The Game, part two

So last time I told you about some of the fun things about my former gaming habits. Unfortunately, the time has come to reveal some of the less enjoyable aspects.

The first, and largest, problem that the games I made developed was that nobody besides me could run them. Since it lacked the system of numbers and highly defined rule system, everything kind of depended on how much attention I could pay to it, and nobody else really developed the knack for running it. That pretty much limited its wider appeal to only those who had direct access to me, which meant The Game was never going to become any more popular than I was. Given my social skills, that meant it wasn’t going to be very popular. It also meant that I was responsible for providing that entertainment to whoever wanted it, which grew old quickly.

The second problem was that some of the abilities and skills the players could develop ended up being unbalanced or uninteresting compared to others. The manner of learning physical combat was very much a bland process compared to Archmagic and Battle Magic. Psychic was a little too straightforward as well, and while Enchanter tended to be interesting, at the higher levels it too got overshadowed. Technology rarely even got recognized as a separate field. So even the final version I came up with needed a lot more tinkering to make effective.

Combined, those flaws eventually convinced me to set the game aside during college. The fact that I didn’t want to seem like a total nerd to the girls around me might have had something to do with it as well. (Though I met my wife at a nerdy writing group anyway, so my efforts were in vain. Typical.) Yet lately I have been looking at it again and wondering what I could do to correct some of these faults.

Unsurprisingly, my crazed little mind has actually come up with a few ways. The best way I could see to correct the first problem would be to actually write up a game manual so that anyone with the time or inclination would be able to use it. Of course, the second one will take a lot more tinkering to fix, so it will probably take a lot longer.

So over the next little while, I will probably occasionally post up some of these ideas and corrections. I’ll ask you to repress your horrified reaction to my nerdy behavior. :) If a principle of it interests you, just let me know so that I get some feedback. Otherwise, just bear with it, and I’ll exhaust my material eventually. Until next time!