Yehuda on “Why You Hate Games”

I enjoyed this article, Why You Hate Games, over on Yehuda Berlinger’s site.

Time playing games is not wasted time. Great games can help you “accomplish something”, but even games that are “only fun” are good for you, and certainly a better use of downtime than watching television, killing endless spaceships by yourself in front of a computer screen, or going out to a bar.

To Yehuda’s article, I’d add this: You’re shopping at Wal-mart or Target and buying the games that mass merchandisers tell you to buy. These games are successful from a commercial point of view, but for the most part, the games that big box stores stock serve the lowest common denominator. This means the outcomes are largely based on luck. Get yourself to a hobby store, or pick up any of the games listed on my board game list. When exposed to a new variety of games – good games – people suddenly take a much different view of gaming in general.

Along those same lines, there are a lot of great digital games out there, too, that don’t fit the “killing endless spaceships by yourself in front of a computer screen” mold.