Immersion into the hobby can become a borderline obsessive-compulsive pursuit. It’s easy to become so impassioned about these games of ours that we find ourselves spending way too much time in the periphery of the hobby. I’m not saying that we spend too much time gaming for that is a noble pursuit. We spend too much time on the fringe of our hobby–

* reading online reviews,
* listening to podcasts,
* entering blog entries,
* entering session reports,
* logging plays and other stats,
* playing the online counterparts of our favorite games,
* interviewing with optimists,
* checking out the latest tweak at BoardGameGeek,
* reading about hot games,
* reading blogs,
* reading rulebooks,
* and reading games magazines like Counter and Knucklebones.

Consider the pie chart of your hobby. What percentage is devoted to actually playing games? Less than half? Yeah, me too.

How easy it is to get lost in this obsession and to forget the other aspects of life. The around-the-table time of gaming is great: I find it much more fulfilling and meaningful than boardgaming periphery because it involves spending time in relationships, often with my closest friends, and that is time well spent. I’m not saying we can’t go overboard in that area also, but that is not the topic of this post.

I’ve given some thought to what it is I do in the periphery of the hobby and most of it involves time online:
I look for interesting posts daily.

When you don’t have a close-knit group of friends impassioned about games, listening on the sidelines (or even participating in a forum discussion) is the closest thing to having hobby-related conversations. I have three primary sources for finding these posts–BGG, BoardgameNews, and the many gaming blogs.

Motivation: Entertainment
I learn about new and upcoming games.

Two sites–BGG and BoardgameNews–are my primary sources. Like many in the hobby I don’t want to miss a beat when it comes the latest, freshest games.

Experiencing new games is my own personal crack. Yes, I know how sad that is.

I check out reviews, blog entries, and BGG rating comments. Plus, I look at photos of the game. I have a knack for picking the games I will like based not only upon community buzz, but by looking at the art, the physical design, and the production value–I certainly judge a book by its cover and, believe it or not, I still bought Neuland!

The drab, drab graphics of Neuland

Ultimately, I try to learn enough about an upcoming games to decide that

* I’ll buy it on speculation, or
* I am at least interested in trying it out.

Motivation: Entertainment, Informed Purchasing
I read game reviews.

This is part of of the process for determining if I want a game, but it goes beyond that. Quite often I read reviews purely for entertainment. In many cases, I own the game and just want to hear the unique perspective of some other enthusiast.

Sadly, I’m reading reviews less and less and I’m reading less and less of the reviews I do read. Usually, I skip to the last paragraph where the reviewer has encapsulated the brunt of his opinion. Most reviews are “last paragraph reviews” in which I do what I can to skip over the parts where the reviewer recants dry facts about the rules and mechanics. Trouble is, when you’ve already played the game, you don’t need educated but entertained. I don’t want to feel as though I’m digging through cereal to find the toy prize. I eat Cap’n Crunch because I want to enjoy the cereal too!

A great reviewer, in my book, is one who interjects his opinion and personality at every turn. Okay, so you’ve told me about a new mechanic, but what do you think about it? Does it work well within this game? Has the game made an improved use of the time-tested area majority mechanic? A good review will have at least as much opinion as fact, not just a dab of it in the last paragraph.

Look at it this way, it’s possible to chock a review full of opinion and personality so that a reader–whether he owns the game or not–will be entertained as well as informed. I hardly ever bother reading reviews in GAMES magazine anymore. The reviews resemble games catalog descriptions. The whole of the review describes the basics of the game and the last sentence is an empty pitch along the lines of “We weigh in with a strong recommendation for this charming game.” It reads like journalism. Games themselves are fun and entertaining. Isn’t it possible for reviews to accomplish the same?

Motivation: Entertainment, Informed Purchasing
I read game magazines.

Since getting into Eurogames about 5 years ago, I have subscribed to several of the game magazines that cover them, often with disappointment. The disappointment was that

* some magazines attempt to cover all game formats–tabletop miniatures, CCGs, RPGs, etc.–so that the ones I care about–Eurogames and other advanced strategy board games–got only limited coverage, and
* the coverage provided was almost exclusively game reviews.

Of all the magazines I have read/subscribed, the one that has risen to the top as a personal favorite is Counter. Considering it is a black-and-white publication having no photos, that’s quite an accolade. The writing is excellent, the reviews are packed full of opinion, and there are lots of extra columns and general articles–all good stuff!

Additionally, I have also enjoyed

* Games International,
* Knucklebones, and
* the short-lived Undefeated.

The great appeal of reading a magazine vs. reading online content is analogous to playing boardgames on a table vs. online: the medium. With boardgames, I prefer tangible bits to digital ones. Ditto that for reading copy; it is far more comfortable reading a magazine in an easy chair than sitting at my desk reading a luminescent screen. I have fantasized that one day reading online content can be just that comfortable, but I fear that day may be years off.

Motivation: Entertainment, Informed Purchasing
I post here weekly.

For quite some time I contemplated starting my own blog, and a few short months ago I did. I committed to actively posting about once a week for a year, just to see if this blogging thing was for me. On top of that it gave me a practical outlet to hone my writing, another pursuit I had contemplated for some time.

