From: http://www.cardboardmechanic.blogspot.com.au
When my wife was in hospital with our first child I realized that we were about to experience a gap in our relationship. Usually when we wanted to chat and spend time together we went out for dinner or to a pub, generally did 'date' type things. But now we had a child imminent I was left wondering what we would do to hang out.
Usually at home we have our own pursuits. She sews and watches odd British mystery/dramas. I play EvE Online or tinker in the shed with blocks of wood to make poorly constructed furniture. None of these are really complimentary, except when she did a great job of upholstering a poof that I had knocked together to hide the crap engineering job I did on the brackets.
So, to the problem, I ducked down to my local games shop and picked up some Magic: The Gathering starter decks to play while we were waiting for the bub/waiting to be released from hospital. She enjoyed it ok but had trouble following some of the more abstract concepts. After Aline was born I again ventured down the local games shop to look for something more suitable for a new mothers addled brain. I'd spent some time sorting through the shelves there but was unsure on what modern board games are like. The themes were either heavy in sci-fi or fantasy, odd 'why is this a game' or abstract. I spoke to the bloke behind the counter who suggested Carcassone. Took it home and just like that we had gone cardboard.
Today our collection is growing quicker than we can play with a nice range of games with different mechanics, styles, themes and involvement. We have some great games for gamers and some for family. Some Eurogames and some that border on Ameritrash. Overall we haven't found a game that at least one of us doesn't enjoy and have successfully gotten our families over the fear of sitting around a table rolling dice or drawing cards without a single flashback to childhood games of Monopoly.
I've always had an interest in the mechanics of any video game that I play. Understanding why games are engaging and how the mechanics create an emotional bond and a drive to keep playing is something I wish was a subject that I could have studied when I was younger and looking for a career. There are some great web series and blogs out there for video games, in particular PA's Extra Credits, and some great board game review series which delve into this too. A series stands out, recently adopted in the video form by PA, Shut Up Sit Down. Another great one is the Dice Tower videos with Tom Vassel on the tubes.
Recently I've started to look at game design from a creators point of view. Mucking around with friends and occasionally testing simple ideas I am working on a proper game which one day I hope to see produced, even just a couple for myself and mates. Part of this process has caused me to think harder about the mechanics of the games we are playing beyond 'Oh, I see how that works, that's a pretty cool." What I want to do is explore the WHY of these mechanics as a way to engage the player. And as such I created this blog.
I hope to get some people reading this and I hope that some of the ideas that I throw around cause some discussion. I don't care much that you agree or disagree, more that you tell me why so I can develop my own sense towards these things.
Enough talk. To the table...
