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There Will Be Games


One of the most interesting findings is of a genetic mechanism for bringing about quick evolutionary change in a gene for behavior.  A possible subject of future inquiry is whether longstanding traits of certain societies may have an evolutionary basis, perhaps because over many generations they allowed people with a certain kind of personality to enjoy greater reproductive success than others.
-- Nicholas Wade, Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors

It's likely you've looked at a game in front of you and thought to yourself, "I think I may have played this before.  It seems so familiar . . . no . . . not this exact game, but something really similar to it."  Games seem to have flavors to them, and as often as not you can make a pretty solid guess where the designer is from.


Some scholars have remarked on long-term cultural differences between societies of East and West.  Richard E. Nisbett . . . believes there are dramatic differences in the nature of Asian and European thought processes, principally that Westerners view the behavior of physical objects and organisms as being governed by precise rules whereas East Asians seek to understand events in terms of a complex web of interrelationships in which they are embedded.  The social structures of Europe and China are built to match in Nisbett's, view with Asian societies being interdependent and western societies individualist.  

For about a decade much of the world has looked to Europe to take the lead in boardgame design, and to some extent they've led well.  A tremendous amount of material has come out; much of it is rewarding and attractively priced.  But a thousand titles later the core concepts that Germany and its eurocousins have produced have stagnated and become stale.  The games feel the same and it's a pretty rare title that gets the blood flowing, largely because you've seen it all before.

But why are we expecting something new when we keep going back to the same place?  In spite of their differences the countries of the EU share a remarkably similar cultural heritage that provides boundaries on their people's imaginations.  Not only do we look to just a handful of designers (that are well informed of their competitors' products and look to them for ideas), but virtually all of them live within similar cultures.  Eurogames by their very nature are built out of hamlets and mercantilism and kings that need to be coddled.  It's not just subject matter -- it's the core mechanics upon which the games are built.  Rule options are generally point-to-point, transactionally based and short lived.  Games with binding contracts or hierarchical player roles are simply unheard of in the genre, not because they aren't fundamentally sound, but because they simply don't occur to the usual suspects that drive boardgaming's technological progress.  Not just a eurogame thing, this a western game thing.



To the extent that such long-term cultural traits indeed exist, what might be their origin?  Nisbett cites the fact that Chinese Civilization was founded on rice farming which required irrigation and central control.  Hence, ordinary Chinese found themselves living in a world of complex social constraints, whereas the ecology of ancient Greece favored activities like hunting, herding, fishing, and trade, which could be pursued without an elaborate social organization.  Did rice farming encourage the conformity for which eastern societies are known, and small scale farming the rugged individualism of the west?

So what constitutes valid subject matters for emulation?  The question is harder than it sounds.  The easy answer is "hey, everything's on the table, I'm looking for something truly unique."  But when the guy explaining the game gets to the part about how your goal is to work with a team to give some other guy the victory while you hope for a shot at second place, you might decide that maybe Caylus doesn't look so bad after all.  That just-too-damned-strange-to-play attitude doesn't sell games.  This isn't merely a matter of what you're willing to try, it boils down more to what you're willing to buy.  That's how games get made.



Given the propensity for the human genome to adjust to its environment including the social environment it is not impossible that many societies have left their imprint in the genetics of their members, and that the character of different societies reflects the personality traits of those who were the most reproductively successful in them.

The designers we look to for inspiration and indeed we ourselves are in a bit of a bind -- we have fundamental structures within our essence that determines what is worth going after and what isn't.  We need to dabble in other parts of the world, but not fully immerse in it without risking (heck, guaranteeing) failure.  This is a pretty thin eye to thread, and likely means some sort of cooperative agreement between designers from different cultures.  I'm surprised this isn't occurring more now.  Is gaming so small in huge markets like China, or India, or Indonesia, or Mexico that there is not significant work being done to use as a source?  Are there no significant designers working in these cultures?  Or are they following the lead of Germany as well?

I took a moment a few weeks back to ask four people I know that grew up in different parts of the world what games look like where they're from and what they most vividly remember playing when they were growing up.  Their countries of origin were Belarus, Singapore, China (outside of Beijing) and Slovenia, but that proved to be of little consequence because all four of them, though steeped in the cultures of their upbringing, were not steeped in the culture of boardgaming and could not provide me with any significant insight into what made gaming work where they are from.  So I'll leave that as an open question.  Likely all but one or two people stumbling across these words will be western European in heritage (or largely immersed in its culture via upbringing in a former colony), but I know there are a few out there and I'd very much like to hear your impressions of what options are open to the mainstream market, whether you think it would sell or not.

Sag.
There Will Be Games
John "Sagrilarus" Edwards (He/Him)
Associate Writer

John aka Sagrilarus is an old boardgame player. He has no qualifications to write on the subject, and will issue a stern denial of his articles' contents on short notice if pressed.

Articles by Sagrilarus

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