I certainly noticed your desire to win on the one occasion that I participated......
but is was a great experience :)

I think one of the unspoken rules of the adult boardgaming culture, at least the circles I run in, is a certain expected attitude about winning: You’re supposed to try to win, but once the game is over you’re not supposed to dwell on who one or acknowledge that winning or losing made you happy or sad.  All in all I think it is a good cultural norm that a) keeps our worse natures in check and b) actually reflects our emotional investment in winning or losing MOST of the time.  But I think it’d be nice to be more honest with ourselves and with each other and admit that SOMETIMES, winning matters quite a lot to us.  Certain games, certain playings mean more to us than others.  I think if we can stay on our best behavior (i.e. not making little girls cry), it’s okay to embrace those feelings.

Valerie, you’re not required to take anything home from a prize table. One guy in my former game group regularly donated a dozen games to the game giveaway at Unity Games (now a charity game auction), yet never entered to win any games himself.

One game that continually brought out the worst in me was Magic the Gathering. I attended prerelease tournaments and pick-up booster draft games for a few years, and since I didn’t play often, I found myself making mistakes that wouldn’t appear if I played more regularly. At night I would replay these games in my mind over and over again. “Why didn’t cast that card first? How could I have tapped those lands instead of these? Etc.” The games were rarely fun because the opponents tended to be focused on nothing more than destroying you, and I took all that competition internally.

Eric

Okay, now you’re bringing out part of MY ugly side, namely curiousity and (game) lust.  Prototype?  For RGG??  And you’re the developer???  That sounds very cool.  I never need an excuse you enjoy your company at the Gathering, but now I’m sure to seek you out, to see the fruits of your labors.

Give us a hint. Does it rhyme with Beagles Blunder? :-)

Mr. Stein - Negative.
It doesn’t actually rhyme with anything as the game has recently been stripped of its name…

But, if you’ve been to CABS anytime in the last three months, you’ve likely seen it at least once!

Dale

Larry, I’ll also have a copy of said prototype with me at the GoF, and I’ll be a bit easier to find as I’ll not be working during the day!

Dale
-- serving as the flunky to the assistant of the secretary of the sub-developer of the game

Larry, you didn’t get a chance to play game X. You REALLY want to play game X.

I have considered my bad side, and I am NEVER comfortable at a convention. So I’m always a wee bit ill at ease.

I don’t think I’ve ever made a little girl cry, though. I think I threw a game piece at Mark Jackson once, however. Everest was involved, so it was perhaps justified. But...ten minutes later my nose began to suddenly gush blood. Makes you wonder what kind of connections Mark has.

Frank, not that I’m a little girl, and not that I cried - but you didn’t look very happy with me as we first met (and i ruined your game of Polarity).

BTW, look forward to getting in a few (well, ten or more) games of “Game X” next week.

Dale

I wouldn’t dwell too much on it.  Keep in mind that you dwell with a crowd that turns Elfenland into an hour-and-a-half epic saga.

We all take gaming (too?) seriously.  It is our blessing and our curse.  There are times when it brings out parts of us that do not represent the better angels of our nature.  But if we’ve spent any amount of time at all getting to know each other, than we know who each other is underneath the surface.  That can smooth over a lot of rough edges that come out in competition.  :)

I think I speak for the entire site when I say none of us wants to know what’s underneath Dale’s surface!

Hmmm.  Let’s just hope that “Game X” has some cross appeal to a “mass” audience. 

That’s ALL I ever hope for out of this.

And that it plays six.  : )

Cheers and wish you all the best for The Gathering.

Ryan B.

Sorry Ryan. 2 to 4.  But it should have mass appeal.
Well, I think it will appeal to Levy (and he’s got a fair bit of mass, that one)
Dale

Oh well.  Thanks for the update Dale.

Speaking of playing six… for the first time, I DID get to play “Lifeboats” this weekend… with 7.  (Two people shared as one player.)

While still not quite as good as “I’m the Boss”, this was great as a change of pace to that game.  And Lifeboats is a REAL fun game overall.

Someone (of the female persuasion) actually called me a “BRAT” (LOL) I guess we’ll chalk that one up to the “cranky” side.

And I didn’t even win.  ; )

"Well, I think it will appeal to Levy (and he’s got a fair bit of mass, that one)”

True, dat.  Guess that means the world revolves around ME!  :-)

Larry, hoping to discover some X appeal next week

So Valerie, is it really too terrible to simply keep the games you receive from the prize table in shrink wrap and take them to the next con’s prize table, or does curiosity get the better of you after all?

Since when is there anything remotely wrong with being cranky?  Jeez.  Hey Pete Stein, can you help me get invited to the Gathering?  I hear you have lots of pull....