Archive for Jason Farris
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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Moving is a unique misery inflicted on the self based on how much of a pack rat you are. I am a medium pack rat, but my wife is a major pack rat. She still has a cheap plastic wind up car that her grandfather gave her when she was a little girl. At one point in our marriage she refused to throw out a cracked plastic water jug because it had been her mother’s. I’m sure all of you much wiser people already know that it’s not worth marital strife to argue over a water jug, but my wisdom isn’t there yet. The battle of the jug lasted for about a month, it eventually got chucked, and I was the bad guy for a long time after that. I wouldn’t even think about mentioning the cheap plastic car. I don’t have enough karma stored up to face the consequences of that.
So preparing for the move was a bizarre dance of discussing things that could probably go and getting little accomplished. Whenever I suggested tossing things that were still in boxes from our last move (okay, I admit the car was in one of those), my wife would throw up the, ”You aren’t getting rid of games,” stonewall. Fine! 20 games went to goodwill and I sold another 15. This sacrifice helped move things along and we made 12 trips to goodwill. Then came the pairing down. We started on the stuff we did not want to move. Dining room table, sold. 2 book shelves and 2 chairs tossed. This is the part of moving that is just a teeny tiny little bit fun. There is something freeing about divesting yourself of stuff. It’s like a weight off your shoulders. Even my wife got into the groove. It’s funny how you can desperately hold on to stuff and then suddenly realize, you don’t need it or really care that much about it. I halved my RPG stuff with 4 copy paper boxes filled to the brim going to Noble Knight. I did not get to realize the total worth of them that way, but they paid shipping and it was extra cash. As I said, this was the fun time.
While packing for a move you will ultimately run afoul of you realtor. The realtor is trying to sell your house and wants everything to look as perfect as possible. Packing and moving is messy. You can see where this is going. I would get a room packed up, only to have my realtor tell me that all the boxes had to go because it made the room look smaller. So they went into the garage, which made the garage look smaller, but too bad! The other issue is that people like to come look at your house at random times. Realtors are supposed to call ahead to give you time to clear out but it does not always happen. You also don’t want to sell or give away too much furniture too soon as you realtor wants the rooms to look good. It feels like someone telling you to throw a party but keep it quite. l love our realtor, but there were times on both sides that things were strained.
From part 2 you already know that our first visit to California was a bust. We considered at looking at rentals at the time, but were told they were disappearing 1-2 days after being listed and we would have to pay an entire month and a half of rent before moving in. Doing the math, it was cheaper to just fly out again at the end of October, find something and rent it. Unfortunately, cheaper does not mean easier.
The evening before our flight, I was in the doctor’s office to get a small mole removed from my face. As you get older, these things start going 3D on you and I kept cutting myself shaving with this one. A minor nuisance that I thought could be easily dealt with. I had been feeling under the weather that day and was a bit nauseous. When they sat me down to do the usual BP and temp, my blood pressure was high. I am normally a little high, but it was really high. This worried me until they took my temp and I was riding high at 103. Joy. She put me on antibiotics and said that if my fever broke before our flight, I could fly but otherwise, I was grounded.
After crawling home and into bed, my nausea worsened and thus began one of the worst nights of my life. I have read in any many books about characters being “violently ill,” but had not experienced the reality of what those simple words meant. While my wife was packing for the trip, I was taking trips to the bathroom which each successive trip resulting in me being more unsteady and more pale. By midnight, I had no color at all and looked dead. My wife decided to take the trip without me as neither one of us wanted to rent a house sight unseen.
By the next morning, She was in flight to California, and woke up feeling fine except for the fact that my illness had moved lower down the gastrointestinal track, I was a little shaky, and was somewhat tethered to the bathroom. My fever was gone and I was left thinking, WTF?
My poor wife’s misery had only begun. The rental car agency would not rent her the car because it was in my name (thanks Hertz). But they went ahead and pocketed the money anyway, refusing a refund later on. Beware who you shop with in the car game. Alamo rented her one on the spot and much cheaper. Yay Alamo! She was then stuck running around all weekend looking at houses in a strange in a strange car and staying in a strange hotel. I enjoy traveling and seeing new locations. She does not. I can drive easily in heavy traffic (Sacramento is a powder puff compared to Atlanta), but she is not a fan. So I spent the weekend leaving the house every 3-4 hours for a realtor to show it and hoping I would not need a lavatory and she ended up texting me photos of all the houses. It was brutal for both of us. We had somewhat settled on one when she called me Saturday and said she had put down a deposit on a house. IT was not one we looked at originally but she fell in love with the property. The house was old and small and she was worried our stuff would not fit. But she LOVED the property. Reality sunk in that night when we were talking about it. No central heart or A/C, no dishwasher, and it was a third smaller than our current house. It also only had a one care garage. But I had to agree with her, the property was great. You just don’t find an acre of land in the middle of a city full of every fruit tree you can imagine from loquats to pears. The kids would have plenty of room to run around. At that point she thought we had made a mistake. I couldn’t say because the pictures were not adequate to judge. So she flew back somewhat discouraged and we went back to packing.
