Guise Knights

In retrospect, perhaps I should have taken up stamp collecting.

I started playing games at around age 4. All of the usual suspects;
Sorry, Trouble (with Pop-o-Matic action!) Parchesi. My dad taught me how
to play chess when I was 5. My grandmother taught me how to cheat at
cards when I was 7. I came up with my first “house rule” for a game when
I was 8. (Stratego: When a miner discovers a bomb, it usually destroys
the bomb. With my rule, you could sacrifice the miner to get one of your
own bombs back.)

In 4th grade I was introduced to role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons
in particular. 7th grade brought me my first home video game console, an
Atari 2600. 9th grade was a busy year: TSR released the Marvel Super
Heroes RPG, I discovered Villains & Vigilantes, I started a D&D club at
my old junior high school, and endless games of Risk after school. I
built a lifelong friendship over a Ringworld campaign that lasted
throughout and beyond my senior year. College brought a regular gaming
group with some very irregular games. I began to experiment with online
games, MUD’s and such. And then there was Talisman…and Magic:The
Gathering…Diablo…

Games. Games of every stripe and description. Board games, card games,
word games, video games, computer games…each one of them representing
a cost, in time and money and (occasionally) emotional energy (No, guys,
really! I figured out what we were doing wrong! It’ll be fun this time!)
In these trying economic times, I must admit that there’s not a lot of
return on my investment, financially speaking. Stamp collecting would
have been much more profitable. Numismatics (look it up) would never
have prompted my mom to accuse me of occult activity. Auto repair would
have gotten me into far fewer fights back in high school.

So many other choices, so many good reasons to have made them. So why
games? Why bother? What’s the point? There are a number of answers.
Pick any that apply.

1) I refuse to believe that the concept of “play” ends at 20. Call
me childish, accuse me of being a big fat Peter Pan. I don’t care. I
like to play.

2) Games are fun. Seriously, this is not rocket science. If
it’s not fun, don’t play it.

3) Games have rules. Written rules to which you can refer.
Repeatedly, and sometimes at high volume. This is the biggest draw for
me, I think. A context for social interaction in which there are
(hopefully) clearly-described rules. We’ll go into more detail on this
later.

4) Games offer varying levels of escape from the daily
grind. This does not just apply to RPG’s, although they do specialize in
this. Millions of people each year play board games wherein one takes
the role of a wealthy land tycoon in depression-era Atlantic City, for
example.

5) Games offer a way to reach out, to connect, to not be so
bloody alone. You play chess? I play chess. We don’t need a common
language, not a single word. Let’s play some chess. If we can manage to
converse while playing, even better!

6) Games can teach various skills that are useful in the
real world. You can’t buy that trade ship if you don’t budget the
materials for it. If you break an alliance, no one will trust you. You
can’t kill Dr. Lucky if anyone is watching, because you’ll go to jail.
(Okay, so some lessons are more broadly applicable than others.)

7) Games are fun. Yes, I mentioned this before, but I
figured it was worth a second look.

There are more reasons to game, I’m sure. What are yours?

Meet me in the Forums, we’ll talk about it. In the mean time? Go find a
stamp collector, a numismatist (did you look it up?) or an auto
mechanic. Invite them to a game.

-Hoss