Thursday, June 25, 2009
Games Because "Sorry!" Was Already Taken
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 4:53 PM
The Wall Street Journal has an interview with the creator of a very peculiar board game, called Train.
It made its debut last month at the Games for Change conference in New York City. Players load boxcars with tiny yellow figurines and are asked to move the trains from one end of the course to the other. They pull cards that either impede their progress or free some of the characters. Once a train reaches the “finish line,” the game is completed and it is revealed that the destination of the trains is Auschwitz. Nobody “wins.”
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5
I hadn't realized there's an implicit trust between game makers and game players, but I'm pretty sure this violates it.
6
For those who didn't read/watch the interview:
It's clear that is was created to be less a game than a social experiment. The creator goes out of her way to say that the rules never refer to Train as a "game", or to the people interacting with it as "players". Then of course she forgets herself and uses the term "game" repeatedly.
She is genuinely aghast that anyone can gloss over the setting and play the game abstractly, a particularly inane reaction for a game designer. She seems overwhelmed by the "power" of her game and is surprised that not everyone else has the same reaction. Artists = egotists.
It's clear that is was created to be less a game than a social experiment. The creator goes out of her way to say that the rules never refer to Train as a "game", or to the people interacting with it as "players". Then of course she forgets herself and uses the term "game" repeatedly.
She is genuinely aghast that anyone can gloss over the setting and play the game abstractly, a particularly inane reaction for a game designer. She seems overwhelmed by the "power" of her game and is surprised that not everyone else has the same reaction. Artists = egotists.
7
I love 'games' like this, there's a whole series on The Escapist about computer games like this.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles…
Amazing work
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles…
Amazing work
10
That's just plain stupid.
Just play "Mousetrap" and yell anti-Semitic things at the mouse while you play.
Auschwitz meets Rube Goldberg.
Way more fun that way.
Just play "Mousetrap" and yell anti-Semitic things at the mouse while you play.
Auschwitz meets Rube Goldberg.
Way more fun that way.
13
I always have a match light the game board on fire when I set up Mousetrap, @10.
Then I throw a pitcher of water on it while they scream in horror.
Then I throw a pitcher of water on it while they scream in horror.
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