The Day the movers arrived was a little slice of heaven. I didn’t have to do anything except sign papers and clean up each room after they left. The Kitchen and laundry rooms needed way more work than I had the time to get cleaned up as we were also leaving the next day. My wife had to be in Sacramento in 6 days for a pre-Christmas meeting of the Barnes and Noble staff. Just a quick plug here. B&N is a good company. They transferred my wife, which is nice in a down economy. I know everyone here loves their Amazon, but that love may very well kill most brick and mortar stores. I hope B&N adapts and finds their niche. I would hate to have no place to browse. Besides the Nooks are better readers than Kindle.
So remember that trip across the United States we took over the summer with a 1and 3 y/o. Well, we reversed course and head right back, this time with freshly minted 2 and 4 y/o old in tow. Trust me, the birthdays didn’t make things any easier. Next stop, California and bust.
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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I accepted my offer in mid-August and was told the relocation company would be contacting me to set up my move and help with selling the house. Shortly after that, I received this nifty contract outlining everything they would and would not do. This was going to be a breeze. I’d never had help moving before so it had to be easier than the past. Right?
We had already determined that the stipend would not cover everything. I was not a VP or anyone important enough in the company to have them sell my house and cover my entire move. I was concerned the most about selling a house in a down market, so we planned on letting the relocation company handle that end. We solicited moving estimates from multiple companies, including the one through the relocation company (Graebel). We also had a realtor lined up who was honest and trustworthy, not realizing until we had the contract that we had to get competing quotes.
And then the wait… until I finally received a call from the Graebel relocation specialist in early September. I had been pestering people on my end since I accept the offer. The housing market was down and we were wasting valuable time getting my house to market. Winter is a terrible time for selling a house. Anyway, the Graebel rep was friendly but when I started asking her questions about my relocation contract, she admitted that he had not read it. She did so and got back to me later in the same week with answers and we set up the Graebel realtor and our realtor to get an estimated sale price. Ours was in by the end of the week at 169. The Graebel recommended realtor came and looked at the house. She said it would not go higher than 155 and then did not send her estimate to Graebel. So we waited some more. She used up the full 9 days they are given to provide an estimate and then came in at 138. I was willing to acknowledge that our realtor was a bit high and he did also, but she came in under the comparable homes she listed for comparison. I lodged a protest and the Graebel rep agreed, saying they were too far apart and we would have to have a third estimate done. I noted that my contract did not provide for this, and it only said it would average the two estimates. There was nothing about a third. Graebel insisted, so we were stuck waiting for a third estimate from another realtor provided by Graebel. The third realtor came out with her high pressure sales partner. Without having looked at the house, he said it would go no higher than 150 but they would list it at 155 and it would be guaranteed to sell in 4 months. We were now at the End of September. Another month to sell the house gone. The move was planned for November (the week before Thanksgiving), so this was getting a bit ridiculous.
Then my Graebel rep was out on vacation. So her colleague called to tell us that we had to throw out the high quote and take the average of the two lower quotes (the Graebel recommended ones). I pointed out that my Graebel rep had agreed that the low quote made no sense as the data did not match the number she arrived at and that’s why we had this third estimate done. She insisted that this was how it was written in my contract. Is asked her if she had read my contract as there was no provision for a third estimate and we were already outside of it. She forwarded me on to her Graebel supervisor who said this is how it was written in my contract and we had to follow that. I asked her if she had read my contract and she had not either. At that point I blew my cork, and long story short, fired Graebel from the house selling part.
Unfortunately, I could not fire them in their entirety as my company was paying them to manage my stipend and assist with the move. So it was going to go toward a move and costs for purchasing a new house, except that we were now in October and there was no way we could purchase unless our House miraculously sold immediateyl. We went with our original realtor and listed that house at 159 to give some wiggle room. We considered 155, but figured this would be the price at which we would walk away from the house without paying anything. What we owed and closing costs would eat up any profit. It seemed like the best course.
