The last time I checked my board game player profile on Quantic Foundry was back in October 2019, so just over six months ago. I must say, I knew there would be some changes, because I was playing more types of games and with different groups of people, but I didn’t quite expect the types of changes there were. So let’s delve into the results from my most recent survey.
Let’s start with the graph itself – see left. The red line shows the latest results, the blue line the results from October of last year.
There are three items that really stand out – at least for me.
The biggest change is the immersion factor. I clearly prefer games that immerse me in another world and take me away from the day-to-day thoughts and worries. Maybe it’s not surprising, given the current global situation, but I think there is more to it. I always loved theme in games and also always put a lot of value on a game’s artwork, because I’m a very visual person, and a game with a strong theme and beautiful artwork is simply going to be more immersive. The graph does show that my appreciation for aesthetics has gone up, so this is another clue.
I have started to enjoy the immersive experience a lot more again in the last six month, while prior to that I was playing many games more with the aim of being able to review them rather than with the aim of having a fun experience. It used to be all about having another weekly blog article ready in time, but luckily that’s changed over the last six months.
The second big change is discovery, which has gone down since the last survey – which is surprising to me, given that the importance of immersion has gone. I would have expected to enjoy games more, if they send you on a journey of discovery and immerse you in a different world. Yet, it turns out that I want to be immersed, but am not so concerned about discovering anything along the way.
I suppose it makes sense when I think about the sort of games that I have been playing: Deep Sea Adventure, Assembly, Clans of Caledonia, Underleague and Pandemic. They all have a very strong theme, their mechanisms really force you to focus, except maybe Deep Sea Adventure, the theme allows you to easily immerse yourself in the game and many of them also have really beautiful artwork or wonderful components.
Except for Deep Sea Adventure maybe, none of them are exploration games. In fact, many of them are open-information games, meaning everything is right there in front of you, without any need of any discovery of any kind.
The last big change is the increase of social manipulation, which is very surprising when you look at how co-operation has remained unchanged. I suppose, conflict has also gone up in the last six months, so there is some level of correlation. Personally, I’d say manipulation is too strong a word, but I definitely enjoy games where you influence other players. I’m specifically thinking about bluffing and push-your-luck games.
For me, Underleague is one of those games where you have to bluff and hope that other players don’t know what you’re planning to do. You want to make them believe one thing, when you’re actually about to do another – or at least divert attention from yourself to other players. I also recently played QE, which is another classic bluffing game.
In push-your-luck games, such as Deep Sea Adventure, you are trying to psych out others and hope that you still get the most treasure while making sure nobody runs down the oxygen too quickly and make your risky dive end in death – and the loss of the round.
Nothing else has changed really, at least not a lot. Strategy has gone up slightly, but co-operation has remained unchanged.
I do always find it interesting to see how my profile changes over time. You can see all my previous results by following the links below – and you can complete the survey for yourself for free, again just follow the links below.
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Audio Version
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.
Music: Positive Determination by Purple Planet Music (https://www.
Links
- Quantic Foundry‘s tabletop player profile: https://apps.
quanticfoundry. com/ surveys/ start/ tabletop/ - October 2019 profile update: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2019/ 10/ 29/ tabletop-player-profile-updated-3 - December 2018 profile update: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2018/ 12/ 25/ tabletop-player-profile-updated-2 - December 2018 profile update: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2018/ 12/ 25/ tabletop-player-profile-updated-2 - October 2018 profile update: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2018/ 10/ 06/ tabletop-player-profile-updated/ - June 2018 profile update: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2018/ 06/ 11/ co-op-or-competitive/