Something I found while updating Twitter, hope you enjoy it.

Very interesting. I read the short orginal article it refers to, but I have not read entirely the above article.

But it seems to go in the direction I was thinking a long time ago that the game must give you the feeling that you are actually fullfilling a role.

Finished reading the article. Here is the comment I left on his page:

I found it unusual that Reiner Knizia was used as the champion of theme. I don’t think there is any arguing that he has designed some truly great games and his impact on the gaming industry has been positive and significant – long may it continue. Although, I don’t think that theme has ever been his strong point.

One thing that has occurred to me lately is the overriding importance of theme in the success of a game. When I say theme, I am employing it in the loosest of senses, to the point where it no longer equates to what I personally feel qualifies as a strong theme.

I’m talking about the surging success of “toys” with a pasted on game element that have to come to represent the epitome of thematic immersion. The games in question usually include a hoard of ever expanding plastic miniatures with uninspiring and stripped down game play that leads towards a random dice roll for resolution – repeated for 1 to 2 hours.

Personally, I find the high marks that are usually awarded to expansion for these type of games to be the most difficult thing to comprehend. In my view an expansion should add new dynamics to the game that increase the player experience (without comprising the initial game). They should open up new pathways of experience, new decisions or new opportunities for divergent play.

In short they should demonstrate some form of active creative input from the designer/developer and a desire to open up the possibilities presented by the core game. They should offer something more than an additional "toy" with an accompanying stat card or something similar.

It would be much simpler for the reviewers to simply state "all the new expansions for this game will get a 9 or a 10, because I can't really say anything about them. Other than the fact that they do pretty much the same as what you already have, but with a cool new component to add to your toy collection", instead of doing multiple reviews for the same product.

When I see such games I can’t help but feel that the miniatures or gimmick where conceived first and then the developer/designer spent a short amount of time pasting a mediocre game onto the package to support them. In a contrasting way to the many euro games that have been designed with complex immersive mechanics only to have a random theme slapped on top of them to make them aesthetically appealing.

One instance that sticks in my mind was the feeling I had when I watched an X-Com review by the Dice Tower. The reviewers spent roughly 7 minutes talking about the app and little to no time talking about the game, probably because when you take the app out of the question there isn't a lot of game to talk about. Collect stuff that affects dice resolution rolls, decide which order you will resolve your dice resolutions, roll a couple of dice to randomly decide success/failure and repeat for 1-2 hours.

Theme and mechanics are important and it would be nice to see more games that exemplify the demonstration of thought and consideration in both areas. Instead of disjointed euros or component heavy games, or gimmick games, that simply give adults a reason to play with attractive “toys” under the guise of playing a game.