Reviews of Train and Siochan Leat
2009 June 20
Collected in my travels:
- Playing the Irish Game, Talking about Train – Post Position, Nick Montfort
- How a Board Game Can Make You Cry – The Escapist, Jordan Deam
- Brenda Brathwaite is Amazing – Sources and Methods, Kristan Wheaton (it is hard for me not to love that headline and feel embarrassed at the same time)
- Train: The Mechanic is the Message -Game Culture
- A Game That Matters – Subversive Puppet Show, Jason Mical
- Train – Play This Thing, Ian Schreiber
That one on GameCulture is potent. The comment about the universal, fundamental assumption of games as “safe places, free from repercussion, liberated from morality” is fascinating – it had not previously occurred to me how true that is. In fact, I might suggest it as a post topic, Brenda.
Yes, that particular review was humbling to say the least. That was, of course, one thing I was exploring with Train and with the series overall – this concept that games must always be fun. You have probably heard me mention that so much of play is to practice without true consequence. It is interesting to me that if you build enough complicity – and particularly the way that Train does it through tiny little rule gaps – that the resultant effect is so strong. It is stronger than I suspected it would be.