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Cracked LCD Countdown- Barnes' Biggest Bitches

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There Will Be Games

end-nigh1I doubt it will have the earth shattering impact of "Top Ten Games Every Gamer Should Own", but I'm hoping that this week's Cracked LCD Countdown manages to at least take out a few major metropolitan areas.

I wanted to go through and lay out my ten biggest grievances about hobby gaming, the industry, and the community. I "bitch" a lot, but it's because I think we can do better. "We" meaning everyone involved in hobby games at every level. Sorry, I'm not just not one of these people who thinks that as long as there's a fun new game out for me to play that everything is going just fine or that gaming is doing all it can or should be. I want more.

So this is intended as constructive criticism, but undoubtedly feelings will be hurt and sensibilities upset. That would register as a "mission accomplished" on my end, because as far as I'm concerned it's that whole cracking eggs to make an omelet deal.

Is hobby gaming doomed? No.  Is it a failure as a medium? No. But there are at least ten bitch-worthy things going on that by jingo I'm going to rant and rave about until something changes...or I grow a beard, and wind up with the ol' sandwich board strolling through Gen Con to proclaim the end.



 Michael is a member of the Fortress: Ameritrash staff, and a regular columnist for Gameshark.

Click here for more board game articles by Michael Barnes.

There Will Be Games
Michael Barnes (He/Him)
Senior Board Game Reviews Editor

Sometime in the early 1980s, MichaelBarnes’ parents thought it would be a good idea to buy him a board game to keep him busy with some friends during one of those high-pressure, “free” timeshare vacations. It turned out to be a terrible idea, because the game was TSR’s Dungeon! - and the rest, as they say, is history. Michael has been involved with writing professionally about games since 2002, when he busked for store credit writing for Boulder Games’ newsletter. He has written for a number of international hobby gaming periodicals and popular Web sites. From 2004-2008, he was the co-owner of Atlanta Game Factory, a brick-and-mortar retail store. He is currently the co-founder of FortressAT.com and Nohighscores.com as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Miniature Market’s Review Corner feature. He is married with two childen and when he’s not playing some kind of game he enjoys stockpiling trivial information about music, comics and film.

Articles by Michael

Michael Barnes
Senior Board Game Reviews Editor

Articles by Michael

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