Michael Barnes: Still raising ire after sixteen years in exile

The general BGG forums are unreadable. Half the readers are entitled babies who demand that every game have a solo mode, have miniatures, and support 1-12 players equally well. (I saw a thread from someone wondering if a social deduction game would have a solo mode.) The other half are wannabe alpha douches who need to prove how elegant their tastes are. For general boardgame discussion, I come here.

The specific game forums are okay, depending on the game. Most of the annoying general discussion twerps avoid forums for games that are more than a year old (takes valuable time away from obsessively refreshing Kickstarter stretch goals).

RPGgeek is laid back for the most part.

Yeah, I've had basically no BGG drama, i.e. never been banned or even given a warning. But I participate on there very rarely, because most people want something in this hobby very different from what I want. That's fine, I really don't need the community online beyond what I have here and on Discord.

I find it most useful for things like trading, the marketplace, and to get quick info on a new-ish game about which I know nothing. Geekbuddies are very useful for that. That's a LOT of games for me, since I just don't get much through hobby osmosis any more.

I also am a little embarrassed to admit that I really enjoy the micro badges. I do wish I could trade away old ones though. The 2009 version of me thought I'd love Puzzle Strike forever, which has not proven true.

You can delete old microbadges Nate. Can't trade them though.

Is there a Michael Barnes Was Right micro badge ? I’ve got tons of GeekGold burning a hole in my pocket .

What is the Michael Barnes Was Right microbadge a picture of? We already have a badge for Fortress:AT.

I also think a "Sturgeon's Law - 90% of Board Games Are Crap" microbadge would be funny.

Hope everything's alright with MB. Can't remember him ever being absent from the site for this long, especially when his name's come up. Crickets for a month and a half in the secret satan thread as well. Hope you're well, bud.

He's still active over on Twitter, so it's possible he's just not in a board game mood right now. He's definitely in a music mood though, if his tweets are any indication.

I think he's making a conscious decision to spend less time, money and space on board games. I don't agree with his new philosophy which appears to be along the lines of "a lot of that time I spent on games and miniatures was a waste"; it's an odd twist from a guy who spent over a decade telling us that games were important and deserve proper critical treatment. He seems to hold music as a "better" passion to have but he does seem happier now that he has rediscovered playing guitar. He's still very online on Twitter if you want to check in on him.

MB has always been given to a bit of hyperbole, so I assume he'll be back on the game truck at some point. But I do understand his weariness with jumping into the game subculture, because that can be exhausting sometimes. I know that I frequently have to step away from online spaces to maintain my sanity. But I'm usually back, because I don't have many other ways to actually engage with the hobby these days.

All that to say, I'm somewhat sympathetic to his attitude, but I would like to see him back here soon.

sornars wrote: I think he's making a conscious decision to spend less time, money and space on board games. I don't agree with his new philosophy which appears to be along the lines of "a lot of that time I spent on games and miniatures was a waste"; it's an odd twist from a guy who spent over a decade telling us that games were important and deserve proper critical treatment. He seems to hold music as a "better" passion to have but he does seem happier now that he has rediscovered playing guitar. He's still very online on Twitter if you want to check in on him.

Michael has always seemed to rejuvenate himself and find happiness with radical shifts in his pursuits. He found his passion with Ameritrash in the early 2000s and railing against folks on BGG. He renewed his energy when he became Editor in Chief of the Review Corner at MM. Then he found himself again enjoying the hobby when he returned to German Eurogames. Then it was miniatures gaming as he got back into Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Then it was stripping it all down and returning to simpler games. Now it's playing the guitar and forsaking gaming culture.

Glad he's able to retain passion and found a way to stave off burn out.

Meanwhile your article got him to comment on games again. Heh.

Maybe I should pick up the bass again.

I feel like “Michael Barnes” is synonymous with “Existential Angst” and he is always trying to rediscover himself through his art and hobbies. Totally healthy thing, I’d argue.

So him having less words left for games to make way for more notes played definitely is something I can relate to. His comment that he wasted time playing games belies the obvious: it was never about games, it’s about spending time with cool people making cool stories. Games is just the setting, but the theme is “Meet Cool People, Do Cool Shit”. He just changed the setting.

I look forward to his rants against European music and how “These Songs Of Ours” are the bane of all musicianship.

Im guessing with the modern churn of boardgame releases it felt more like a boring career than a paying hobby. Whereas guitar playing is, presumably, just a fun hobby.

I am optimistic that guitar can also become a boring career.

Barnes’ Twitter has changed from breathless gushing about board games to breathless gushing about effects pedals. If it’s his happy place, then that’s cool though.

Today he called out Charlie's top-notch article on replayability. Not to be missed.

playerelimination.com/2023/02/02/dominion-killed-replayability/