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Anonymous

When describing our hobby and the kinds of games we play to others, many of us probably use the term "German games." Perhaps it is not the best one--or maybe you think it is--but is becoming so ingrained in us through repetitive exposure and reuse that I think getting away from it is becoming difficult.

Alan R. Moon suggested another term--designer games--that I am starting to favor. There are a number of reasons why we may want to consider using another moniker. Many of them are touched upon in the articles included below.

phpbbadmin
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Nicely done!

Krakit
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I

hpox
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I had read the Simple Justice article and the other articles are very good too, especially the Alan Moon one. I always liked the term "Designer games", look at the title of this site : Board Game Designers Forum! It

jwarrend
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I don

Anonymous
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I do agree that "designer games" can sound a little pretentious. It seems that there is no one word to append in front of "games" that quite does the trick.

Jeff, I know you are indifferent to a new moniker, but perhaps "strategy games" is more to your liking?

phpbbadmin
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Quote:
07-05-2003 at 14:24, Mario wrote:
I do agree that "designer games" can sound a little pretentious. It seems that there is no one word to append in front of "games" that quite does the trick.

How about just plain

hpox
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I heard the term "Second Generation Games", I like but it

Scurra
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I think "Eurogames" is better than "German games", simply because it does reflect a particular mindset that is more prevalent in Europe than in, say, the US (even when some of the designers are based in the US!)
I never liked "Designer Games", and I think "Family Strategy" does a disservice to a lot of the games out there.

FastLearner
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I like eurogames. Second generation games could just be shortened to next-gen games.

I don

Anonymous
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Oddly enough I opened this thread not having read

Krakit
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You know something? I don

jwarrend
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Ok, I know I said I was going to drop out of the discussion, but I think your post demonstrates a (perhaps unintended) example of the exact mindset that I think is unproductive in helping convince others that "these games" are worth their attention.

Quote:
08-05-2003 at 04:46, Krakit wrote:
You know something? I don

phpbbadmin
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Quote:
08-05-2003 at 04:46, Krakit wrote:
You know something? I don

Anonymous
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On elitism;

To be frank, this is a hard issue to dodge. Even sticking with the term,

Krakit
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I

FastLearner
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Quote:08-05-2003 at 13:00, The_Ender wrote:
I

Anonymous
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I too will be bold in claiming that "German games" are better that typical American retail games. And why shouldn

Anonymous
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Mario & FastLearner;

True enough. I occassionally forget that I

Krakit
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"Fun Games" is even more insulting to the American market than "Designer Games" is (by a long shot).

It suggests that other games are NOT fun by distinction.

I

Krakit
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How about these labels:

Serious Games
Hard Core Games
Competitive Games
Simulation and Abstract Games
Skill Games
New Games (not bad considering that late games never really enter into the American "Toy Store Market" anyway) ;-)
Modern Games
Graduated Games
Focus Games
Progressive Games (ooooh, I like this one!)
Grown-Up Games ("Adult Games" gives the wrong impression).
Gamer

Anonymous
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If you ask a german about "german games" they

Krakit
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If I may be so bold, I think that what Mario was getting at when he started this thread was that a distinction needs to be drawn.

It seems to me that North America is kind of unique when it comes to boardgames. If you say the word "boardgame" to a typical American, titles like Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Taboo and Pictionary pop into their heads. It follows that when you mention that you play boardgames regularly, that the typical Americna will think that you spend most of your time playing one of the titles in this tiny little microverse.

That is why, a distinction needs to exist and why simply refferring to all boardgames as "boardgames" won

phpbbadmin
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Let me clarify, when I used the name

Anonymous
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Carl

I did understand what Mario was saying. I just think the basic premise is wrong. I don

Anonymous
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Krakit:

Anonymous
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I

FastLearner
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Some more grist for the mill:

Clever Games
Authored Games
Inventive Games
Notable Games
Exceptional Games

Anonymous
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Here

jwarrend
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Quote:
Of these, I prefer: strategy games, strategy board games, social strategy games, and family strategy games. I will soon begin substituting any one of these for the traditional "German games".

Here you go: "Uber-games".

Any takers?

-Jeff

Anonymous
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Jeff:
Given the rather enthusiastic explication of Fredrich Nietzsche

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