Trying to sell a house in October is a horrible thing. We had flown out to Sacramento to look for houses at the end of September (we had actually planned it in August and had the tickets). The realtor showed us available houses in our price range, but it was a bit of a waste as we knew we would not being buying any time soon and these houses wouldn’t be here when we did. Meanwhile, many people were looking at our house, we had a lot of foot traffic, and interest was high online. But no offer materialized. And neither the realtors who showed it nor the prospective buyers thought it was overpriced. The reality was that there was just too much choice and unless someone loved the features that made our house special (like we did), they could probably find their own dream house elsewhere.
Meanwhile, my wife and I had already arranged our entire move. My Graebel rep only got involved in that long enough to delay our quote from Graebel. Per her report it was to make sure we got the special discount for the relocation company being part of the move. They came out 3000 higher than another major van line. I explained this to her and she was "shocked." Of course, she said that if we used Graebel, we would not have to pay for the move and then get reimbursed, it would be automatically deducted. We sucked it up and said we would handle the move ourselves and just request reimbursement after it was done. That was the last real intervention that Graebel did with us until they cut the check at the end. My company paid them to slow down our house getting on the market by a month and a half, and make sure I didn’t blow my stipend on some silly thing like gambling or board games. At the end of the move I did fill out a very strongly (but not rude) worded survey for Graebel . The survey noted they would contact me if I had any problems listed. Needless to say they never contacted me. I did make a complaint to my HR rep about how not knowledgeable and disorganized Graebel appeared to be but I doubt that went anywhere.
Now let me tell you, I am not an organized person. For my wife and I to have arranged all the logistics of our move, house hunting and ultimately house renting was a monumental task. And to have the supposed experts be so much worse (and more expensive) was stunning. I’ve heard of government beaurocracy being bad, but I think Graebel has been taking a page from the congressional playbook. When you are going through a geographical transplant, it is important for the surgeon to not kill the patient.
I know I promised a section on moving as hell, but that will have to wait for part 3.
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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Since last July, my life has felt like one long slow motion train wreck. People running everywhere, explosions, the agonized sound of twisted metal and me trying to get my family clear. That part seems especially slow motion. The train keeps getting closer and while it looks like it is slowing down, I’m not sure if it will come to rest before we are crushed by it. I’m betting that a lot of people have been having this feeling over the last couple of years. But mine was self inflicted. Maybe this cautionary tale will prevent someone else from doing this.
It all started when I came back to work in Georgia from a two week vacation in Oregon. We flew out for a week and drove back as my father was getting a new car and his old one had about 50,000 less miles than ours. We cut a deal to get it and had a very good time crossing the northern US in the summer, even with 1¾ and 3¾ year old boys. I was calm and at peace on that day.
The general manager popped his head over the top of my cube and said, “Were have you been? I’ve been looking for you for a week.” Then he said that he had a job in mind for me that I might be interested in. It was in Northern California. My ears pricked up. Most of my family was in California and while I preferred Oregon, we would be much closer. The contract would startin January of 2012, so we would have plenty of time to move and get situated except that we owned our own house (more on that later).
One other thing. The account I was currently working was looking rocky and there was a good chance that it could go away. Having been on the short end of the business gone away stick in the past, I was a little nervous. At his request, I applied for the position. My wife and I discussed the move and she was only for it if it was a substantial move up for us financially and she would get the same support from my family that she received from hers. Yep, my wife’s family lives in Georgia. Before we got married, I had told her up front that I planned to move back to California. I liked it better there. Of course, after we got married that went out the window with kids and she was very upset the one time I suggested moving (while being out of work for a month post the company I worked for folding).
So here I was interviewing for a job that I knew my wife did not want to take, but she trusted my judgment. The interview went very well. This new position would be high profile and at the office of the customer. In addition, the contract was for 8 years barring either party getting really pissed off at each other. From a career standpoint it seemed ideal. They specifically wanted someone who new my company and could work well independently. And I was flattered that they wanted me.
After some not very vicious salary negotiations where I threw in everything I could imagine, including raise, cost of living change, bonuses, moving assistance and house sale assistance (which they agreed to all of it), I put the offer before my wife. And she agreed to it.
You can probably already see some of the mistakes I was making here. I had a job and even more, I liked it. I had a house which we both loved. We both had friends and supports in Georgia. Our kids were doing well and I even liked the Fall back east (it was the other three seasons that were awful). Let’s face it, during an economic downturn, we were both employed and doing well overall. Why was I looking at taking another job? Isn't that inviting the fickleness of fate?
It’s funny how sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of you.