When I started, I imagined that authoring a weekly post would take an hour or two. This was a gross under-estimate. Because my thoughts flow freely and without much initial structure, I feel compelled to polish and reorganize until my loose ideas take shape. Recently, personal circumstance has afforded me a lot of free time and so I’ve been able to keep up. I can only imagine how difficult it would be if I were drowned in responsibility and other commitments.

I find fulfillment from the writing, but that alone won’t sustain me. It’s the feedback I get from readers that most fuels my writing. In a way, I see writing a blog as a contribution to the game community. Some people blog primarily for themselves. I also blog for personal fulfillment, but I primarily blog to contribute back to the hobby I love, to entertain (hopefully) other enthusiasts.

Motivation: Personal Fulfillment, Community Contribution
I listen to podcasts.

Presently, I listen exclusively to Boardgames To-Go. Mark Johnson’s flavor and style appeal to me more than all the other gaming podcasts I’ve heard. I listened to BoardgameSpeak before it stagnated, and I listened to The Dice Tower before I grew weary of the GeekList format. Hearing all of the different ways to list games never really excited me. I am most entertained by in-depth, opinionated discussions about games and the hobby in general. In my opinion, D. W. Tripp defines opinionated, and that’s the main reason I am entertained by his posts.

Motivation: Entertainment
I daydream about designing games.

I wish that read “I design games.” The truth is I have wanted to design games for the past 3 years. I have devoted time to reading about game design, to attending game design events (like PowWow), and to making full-fledged attempts. Now, I’ve always thought myself a creative individual capable of most things, but I’m starting to wonder. Despite time and energy exerted, I haven’t been able to see the fruits of any of my ideas.

I think I’ve found every way to start on the wrong foot. When ideas come to me they take the form of game mechanics and themes, but game mechanics and themes are not themselves game ideas. I’ve learned that turning loose ideas into solid games is hard work and I haven’t yet decided if I am suited for it.

Motivation: Personal Fulfillment, Community Contribution
Entertainment is the water of people potatoes.

Most of my motivation is typically American–it’s about being entertained. While I see nothing wrong with a moderate dose of entertainment, it can be just as bad as being a television couch potato. Sometimes we’re all input and no output. And what comes of that? I’ll tell you:

Constipation.

Eventually, the idea of giving something back has to cross your mind. There is certainly greater satisfaction in giving back, thus the old adage “It is better to give than it is to receive.”

Many times I tried to convince myself that certain informative posts and interviews were actually educating me about the hobby, helping me to learn about designing games or about forming a publishing company. They may have helped some, but if I’m being honest reading them was mostly about being entertained. Again, nothing wrong with that; that’s probably why you’re reading this very post right now.

I recently heard Mark Johnson of Boardgames To-Go fame comment that he has been trying to taper off some of the time he devotes to the hobby. I got no sense that he wanted out of the hobby. That’s not what I’m after either. It’s just that as I age I’m seeing how quickly the years fly by. When my time comes to leave this earth, I don’t want to be known only for my love of games. Life is about so much more. Primarily it’s about relationships–our relationships to others and to God.

I know, I know–Ack!–let’s not get religious here.
For each choice taken, another is declined.

For every thing we choose to do, we are choosing to not do something else. For every hour I spend writing a blog entry that’s an hour less I have for learning the game publishing business and for designing my own games.

I once read that “Good is the enemy of Best.” Basically, there are “good” and “best” uses of our time. When good is always chosen over best, potential is sacrificed.

So, the vital question to answer is “What matters most?” Religion aside, I’m simply saying that even within the scope of the game hobby, you’ve only got so much time. Would you rather pour your time into reading online reviews or into writing them? Into playing online games or designing your own board games?

It struck a chord when I heard Tom Vasel comment, when asked about his prolific output, that he had just as much time as everyone else. I would venture to say that as prolific as he is, he probably commits no more time than lots of other game zealots. To me, producing all that wonderful output–by way of making a contribution to the hobby and to the community–is a much better use of time than even I make in entertaining myself in boardgame threads.

Knizia is very much devoted to the greater priorities. He devotes a massive part of his life to designing games. I find it strikingly odd that he rarely plays the games of other designers. I would venture from hearing/reading numerous interviews with him that he is so devoted to and so much enjoys designing games that he does little else. From a religious perspective, I see nothing wrong with this. God made us each unique and with different abilities. Provided we find balance where balance is due, He intends for us to use them.

I love when the Olympic runner Eric Liddell in the film Chariots of Fire says “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” The Bible tells me this is true of God. He makes us for unique purposes. He may in all likelihood have made Dr. Knizia to design games. Knizia most certainly has a natural inclination and talent to do so. All of us, with our unique abilities, have a choice to benefit and entertain ourselves or to do something more with them.
Where does all the time go?

Believe me, I’m not preaching at you. I simply wonder sometimes if I am personally making good use of my time and I find that I am not. Don’t get me wrong. Discovering these games has been great. I’ve had great experiences playing boardgames with friends and I’m not anticipating giving that up.

I’m simply saying, Mark Johnson, I hear you. I’ve thought about this before and now is the time to act. To start, I’ve curbed my online reading habits by choosing a select few sites, blogs, and podcasts with which to give my regular readership/listenership. I realized how necessary this was when introspection revealed that on some weeks I’ve spent more than 20 hours–not playing games–but on the sidelines of the hobby. How much futher would I be in actually designing a game if my efforts were smartly reallocated?

I have become unbalanced: a “boardgame potato.” Admitting this is the first step to my recovery.