As a comment on my article on payoffs, Alyx posted:
“You missed one aspect of a game that can contribute to why people enjoy it, and I suspect it’s because it’s not something you personally look for in a game, but is one of the reasons I enjoy many games, including Trivial Pursuit.
The social aspect of a game…”
I didn’t forget about this, but it’s not a subject I intend to go into very much, because it’s so huge. You could easily write an entire book or blog with observations on the social extrinsic aspects of games—the kind of people who enjoy them, why those people like hanging around each other, the cultures that develop around them.
Nor is the social aspect of Trivial Pursuit lost on me. In fact, Alyx knows well that the only reliable way to get me to play that game is to get a girl I’m attracted to into the game first, and then to ask me if I want in. I’m such a sucker.
Trivial Pursuit will be covered in-depth in a later article, I promise. I’ll probably return to the social aspects of games from time to time, but it won’t be frequent, because I have so many other topics I want to cover. If someone wants to start their own blog on the subject, I have plenty of Web hosting space free. I’ll even give you five interesting topics free of charge:
· What about Eastern Europe makes Bridge so popular there? How about Korea and StarCraft?
· Why do some people handle Diplomacy gracefully, while others need to avoid it to preserve their friendships?
· What games should you plan to play if you don’t know how many people are going to come to your event?
· Why are there so few good three-player games, especially using an ordinary deck of cards?
· How do large groups deal with games that feature elimination, like Monopoly, Risk, or tournament-style Poker?