Stay tuned for Part two: The reality of moving an entire house (and game collection) across the United States is barking dog ugly.
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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I'm taking a breaking from game related subjects to write about something that makes me smile every time I think about it. "John Carter" is coming out in theaters March 9th. If you had told me two years ago that an Edgar Rice Burroughs hero was coming to the silver screen, I would have sighed and expected another Tarzan epic. But apparently, there are quite a few geeks like me who know about the first hero Burroughs created, John Carter of Mars.
Burroughs wrote prolifically about John Carter and the planet Barsoom (aka Mars), enough to fill 9 slim volumes. If you were lucky enough to find them when Michael Whelan was doing the cover art, you have something special in my opinion. The first story that would eventually be compiled into the first book "A Princess of Mars," originally appeared in a pulp magazine in 1912. Yes, he was writing Science Fiction, and even somewhat lurid science fiction around the turn of the century. Could you imagine the readers of the day reading about a planet where everyone walked around naked except for a "harness" that they used to carry items around (usually ray guns and swords).
John Carter was an earth-man mystically transported to a Mars that is a dying world. Everything is shades of desert, yet the population of the world apparently thrives as everyone is always killing everyone else off. As a man from the heavier gravity of earth, John Carter soon discovers that he has the equivalent of super strength on the low G Martian landscape. He can leap tall buildings in a single bound, kill titanic monsters with a single blow, and wrestle anything on mars to the ground. It reminds me of another traveler from a strange planet that finds himself having super powers because of the nature of the planet he is on. He generally carried on rescuing damsels in distress, swashbuckling, and otherwise acting like a proper hero of the era should.
I'm not going to tell you that this is great literature, but I think Burroughs managed to get in touch with his inner adolescent boy and channel that in the stories. The women were royal, beautiful and naked, the men were handsome and noble. The bad guys always acted nefarious but never really too evil. You knew the super strong Carter would come through in the end and save Dejah Thoris (his wife and the princess alluded to in the title of the first book). There were always strange new creatures, generally larger sized versions of earth creatures with double the number of limbs, and super science to keep you enthralled. Cliffhangers abounded. The first book alone was begging for a sequel as soon as it was released.
Looking back on those books now, it is clear that they are dated. The formula is repeated with different characters but the same outcome is reached. They are pretty sexist, and one could argue there is some implicit racism as well. Of all the different colored people on Mars (and there are many different colors) only the white man is superman. And perhaps most damning of all, they are very chaste by today's standards. But that may also be part of the charm. Nothing is intentional, they are products of a different time.
So this new movie is coming out, 100 years in the making, and I smile. I know they will sanitize it to fit it more into a modern sensibility. Dejah Thoris will be more than a plot twist. They'll have to show that women are just as capable as men, and they will be very careful with how race is portrayed (of course the white man is still superman, but at least he looks a little goth). And that's okay, because all they really have to keep the same is the high adventure and sense of wonder that these books have given to countless boys and young men. A tall order, but I have faith in the director.
And If it's not very good, there's always the books.
Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:36 pm
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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I have learned some hard lessons as someone who love dungeon crawl games. The good news is there are plenty of dungeon crawl games and the bad news is that many are competitive. Competition is good right? Cooperative dungeon crawlers suck because the AI is scripted and there is no feeling of a malevolent threat trying to take you down. We all want a human intelligence opposing us and giving us a run for our money, but therein lies the problem.
The first is that someone must play the dungeon and the other players play the heroes. If you are the one who brings the games, odds are you get elected to have the bad guy roll. Maybe you have that perfect group who all love dungeon crawls and all know the rules to them all so you can rotate. Great for you. But if you’re like me, you show up at game night and you never know what you are going to get. Which means you play the more complicated baddies and the players divvy out the easier to understand heroes (because there is only one per person). This is fine occasionally but is annoying wwhen you rarely get to play the hero.
Secondly, everyone wants you to play hard as the baddie but nobody wants you to win. I know you say, “That’s not true, some of my best games were ones we lost.” I think that is a sincere belief that most people have, and I think it’s often not as true as people believe. I’ve had numerous times, in the excitement of the game, Players yelling things like, “Take that,” “Come to papa,” and “That’s how it’s done,” while playing the heroes. I have noticed those very same statements looked on negatively when the villain player says them. And I’m not even talking about extreme versions. Let’s say the party tank wipes out a ton of minions, but one of the minions still manages to finally take him down. The villain players’ exclaims, “Yes!,” and there is silence in the room. It’s an almost unwritten rule that the players can tap dance on the monster’s grave but it is not okay to do it the other way around. Heroes can celebrate victory, but the villain player should be contrite if he/she wins. After all, if the villain player wins then everyone else loses.
