Board Games aren’t Video Games – Drive Thru Mini Vlog #6
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They were bigger 45 years ago lol. Never really compared the two myself.
Finding Avalon Hill games in the 70's was very much like fly fishing.
Totally agree. Computer games by design prey on human compulsions and habits to gain momentum. The ease of getting in to them that you described is a huge element of what makes them popular. Even a game console that requires you to put in media and load the game is still far less work than a board game. This is not by way of criticizing computer games: I enjoy them too. But board games is much more of a hobbyist pursuit.
Maybe the comparison between video games and board games would be like the difference between driving a car and working on cars as a hobby, whether restoring classic cars or customizing Japanese cars into street racers. Everyone drives cars because they fit our needs so well, but only people interested in learning about them on a deeper level go that extra mile to make a hobby of it.
Rule books are a big barrier of entry for many people.
I also feel the hobby needs a website or YouTube channel that welcomes new board gamers and helps them find the resources and first games.
I know I spent too much money and time on games that didn't work for me and my friends at the start and nearly gave up boardgaming. Fortunately I stuck with it but I can imagine many people never get over that bumb and find the right gateway games that suit there tastes, complexity and situation.
i'm just happy there are more mediums for creativity. i truly wonder what comes next. Is it VR, AR, or something else? Or are we actually approaching the end of entertainment mediums (though certainly not the end of entertainment itself)? That doesn't seem likely, instinctively, but i can't even begin imagine what else there might be or what other ways there are to engage us. A very small problem in the grand scheme, but still fun to think about.
Board games require a more active mind to retain all of the rules; doing quick calculations in your head, reading your opponent, and juggling multiple thoughts at once just to be able to play some games like euros. The barrier for entry is high, like you said, so for those reasons video games will always exceed board games in terms of popularity.
But the hobby is growing, even though there’s nowhere near the same amount of ad revenue in order to create a dedicated enthusiast website like an IGN (which I used to work for) to cover the industry and hire enthusiasts to write reviews and such, making it easier for newcomers to join in.
It is a hobbyist thing in the end, like fly fishing, which video games can be as well but there’s enough revenue pumping into the game industry to employ large teams of developers, writers, producers, etc. In that regard, the barrier to entry into making video games is much higher, though small teams can accomplish some amazing things with enough time and talent.
It’s a fun thought exercise, which as someone who works in both industries, I have been thinking about a lot recently. I rediscovered board games after I had kids, and found them to be much more socially and mentally fulfilling than video games, but they both have their place. One does pay the bills better than the other though, and you don’t need to wonder too hard to figure out which.
Hybrids games are coming like it or not. Because board game companies want that video game money. Its silly to ignore a machine as powerful then the first space ship computers in everyone's pocket. At least from a business point of view. Allows games like mansions of madness 2nd edition, alchemist, destinies, chronicles of crime. You can send out updates or expansions world wide much easier
You make some good points – but it is important to remember we are looking very different demographics for viewers of video game related content (many of them are extremely young) to table top contents that skews much older.
When video game as an industry comes up, a lot of people think PC games, but the main driver for growth in video games is actually mobile games, and it covers a spectrum of games that could cater to anyone.
I also see modern video gaming as a completely different thing to hobbies like fishing, board gaming, mountain biking etc. I find video gaming nowadays more comparable to how people spend time on social media. It's a more common place, less fulfilling (at least for me) time expenditure that along with social media tries to trigger those rhythmic endorphin hits in order to claim the right to your downtime.
Boardgaming for me, and somewhat retro gaming on my Commodore64, doesn't rely on that addictiveness or immediacy to keep me engaged. It's a hobby that I choose to go into in a more relaxed state of mind where I give myself the time to savour the flavours of the experience as a whole instead of feeling like I'm looking for the next hit (iykwim).
I realise this sounds very black and white and in reality there is a lot of common grey between many hobbies.