Miss Manners: Online Play

I was playing an online game with a stranger the other day and although I tried to strike up a conversation, I received no reply. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I consider this bad manners. I enjoy the chit-chat of online gaming as much as I do the game itself otherwise it feels like playing against an AI.

The regular group of gamers that I play with talk about everything from the weather in their corner of the world to the newest games they’re looking forward to. We throw trash-talk at each other and make sure to congratulate the winner. It’s as close to face-to-face gaming with friends as you can get and turns even a crappy game into something special.

Another thing that I think is rude is joining a game which is specifically set up for a certain group. Some online sites don’t allow passworded games or invites, so the best you can do is put in a comment that it’s for so-and-so group or such-and-such friends and the next thing you know you have a stranger where John Doe should have been. Is it so hard to read the comment? Do you just see an open game and join without regard to the wishes of the person who created it? If there are no open games for you to join without stepping on virtual toes, you should create one of your own; it’ll be filled up in no time.

Lastly, I’ve heard of people who register on a site with 2 different names and use both in games cooperatively in order to raise their standings. I’m sure it doesn’t happen often since most gamers play for the fun of it rather than the prestige and have too much honor to think that any rankings gained through such subterfuge is worth anything. But there will always be a few who find a way to cheat and think it’s alright to do so no matter how little value is placed on their gains. These people are the most pathetic, lowly, contemptible, worthless, under-handed, miserable, cowardly waste of gamer life on the web. If that’s the only way they can win, they should sell all of their games in favor of a stack of jigsaw puzzles and an Exacto knife.
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Until next time, I’m trusting you to keep the vampire population down.

Mary

The Game Psychiatrist--The Substitute

Dr: Hello, you must be Mary.

M: Hi, where’s Dr. Meepolous?

Dr: He had to be away for the week. I’m Dr. Boardbent. How are you doing today, Mary?

M: Well, Doctor, I think I’m losing my love for gaming.

Dr: Uh-huh, that’s good. Dr. Meepolous will be very happy to hear that.

M: ?? You don’t understand; I’m here because that’s a BAD thing. For the last 3 years, gaming has been a big part of my life. What will I do if I lose interest in it?

Dr: You will spend all that wasted money on something worthwhile. Gambling is a terrible addiction which takes your money and leaves you with nothing.

M: !! Gambling! I don’t gamble, I play board games! Are you sure Dr. Meepolous isn’t in the other room? Maybe this is just a test of some sort. Maybe I’m on TV!

Dr: Oh, board games. Yes. I see. Well, you could read a book or take a class in painting.

M: Doc, I hate to say this, but you’re really beginning to piss me off. Have you ever played any Euro-games?

Dr: Euro-games….hmmm…I played Monopoly once as a child and I used to play Risk in college.

M: That’s it?! THAT’S your idea of board games?! Oh, for the love of Knizia!! (heavy sigh) O.k., Doc, there are other games now; games that don’t take hours and hours to play and leave you feeling like the 9th puppy of an 8-teat dog. (Starting to pace the floor) These games give you decisions to make, get your brain working, give you strategic choices.

Dr: Risk has all those things, Mary.

M: You’re just messing with me, aren’t you? And how many games of Risk did you lose because the dice were siding with the other guy just when you REALLY needed them to come up with a lot of happy little pips on them?

Dr: Mm-hmmm. I see your point.

M: Here’s what I’m going to do for you, Doc, I’m going to bring in a couple of my games to show you. Are you going to be here tomorrow?

Dr: Yes. I have a free hour at 2:00.

M: Great. I’ll see you then.

{M to self: I can’t believe Dr. Meepolous had THAT guy sub for him.}

{Dr. to self: That was TOO easy. I hope she brings in Torres; I’ll play that with any number of players.}
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Flandern 1302—A Stagnant Game

I’ve played Flandern 1302 twice, once with 3 players and once with 4, the maximum number of players, and both times I’ve been less than impressed with it; it was, in a word, flat. I was left with the feeling that there should be a good game there but I couldn’t find it.

The board is set up with 6 areas depicting cities, each with 13 spaces to place your tiles in trying to get the majority in the city. Each player has the same hand of cards which include one card for each city that lets you build in that city, a card that lets you build in any city but doesn’t let that tile count until you play in that city again and remove the “under construction” marker, a card that lets you pick up your played cards, and three one-time-use “influence” cards which can give you the chance to play first.

Each player has a set of tiles that match the color of one of the cities but there are also tiles which match the remaining 2 cities. The gray tiles represent another guild vying for superiority in the cities and can be played by anyone. The church tiles can also be played by anyone and add points to the city’s worth when it’s scored.

All players choose a card (or cards, if you want to use your influence to go first) and they are revealed at the same time. The player who plays first is the one who played the most cards but most often all players will choose only 1 card so the start player goes first. If you chose a city card, you can place one of your tiles, one from the neutral guild, or one of the church tiles on that city. The only rules for placement of tiles is that it must be adjacent to a tile already placed and it cannot touch another tile of that color along an edge.

That’s the basics of the game. A city is scored when no more tiles can be added to it.

I can be tenacious when something bugs me so I’ve spent some time trying to figure out why this game doesn’t appeal to me or the other gamers I’ve played it with. My conclusion is that I like a game to have “movement”, the ability to change the board or expand it in some way. My favorite games have that: Magna Grecia, Through the Desert, Torres, Trias, Hacienda, Hansa.