I have some theories about why this is. People who really get into a game identify with their hero so it hurts (even if it’s only a little bit) to lose them. I think that it is often not okay in a subliminal way for one player to rejoice at the expense of others but it is okay for the majority to rejoice at the expense of one. How dare the hopes of 4 be dashed by one. Also, I think it messes with narrative, the bad guys are not supposed to win.
Some would say the solution is for the villain player to be more like a “DM.” They are meant to challenge the players but not win. Then why make a competitive game? Why have a win condition? Why not just play D&D?
Personally, I think everyone should be able to be excited without unhappiness from others and everyone should be a good winner. Yet reality seems to fall a little short. It always feels like there is a lot of freedom in being a hero but a lot of unwritten constraint on the bad guy, which strangely enough, is the opposite of real life.
So trust me, unless you have that “right” group, don’t be the one to bring the dungeon crawl.
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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Since I’m waxing nostalgic today about the good old days of video gaming on the PC when everything was incompatible with everything else (thank you VESA for my sanity), I thought I’d talk about the board game that inspired one of my favorite PC games of the era, Lift Off. Any of you who remember the bad old days of searching for compatible drivers mare remember a title called Buzz Aldrin’s Race into space. The core mechanics of the PC game lifted (pun intended) from afore mentioned board game. And it was frighteningly addictive. It was also frighteningly tough. If you did not save early and save often it was almost impossible to beat. But it kept you coming back for more every time.
The premise of both the board game and computer game is the space race from the early days of Sputnik to the eventual moon landing. You are the director of your country’s space program and must win prestige by completing increasingly complex and dangerous missions into space. You have to spend money to buy new programs (e.g. satellites, capsules, rockets) and then spend more money on research to make them more reliable. You also get to buy astronauts. You get a bigger budget when you successfully complete a space mission which allows you to buy new programs. The winner is the player who successfully manages a manned lunar landing and return to earth before anyone else.
There are several ingenious mechanics that ensure the game will keep you excited and begging for more. First, you are always competing against safety vs. the desire to be first into space. All missions have steps in them based on difficulty and each step requires you to roll percentile dice against a particular component. For example My capsule rating for my satellite may be 60% which gives me better than average odds it will succeed in the one test it will make if launched. Do I launch it now to get ahead of the competition and risk it exploding in space or wait until R&D can make it safer. The push your luck aspect is delicious. Since everyone chooses their launch dates secretly, you never know when someone will scoop you on a mission. Also the game has a tech tree to it to appeal to the builder of the gaming group. Many components give you an increase in safety for more advanced components. For example, if I have an atlas rocket program, and a titan rocket program, then my newly purchased Saturn program will start with a much improved safety factor (requiring less R&D time and money to get it ready to fly).
If I go on much more about the game, I will be writing a review. So why has this game not been reprinted? I think two factors play into it, components, and the need for writing things down. Nobody likes games with a lot of book keeping, and this game requires it for marking down your missions and launches to recording your astronauts experience. I think a lot of the book keeping in this game could be mediated by modern component design but there would still be some.
The other problem is the bits. How can bits keep a game from being reprinted? Well, the bits may have been passable for the time, but they are horrendous now. This games needs love and a lot of it. It’s very hard to this game to the table and be taken seriously in the modern multi-colored world. And nobody playing it means nobody clamoring for it to be reprinted.
What I wouldn’t give for a properly pimped out version of Liftoff. I think this deserves the Stronghold treatment.
Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:10 am
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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As a consumer, and I hate the word consumer, I have been caught in the merry go round of games that are not quite there yet. In fact I have become more of a consumer as the volume of games being released has increased. There is nothing that points out to me how wrong the American way of “consuming everything you can get your hands on,” is like looking at my game collection. Sadly I can say I have hundreds of games. I have played almost all of them and a game that does not get played eventually gets traded for one that does. But I have a friggin’ ton of games. More than I need, and if I’m honest about it, more than I want. But I can’t let go of this game because it is a perfect worker placement game and I can’t get rid of that one because it was the father of its genre. I have to come to the conclusion that consumption just to consume (i.e. collect) is evil. But if you try to take my games away I’ll introduce you to my 12 gauge alarm system.
