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Game Informer - The Other Half of Gaming

by Aubrielle, 2016-05-30 00:23:25

A Game Informer editorial takes a look at the myth that video games must live apart from the non-digital games that spawned them.

Growing up, I loved any video game rooted in my favorite genre of fantasy. I would rent and buy all the video games with a passing relation to dragons and wizards, regardless of quality. Like many of you, as my taste in games grew, I began to recognize how much I was limiting my own fun. While I never lost a love of classic fantasy tropes, a whole world of other video games beckoned, inviting me into other interactive settings of action, mystery, horror, science-fiction, sports, racing, puzzles, and more. Why had I spent so long with an artificial barrier that kept me from such great entertainment? 

In the back of my head, that’s always the memory that comes to mind when I hear that someone loves video games, but has never dipped their toe into the other half of the gaming hobby that lives on your home tabletop. It feels like declaring that you love Italian food, but for some reason you just don’t want to try Mexican cuisine. Sure, some people just don’t like guacamole, but how would you know until you try? 

Prevailing opinion suggests that tabletop and video games are fundamentally different hobbies, and I certainly acknowledge that they each branch in separate directions. But they share the same roots, and much of the same appeal. While the form of presentation and interaction is different, many of the tenets of game design are in common, whether you’re talking about the need for balance in competition, the appeal of growth and progression over the course of the game, or the link between mechanics and narrative that make a game feel cohesive. 

Anecdotally, I can’t count the number of video game developers I’ve visited who trace their gaming roots back to role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, or early board games like Risk. Before the constraints of technology allowed for complex digital gaming, the only place to discover rich and nuanced gaming projects was on the tabletop. As both disciplines have matured, they’ve moved in often parallel and intersecting lines, and each reveal new facets of the way gaming can entertain, educate, and enrich our social interactions.

More.


Source: Game Informer

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