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 May 15, 2008
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Ava Jarvis
This section contains the columns of Ava Jarvis.
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HeadlinesApril 6, 2008 - Ava Jarvis: Back from Hiatus, and Balancing Gaming with LifeFebruary 26, 2007 - Ava Jarvis: The Rise and Fall of the Collectible Game, Part II: Life and Death February 1, 2007 - Ava Jarvis: The Rise and Fall of the Collectible Game, Part 1 December 30, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: BattleLore and the Place of Fantasy November 24, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: A Wii Bit of Contemplation November 18, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: BGG.con Headlines October 31, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: Musings by the Fireside—Gaming and Socialization September 13, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: Exploring the Ancient Variation Machine May 4, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 3 April 27, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: When are dice nice? April 25, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 2 April 19, 2006 - Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 1 |
Articles
Ava Jarvis: Back from Hiatus, and Balancing Gaming with Life
Some of you may have noticed a serious lack of BilboAtBagEnd presence around and abouts on BGN and BGG.
I’m returning to serious gaming with A Gathering of Friends this year. But that’s likely the only bit of serious gaming I’m going to get until BGG.CON later this year.
Now, this situation---of not getting into serious gaming outside of conventions---is actually rather common. Trying to strike a balance between gaming and life can be difficult, especially between work, family, and other hobbies. And for each person, the process of striking that balance---and what comprises that balance---will be unique.
What am I going to do about it?
Hmmm. I’m getting flashbacks to Knizia’s Lord of the Rings.
Ava Jarvis: The Rise and Fall of the Collectible Game, Part II: Life and Death
In Part I, I discussed the unique characteristics of any collectible game, the ones that make the success of any such beast a more difficult matter than for normal games of a nature with more limited distribution. In Part II, we will run an analysis on the causes of death, and the conditions for survival, in the world of the collectible—red in tooth and claw.
For those of you who have never been seriously entwined with (i.e., spent over $300 on) a collectible game (CG), be prepared for a romp through the lurid and checkered history of the genre. For those of you who have been where I’ve been, for as long or longer perhaps, this is a retrospective stroll down memory lane and perhaps even a rooting into corners beyond the sets you know.
Ava Jarvis: The Rise and Fall of the Collectible Game, Part 1
Blame Magic.Ever since the original collectible game made a splash—no, a tidal wave—on the gaming scene in the mid-1990s, we've been inundated with one collectible game after another. These days they aren't even necessarily card games: there are collectible miniature games, collectible build-your-own-ship games, collectible Diskwars discs, and even collectible pogs.
We know it's stroking the hot plate when we tangle with a collectible game. But in many ways we underestimate, even cheapen, the guile and uniqueness of this most costly family of games.
So what makes a game collectible? As things turn out, it's not the number of expansions you have, and size has nothing to do with it.
Ava Jarvis: BattleLore and the Place of Fantasy
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." — Albert EinsteinOf late I've been playing with my Wii quite a bit. One of the games I've been obsessively playing is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but it's not because I like adventure/fighting games. It's because I like the bobbing fishing so far and want to get to the bit where there is lure fishing, even though it means going down an uncomfortable road for me that will give me serious headaches. It's fishing in a world of spirits and magic, gods and twilight creatures, and yet it is entirely more satisfying to fish there than it is to do so in the only current Wii fishing game.
How does this apply to BattleLore? Read on.
Ava Jarvis: A Wii Bit of Contemplation
Thanksgiving week is a time to spend with friends, family, and the turkey or tofurkey of your choice.It's also the week of Black Friday---so-called because that's when the profit for retailers goes from under the line to over the line---in the black, rather than the red. Which for me brings to mind the current contention between video game consoles as the holiday shopping season officially opens---but more on that later.
Where my mind has also been, and where I'm sure many of yours as well, is the up-and-coming and much-awaited release of BattleLore. (If you aren't aware of what BattleLore is, then you are a darn sight better at staying under a rock than I.) It's the latest game in the Commands & Colors series. From what Mark and Eric at Days of Wonder have been trickling out ever so gradually, BattleLore is set to be the next Warhammer---a kinder and gentler Warhammer, as I like to think of it....
Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: BGG.con Headlines
Wednesday, November 8th
Boardgame geeks invade Plaza of Americas!
Claim they come in “peace and gaming”
An unexpected and early invasion of BGG.con attendees filled up half the tables in the sizeable food court of the Plaza of Americas, a large atrium connecting the Westin hotel, the Adam’s Mark, and an office building containing rentable event space.
The fact that BGG.con attendees would be coming in droves the day before the convention was expected; that they would set up camp and start playing boardgames into the late hours of the night of their initial arrival something else.
Ava Jarvis: Musings by the Fireside—Gaming and Socialization
I usually want to fill my columns with heavy thoughts and meanderings on the mechanics and workings and the texture of games, but that window of opportunity is closing as the year wears on, so I thought maybe I would try my hand at the lighter forms of conversation instead. You can think weighty thoughts by the fireside, but really, it's a friendly conversation.Which brings to mind gaming conventions, since this is one of the few times you can break out the Ys or Caylus if you're in a situation like mine.
Ava Jarvis: Exploring the Ancient Variation Machine
This is how I used to open my chess games. I think of it as the “Questionable Queen’s Gambit”:
1. e4 e5 2. d4 d6 3. d4xe5? d6xe5?? 4. QxQ
I’m never quite sure why some people thought that no one would trade queens at the beginning of the game, so they played along to avoid losing time “needlessly” moving the queen out of danger. And they usually lost, not being used to having the queen taken so suddenly. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was doing was turning back the clock to a much older variant: no Queens, and no castling. Well… no castling for my opponent anyways.
Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 3
Everything you needed to know you learned at the Gathering.
Don’t worry about your worthiness to the gaming community. The Gathering of Friends is not about that. Like many conventions, the Gathering is about re-establishing old connections and making new ones. This is the main point.
The other point is, of course, to game your eyes out.
Ava Jarvis: When are dice nice?
Dice can be nice in the right situations. The “right situation” is different for everybody, though. For me it tends to be along the lines of
* If there’s enough ways to manipulate the dice post-rolling, this is okay.
* If there’s enough ways to manipulate the dice pre-rolling, this is okay.
* If there are not enough ways to do either, or the ways to do it do not effectively hit Lady Luck in the right places, this is not okay.
For some games that do use the hated dice, they offer manipulation. Usually this is in the form of bonuses from other sources, which you build up to. There’s still an amount of luck, large or small depending on the manipulation available. If it’s large enough, this can turn a dice into a much more controllable prospect, even sometimes to the extent of being the analog of cards.
Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 2
Monday: an in-depth look.
People are present and actively gaming when you get downstairs about thirty minutes ahead of the start of the Wildlife Adventure tournament. You wonder what it will be like when the entire Gathering has gathered, per se. There is something in the air that makes you miss the din of a crowd....
Ava Jarvis: There and Back Again: A Gathering of Friends Report, Part 1
One day...
One day you’re reading your email, and you see it: an invitation to The Gathering of Friends. This is both expected and unexpected. Still, it always amazes you that anyone thinks you are worth inviting along to anything.
You begin to suspect that you are not doing enough for the gaming community. You feel guilty about this lack of diligence, but opportunity has knocked, and you say yes.
Plus, work is getting tense and you figure that by the time April rolls around, you will be ready for 10 days of gaming.
You turn out to be right.
Ava Jarvis: Trimming Down That Collection
If you were reading the various gaming blogs, sites, and random conversation just after the New Year, you’ll notice a very common trend among the serious hobby gamers: “I’ve got to get rid of all these games. Or play all these games. And then get rid of the ones I don’t like. I swear this is my New Year’s resolution....”
The act of Spring Cleaning your collection, large or small, is a controversial one. Doubtless not as controversial as, say, whether Puerto Rico or Caylus is the game that deserves the number one BGG spot, but the issue comes to be personal. Especially if you don’t have the budget, the space, or the time!
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