I had the opportunity to go on an exchange a few years ago to study Game Engineering in the Netherlands. One of the first things I did when I was there was to feed one of my great passions a little: Board games! Within this theme, I remember two events that I found peculiar:
The first was when I bought Gears of War: The Board Game, an excellent cooperative game, with fluid mechanics and very difficult! I struggled to pass the first mission, having to replay it 8 times! Anyway, excited about my new acquisition, I went to invite a classmate to play, but I was surprised with the answer: “Why will I play the board game, if I can play the original on the console? In my head I replied, “Because they are two completely different games! The experience is different!” but since I didn’t know my colleague well, I just shrugged.
Later, with more intimacy, the colleagues set up a game night. Each one would bring his or her laptop to play on the LAN. I put a small card game called Coup (the Brazilian version, beautiful) in my bag and when I got there I gave the idea to play: “Oh, but card games are boring! I asked, almost knowing the answer, what board or card games they had ever played in their lives. Playing cards, chess, Monopoly, Risk, and others. None were even from the 90’s. I insisted, saying that the games were fast, 15 minutes at most! Anyway, they gave in. We played 6 or more games in a row!
Board games (or analog games, to include card games and RPGs) are almost as old as the concept of society, but in the last decades they have been revolutionized by the invention of the RPG and the “gamer culture” that has emerged with the popularization of digital games. They are legitimate ways to have a playful experience, not lagging behind video games in terms of fun, strategy, or competition. Having said this, we cannot, however, say that both ways of playing bring the same experiences. That is what I will talk a bit about now.
I believe that the first major difference between the two media is the question of social contact. Although nowadays technological developments allow instant-contact online multiplayer, often even sharing cameras to see your friends while you play, the truth is that the board game allows a much more direct and eye-to-eye physical contact. Even digital games with local multiplayer still need the screen as a medium. In analog games, if you want to negotiate prices, you must make direct contact with the other player, while the others observe this contact, identifying body language and speech tones, generating a very complete social experience.
Another difference comes from the handling of the game system. While in digital games we have all the gadgets available so that the player doesn’t need to control the game states, but only react to their changes, in analog games the gears move by the hands of the player. This generates, in many cases, a greater familiarity with the rules, a greater possibility of studying the system and adapting strategies when it is understood.
In this way, the player creates a greater intimacy with the game mechanics, and it is very common for groups to create house rules, adapting the game to their styles. The player becomes part not only of the experience, but also of the agency of the system. Many digital games have worked on top of these possibilities, allowing the player to be content creators and/or resource modifiers, as is the case with Roblox or Garry’s Mod.
Another very important issue that differentiates digital games from board games: Physical media. In times of broadband internet, DVDs and Blurays are losing space to the digital copy. It is difficult today to have a box with the physical media of a computer game, and even consoles already allow the download of games directly to their internal storage. This is not the case for board/charter games. While I currently have access to 450 games in my Steam library, my board game shelf occupies half a wall in the office with only about 40 units. As such, the boxes are regarded as an aesthetic object, with fancy artwork and graphic effects for emphasis.
Speaking of aesthetics, despite the incredible audiovisual capacity of digital games, their analog cousins make use of another strategy: tactile aesthetics. Handling the components of a game, feeling its texture, placing the pieces, the sound of them hitting, as in a roll of the dice, all these small interactions create an aesthetic that is pleasant to deal with, even more so when combined with sensations and senses such as the smell of new cards, or highlighting tokens and opening the boards, seeing all the components on the table is eye-pleasing.
For this same reason, too, board games are usually much more expensive than digital ones. The use of plastic, printing, and cardboard (or even wood in some cases) raises the price, making some games luxury items, creating a whole symbolic fetish charge of the merchandise. It is not rare to see games that exceed R$1000.00 on sale in the Brazilian market. On the other hand, many people are willing to open tables of these games to the public, either at home, in public places or events, creating a sense of community, which is reinforced by the emergence of an informal market for board games. These groups become a source of exchange of experiences, information, and curiosities about the hobby.
All these differences only serve to defend that the digital game does not replace the analog game, on the contrary, they complement each other, allowing the gamer culture a greater horizon of new and interesting experiences to pursue. In another occasion I shall talk about how board games help the game designer, even those professionals focused exclusively on digital games! Until next time and remember: Roll the dices!