So while I clutch at my conspicuous consumption, let me tale you a tale that will, hopefully, allow you to avoid my fate. It all started with my love of Civilization the computer game and Master of Orion 2. When I was first introduced to boardgaming I thought, “I have to get me some of these.” One of my first purchases was the brand new game called Antike. It was neat, it was Euro, and it really wasn’t like Civilization. Yes, there were some elements, but it was too abstract. So then I got Mare Nostrum. Sweet game and some the most beautiful components I’ve ever seen in a board game. I loved the trading mechanism and the limited randomness of combat, but it wasn’t quite there. Okay, how about the granddaddy of them all, the civilization board game. At the time it was not very expensive, but it was way too long. Sorry, 8 hours is long for a board game. Maybe not for my then favorite computer game Oblivion (as long as it was my day off and the wife wasn’t around) but it definitely was too long for a board game. So followed a long line of civilization games including through the ages (close but goofy military), roll through the ages (fun dice game but no cigar), and Civilization the board game (a lot like civ revolution but suffers from the too small scale of that game), and Innovation (so not a civ game, gotta read blurbs more). There were others but those are the highlights. Space games were about the same. TI3 was way too long, Galaxy’s Edge was way to short, Galactic Emperor was way to Puerto Rico, and Eclipse was so, so close but the tech system and lack of planet upgrades was just not quite there yet. It felt like I was goldilocks with no little bear bed to go to sleep in. Each new hotness cost more money than the last, with the exception of TI3, and soon I had too many games. And let’s not get me started on dungeon crawls.
The crux is that there is no perfect game unless you design it yourself, and let’s be honest, that road leads to madness (Look at Knizia recycling the same old math problems after early brilliance). I think there are probably many more mellow gamers who like many of the titles mentioned or who have actually have found their perfect game. But the fact that the hotness continues to sell like hotcakes tells me a lot of people are still looking.
Don’t be like me. Give up game collecting while you can. Either that, or become good friends with someone who has an insane collection and then you don’t need one.
Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:38 pm
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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What drives you?
It’s a slightly more existential day for the cardboard Curmudgeon. Drive is an interesting word. Freud said we are all driven by sex and aggression, or pleasure and aggression if the word sex freaks you out too much. I’m sure there’s truth to it. Skinner trained animals based on pleasure and danger avoidance and we have the same hardwiring as other animals. But I’m looking for less primitive drives.
Today, I’m looking at this blog and my reviews. Why write a blog? Why write reviews? Who really needs my input in an internet age when everyone has their say. What makes mine better or more special than the next persons?
The reality is that it does not, despite my fantasies to the contrary. The only thing that separates me from the average person is that I have a drive to be heard and am willing to take the time to write out a message. Part of the drive comes from a need for positive attention and notice. Part of it comes from a desire to express myself in any medium possible (writing just being the easiest for me). And part of it comes from a much darker place, a fear of isolation and meaninglessness.
I ‘m not talking isolation in the traditional sense, I have a family and people I care about and who care about me. I’m talking in the sense that nobody will ever truly know you. For example, my wife, who knows a lot about me, cares nothing for my hobby. I occasionally forget and try to talk to her about a game, a thread on the geek, or even a review. She is polite and listens, but it is not important to her. She does not understand. This is not her failing or mine. It just is.
The other dark drive is the need to put something out there that is permanent. No, this blog and my reviews are not great works of art to be hung in art galleries. But they have a sort of permanence (until the internet dies). Just knowing that something I have written exists in the beyond gives me comfort.
Believe it or not, this was all brought up by a review I recently wrote on Panic Station. It clashed with some of the drives that push me to write, yet I wrote it anyway. And it was uncomfortable to do. It was a negative review which pushes against my drive for positive attention and notice. Also, this review was for a game from a company that I can’t say enough good things about and from a designer who is a good contributor to the geek. Yet I wrote it anyway. It was scathing and sarcastic to a degree that it did not have to be.
So there I was faced with a review that would take some flak, I have written negative reviews before and there is the inevitable, “How dare you not like my favorite game!” comments. These generally do not bother me as everything is a matter of taste. But I did not want to make either Stronghold games or the designer unhappy.
Reality check time, I am writing a game review on a board game website with thousands of pages of content hundreds of thousands of reviews are posted and more hit every day. No matter how important I think my review is, ultimately it will disappear into the noise of the geek. So who is this really important to?
I would love to think that everyone would love my reviews, but really, I am writing them because of my drive. The review needs to meet my standards and needs to fit my tone. I have to own it. Sometimes my writing will soar and sometimes it will fall flat. Either way, it’s mine and I need to remember that it is important to me.