So now I have an answer and my brain proceeds to apply it to this stagnant game. Instead of simply placing a tile on a city, let’s offer you the choice of moving a tile to another city. Now you can change the board and it forces another choice on you: where to put the piece to do you no harm and maybe screwing up someone else in the process. That could work.

The influence cards that let you go first are nice but going first isn’t important very often, at least that was the feeling I got. What if playing the influence card let you take a second turn in the city you chose? Now you can remove a piece from a city and replace it with another. Or you can place 2 tiles in a city in one turn and complete it for scoring. Now THAT’S what I call influence!

Would these changes make the game more appealing to us? I don’t know and it may be a while before I can convince the others to give it a try. There are so many very good games that I rarely get to play, do I even care to waste the time fiddling with this one? And would these changes now make the game even slower since you have more decisions to make? If someone decides to give this a try, I’d love to know what you think.
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Sites

For all of you who like to play games online, there’s a new PBEM site called MaBi Web which offers Hansa and Richelieu. I’ve played several games of Hansa and I’m very impressed with the graphics and implementation of the game. It’s easy to use and has all the features you want in an online game including letting you start your turn over again—almost a requirement in a game where you can play your turn in so many ways. The site is still in Beta testing so there may still be a bug or two but MaBi is very nice and quickly replies to any questions or problems.

I also want to let you know that I have started my own personal blog where I plan to talk about my gaming as well as other things that pop into my head. Come and visit me at Meeple Monologues.
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Until next time, keep your penguins on the ice.

Mary

Would You Like to Play a Game?

What do you do when no one wants or has time to play a game with you? Head for the Internet, of course. There are quite a few games out there, of which I've only tried a few.

My first online experience was when Jody Ludwick invited me to try Cartagena at youplayit.com. Imagine the meeting of minds of the #1 Mom in Indiana and the #1 Mom in South Dakota over a virtual game board. We played and chatted about husbands, kids, food, chores, pets--just 2 friends sitting around with a cup of coffee and our respective four-legged company. Of course, we talked about games, too, and I have Jody to thank for several games in my collection including El Grande. We then tried Lost Cities at flexgames.com, which also has a nice presentation of Schotten-Totten. Both of these sites have very nice interfaces and I recommend them for someone looking to pass some time in light gaming.

I was shown around Brettspielwelt by Gerald Cameron, who offered to teach me Princes of Florence. BSW is a scary place when you first arrive mainly because it's so big, it's in German and you don't know anyone. A quote from a Gene Wilder movie, The Frisco Kid, comes to mind: "Find thyself a teacher" and I had found an excellent one. Gerald showed me how to get BSW to talk to me in English, some shortcut keys, and introduced me to some people with whom he plays regularly. If you ask around on BGG, I'm sure you'll find someone more than willing to introduce you to the wonders of BSW.

When I showed interest in playing Tigris and Euphrates, Richard Fawkes volunteered. He enlisted two other Geeks, Chester Ogborn and my BSW friend, Gerald, and started a game on BGG to teach me the intricacies of T & E--we've been playing together ever since. The interface for T & E is excellent and you can even set it up to play by yourself if you just want to practice or get the feel for it. As a warning, I must tell you that there is one small omission in the rules--you can not remove a Leader from the board. Don't let that stop you from giving it a try. If you've never played, all you need do is mention that you'd like to learn and teachers will answer.

I've played a couple of games of Puerto Rico at puertoricogame.net and while the interface is a good one, I did have one minor problem with it, though it may have been my browser: the mouse-over for buildings which explains their benefits would only show part of the explanation such as "gives you an extra VP for..." If you're unfamiliar with the game, keep a list handy.

Ludagora.net has several popular games of which I've played Through the Desert, Vinci and Medina. The first two are very nicely done with great graphics and useful mouse-overs everywhere in English. My first, and only, game of Medina is still ongoing and has been a pain in the (insert body part of your choice). The problem comes when you can no longer place a castle piece since it doesn't automatically discard them. There is a pop-up that you activate (mind you, this game is all in French) which gives you a place to vote to discard that type of piece. But ALL the players must vote and if you're playing with strangers who don't speak very good English and are unfamiliar with the game and/or who don't show up unless it's their turn, the game is stuck.

Lately, I've been playing a lot of Torres at boiteajeux.net. A great interface though the numbers can be hard to read on the pieces and blocks, especially the 5 and 6. When setting up the game, you can choose between the three variations for the Action Cards: draw one from a single pile, draw 3-choose 1 from your own set, or all cards in hand. The site, for now, is all in French so put Babel Fish on another tab and give it a shot. Boiteajeux.net offers several other games as well including Alhambra, DVONN and GIPF.

And lastly, for now anyway, is Wallenstein which can be found at spielbyweb.com. This is a complicated game with a lot of information to display and I think they've managed it very well. Alas, the virtual dice tower is just as arbitrary as the real thing but that's part of its charm. Hoity Toity and Bus can also be found on this site.

These sites, except for BSW and flexgames, are Play By E-Mail so you can take your time to decide a move, fit a move into your lunch hour or during a commercial break, or in the middle of the night when you have insomnia. How great is that?

Now stop complaining and get out there and play a game.
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Until next time, play with your mouse.
Mary