I think the Diptic collage below sums up the last couple of days fairly well.
I managed to get into the beta for the A Game of Thrones (AGoT) board game app. So I need to work through the tutorial now, and then get some games in.
I like the physical game a lot. So I’m pretty keen to try this digital version. The hope is once it’s out of beta that I can convince some of my friends to get it and we get a game or two in.
But like my physical collection, my digital board game collection has the same problem. Too many games too little time!
I could play against random strangers online. But I don’t get much enjoyment out of that. For me if I play online I like playing with friends.
Sadly even with app gaming being the only real way to game with friends during this pandemic. After a brief flurry of interest, it died off pretty quickly.
It’s a pity.
But engagement within our gaming group online seems to match that of attendance of gaming sessions. Pretty low.
I started a Discord server for the group so that members wouldn’t get spammed on Facebook from the club page, and/or miss posts. Facebook does seem to have a knack of being inconsistent in what it shows on peoples timelines.
The other positive for Discord for me is that with separate chat areas set up for different gaming interests, members can filter out the stuff they are not interested in. Not to mention the voice functionality it offers whilst gaming.
However the engagement on Discord is just as low.
My latest attempt to help improve things is to try running games of Mastermind (which died off pretty quickly), and the latest attempt a game of Chess.
I’ve not played Chess in decades. And even then I wasn’t very good at it. But we’ll see how it goes.
I think it also depends on people’s situations. I know that I have been working non-stop since February this year, with all usual Bank Holidays and School Holidays cancelled (with the exception of a week in August). Christmas will be the first school holiday that I will actually getting. Outside of work, I don’t have a great deal of free time in the evenings to devote myself to playing digital games. I’m also not a big fan of digital games, despite owning a good number of them, preferring physical games over coded versions. I’m also not a fan of Steam, which requires me to use my laptop to play, which I often find cumbersome (although I have several games on the platform – usually because they are not on Android). Coupled with this, most of my digital games are on Android and I have been without a tablet since summer. This, I hope, is set to change at Christmas, as my wife has hinted that she has got me a spanking new one as a gift.
The problem for gaming over the Chrstmas break is that most of my Chrstmas will be spent in my family bubbles; I am seeing family over Christmas. That said, I’m pretty sure that if my wife has purchsed me the aforementioned, and hinted at, gift, then I will be spending a little time setting that up and re-downloading my apps, so I’m quite sure there will be a bit of time over the break to get some gaming in.
I certainly agree about the involvement with the members of Fenland Gamers on the Discord server, and it is a little disappointing, but we must remember that others don’t all have the time to interact. I loved the Mastermind challenges (I’m a big fan of the game), but Chess takes a lot longer and requires a little bit of skill to play well.