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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It’s Christmas Eve, the holiday my family celebrates during this time of year. I’ve spent the last few days marveling it the sheer chaos created by all the shopping. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, you are impacted by it. Besides, I’m sure you celebrate some holiday or birthday with gift giving. It seems like the focus of all these celebrations gets shifted to the commercial aspects or solemn religious implications. I’m going to try to write today about what I enjoy most about the holidays and a little about what I like least. And, yes, somewhere in here there will be some game commentary.
For me, the holidays are about family and friends. This is particularly important this year as we just moved to California where I have family and my wife does not. Both of us lost our circles of friends, or should I say in the connected world, physical access to our friends. It has been hard for my wife, to say the least, while a sort of joyous homecoming for me. Neither or our kids were in school. So they have adapted quite well.
Last night we skyped with my wife’s family, which she loved. The kids wanted to say hi but were quickly absorbed in some early presents they got to open while on camera. This was upsetting to my wife, not because little kids were being little kids, but because her family is so important and she wanted them to understand that over the glitz of shiny new toys. Let’s face it, that’s going to be a work in progress.
Flash back to when I was a kid. I was in the same boat. The holiday was all about what cool presents I would get. We would have family over or go visit a relative for the holiday. My parents seemed to spend all their time talking which made no sense to me when you could be playing. I pretty much ignored them after the initial round of hugs and would go play with my cousins, friends, etc.
Okay back to the modern day. Now I am the parent who hauls my kids to the relative’s house or has them over to mine. The kids play and do their thing while the adults talk. We catch up on what’s been happening, we tell stories of past holidays and of the past in general. We relax and have a good time. What I did not understand as a kid, I really appreciate now. Some things just take time.
Unfortunately, I question whether we give anything enough time anymore. I wouldn’t be a curmudgeon if I didn’t say something about the modern commercial culture and how it does a great job of pandering to the family stereotype while in many ways trashing it. The focus is on the shiny baubles, not family. You can’t sell family (at least not legally) but you can use family to sell products. They show the happy family in order to sell you the product associated with it. Which, like the title of this entry indicates, is in some way better than the last product they sold. Turn thus on its head and you can’t have a happy family without the product. It’s all about more. Yes, this is an old chestnut but it remains true today. We got more caught up in finding the right gift or shopping for a family member then we do in enjoying our time with them. “ Do you like it,” “We can take it back,” “There’s a gift receipt.” BLECCH! Gifts are fine but time is a more precious commodity. You never know when you will have to move across the country and cannot spend time with loved ones as much as you like. And, depending on what stage of life you are in, time may be growing shorter for those you love. I think we should take all the time we spend shopping for people for the holidays and spend it with them instead because some day the luxury of time will no longer be ours.
Before I get too serious, I promised you something about games in here. I think games are a great way of bridging that gap between the kids and adults. You get to play and you get to socialize. You are spending time with people you want to be around. There are games that both kids and adults like and there are games for adults to enjoy among themselves. I think every holiday should have a game involved. While some would argue that watching the holiday sporting event of their choice is a game, television takes the focus away from those around you. A game can be distracting but at least the focus is in the room.
I know that not everyone has a family they enjoy spending time with. If you don’t like your family, then spend your time with people you do like. And bring a game.
Happy Holidays!
*One of my favorite album titles and a really solid release be Four Non Blondes
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Jason Farris
United States
Fair Oaks
California
There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
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Considering my last blog entry, it is no surprise that I am writing this one. At first I was tempted to tell you that Fantasy Flight Games jumped the shark recently, As I’ve still been buying their games. But really, they jumped the Shark about two months after I bought Descent: Journeys in the dark.
I was jonesing for that game after going to my first Gencon and seeing what amazing bits it had. I played a demo and it seemed very solid. I was just getting in to board games and only owned 3 euro games at this point: Tikal, Caylus, and I think Antike. The only other games in my closet were Axis and allies (GM edition), Fortress America, and Shogun (GM edition). I was pretty much into the pretty bits, big box thing. Descent was going to be my masterpiece dungeon crawl. They sold out of it while I as demoing it so I had to wait for it to hit my local game store, and wait, and wait.
