There is something I have been forgetting

I just picked up a copy of Brood War. I got it home, tore of the shrink wrap and then I stopped. Normally, I'd be straight in there, sorting through the cards, punching the tokens but this time I stopped. I stopped and looked at the cover. I looked at the cover and thought, "Hell, yes." This is it. This is what it is about. This is what first got me gaming.

In gaming there are many great artists who can take you straight into the world of a game. Games Workshop were the company who made me a gamer. The Warhammer world was and still is so alive through their artists and background writers. The inventiveness and creativity of these individuals is incredible.

The game I have played most of all must be Magic the Gathering. There is no doubting the genius of its creator Richard Garfield. The mechanics of the game are superb. However, the design of the individual cards opens the game up so much: the incredible and varied artwork, the evocative flavour text. Even the card names with their vast vocabulary and poetic and bibilical references. They all combine to create such a rich experience. Eventhough the world defies definition in its variety, it still feels cohesive.

When we talk about loving to push dudes around a map, it is often because they are such wonderful pieces in their own right. They aren't just markers. Someone has thought out and created a something we haven't seen before.

It is easy to forget the importance of the creative individuals who build game worlds. The richness of these creations are often what insire great game designs. I don't think it can be chance that so many great games are based on stories and worlds that were built with great depth and feeling.

I guess this is just something so fundamental to the gaming experience that I had been taking it for granted.