reading your blog today. I've found it very interesting so far and plan to read more of it. I have also found this difficulty in introducing people to new and more complex games. If left to their own devices then I find most people may the time and interest to really give things an extended chance. I have two solutions to this. Use an ever increasing weight of rules system so that peoples understanding of rules doesn't need to from Snap to Gloomhaven immediately. Games like tiny Epic Dungeons introduce stats dice turns etc without 200 page rules books. The second is to walk then through simplified versions of the game yourself. We a teacher you will understand the joy I get when the lights of understanding turn on then the horror that you're about to lose to the student. To your other point, and as someone that writes and delivers training for a large part of my job, I find the books are often horrendous. Interchangeable terms for the same action, expectation of prior knowledge, lay out and order making no sense. There does not seem to be an editing process or review process to many. Bushido being the last one I read and thought"this needs a real edit". It's a shame as more people would enjoy the hobby if it was more approachable. Anyway, I'll carry on reading now. Stay safe
ReplyDeleteI have had several students say they love "how to play" videos over rulebooks. Personally, I enjoy reading rulebooks, but it seems that is not a prerequisite for enjoying interesting games.
DeleteI like SUSD's video about how to teach games, too. You might enjoy that: https://youtu.be/P5fjDaFuft8
Thanks for reading and commenting -- have a great day!
I'll definitely check that out. I would also recommend an app called Dized which I used with Tiny Epic Dungeons (I'm not affiliated, I promise) and found it very helpful to get people going in the game. It's a hand holding type of tutorial app.They also have splendor and scythe amongst othersin there
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