Finally it arrived and the promise of infinite bits was mine. Board after board of cardboard chits. Enough plastic minis to keep me happy for a long time. I managed to get it to the table a lot during that first two months and several things became quickly apparent.First, the keeper tended to win early, or not at all, and second (tied to the first), there was no climactic battle. If the heroes made it to the final room, the bad guy was dead before it had a chance to act. Bad juju. The errata started coming out fast and heavy. Including the much needed endurance potion nerf. It only took one person writing up a way to beat he first scenario without the keeper getting a single turn to do that. Yes, it required certain abilities to show up and a certain hero, but it was doable and completely broken. Most of us had already figured out that the entire key to the game from the hero perspective was to get as many endurance potions as possible to create hideously long chains of actions. Who is going to turn down a time walk (a magic card for those in the know) that you can buy over and over. How did the designers miss this? Pages and pages of errata followed along with seemingly endless expansions with pages more of errata. My fun dungeon crawl really sucked. I refused to acknowledge this and justified how great it was by its beautiful bits and expandability.
But really, let’s be honest, the mechanics aren’t that great. And they are kind of unwieldy. The game runs long, but not because you keep encountering new stuff, and are constantly exploring. No, it runs long because of all the bits and mechanics that slow it down. I had FFG denial. They make beautiful games with lots of bits and miniatures. That is a siren’s lure that few, including myself, could avoid.
So I kept Descent and bought a few more FFG games. A pattern began to emerge. FFG games that were created by other designers or games republished with the FFG brand generally were more fun for myself and the people I played with than in house FFG games. There were far fewer rules hassles and the games ran more smoothly. War of the Ring had dense rules but nothing that was too crazy. Fury of Dracula was pretty good. Twilight Imperium sank like a stone for me as did WOW the adventure game. Starcraft seemed exciting but turned out to be generic science fiction with no real flavor of the RTS except names and flavor text.
I know that many think Corey K. is the second coming and his games can do no wrong, but they just don’t impress me. I see some clever mechanics that would make a good 90 minute game being bloated into a 3 hour bonanza of card and bits manipulation. It’s the FFG approach made real time and time again. I see their model as lots of rules for rules sake + plastic bits + more cardboard bits + cool artwork = a rich game experience.
Well I got tired of it eventually. I was tired of spending hours learning rules on the big games, only to find out there was more errata online. I got tired of playing a game whose length was measured more by pushing chits and cards than on the players actually engaging one another in the game.
And the other problem was the euro game. I agree with anyone who talks about many euro games having pasted on themes and being somewhat dry in the art department. But they had a lot of other things going for them like rules requiring little to no errata. Smooth game play. Near constant player engagement and shorter play time. These make FFG games look very bloated. I hate to compare this to Android vs Apple (I am an android phone fan who owns an Ipad), but euro games just work.
The last game I bought from Fantasy Flight Games was Mansions of Madness. I’m a Lovecraft fan and was sorely disappointed with Arkham Horror for being too much board game and not enough Lovecraft. Mansions seemed Ideal. But then the FFG syndrome crept in immediately. Errata, misprinied cards, map pictures that were inaccurate. The sealed room fiasco. Are you kidding me? Years later and FFG has the exact same problems they had with Descent. The company has become the 500 pound gorilla of the specialty board game world. This sort of problem makes evil empires like Hasbro look like saints. Hasbro is producing games that directly compete with FFG and their games are more stable and work better. What's next? Dogs and cats living together?
Meanwhile, the European designers are starting to get more theme into their games, plastic bits, and chits, but are still streamlining rules to make games accessible. Some are even creeping up into the 3 hour mark and longer. And they are enjoyable, engaging experiences.
I know that FFG has nothing to worry about in the short term. They are an established brand and have a following. They even have their supporters convinced that misprints and errata are entirely acceptable to any game. They can fix a broken game with an expansion and will be praised for it. And some of their games do come out relatively whole (I love my FFG Dungeonquest without the terrible combat rules).
However, I think in the long term this problematic. This is a niche market experiencing a bubble of sorts. There are more games coming out than ever before and people are consuming them increasingly despite a down economy. This means that people have more choices and the cream will rise to the top. A pretty box with cool bits may make you a single sale, but terrible rules and unwinnable scenarios may lose you a repeat buy. Not everyone is part of the cult of FFG. With smarter, more thematic euros, who really needs FFG?
Let me offer an alternative to the equation noted earlier. Bad rules + broken games+ cheaper components (anyone else notice this on newer games?) + redundant artwork = recycled crap.
If anyone from FFG is reading this, why can’t get your house in order? You’ve had years to do this. I don’t care if the problem is the rules writers, playtesters, computer jockeys, artists, or the kid that brings you coffee. Fix it. We all know there is human error and other publishers deal with it. Why haven’t you? Just for emphasis, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. Whose head is in the sand that this cannot change? Even if you are making money hand over fist, why wouldn’t you want to improve customer experience and brand loyalty?
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There is a duck in every game. You may not see it, but it's there.
