W. Eric Martin: Everything from C to J

Today I’m taking the Scott Tepper approach to writing a column and posting a question that invites you to write far more than I’ve written. In late August 2007, Scott asked what you want to see in a game review. I’m shooting for something bigger.

I’ve been editor of Boardgame News for just over nine months, and while I’ve made a number of changes to the site, I still have a huge to-do list of possible projects and long-term goals. One topic I’m interested in getting feedback on goes back to the fundamentals of the site, namely the types of games covered.

When Rick Thornquist set up BGN in November 2005, he laid out guidelines for what would be covered: board and card games, specifically German-style games or Eurogames. Deciding what is and what isn’t a Eurogame takes a bit of guesswork since neither the designer nor the publisher needs to be European for a game to be a Eurogame, but since Rick was making guidelines for himself, he could easily decide on a case-by-case basis whether a game or company was right for the site.

After I took over as editor, I started to write more about self-publishers, especially publishers of abstract games. When I visited New York Toy Fair in February 2007, I heard several publishers lament the lack of coverage of party games, so I found a couple of columnists who were interested in providing reviews in this area. Ken Bradford has joined BGN as an at-large columnist to offer viewpoints from a fan of American-style games, something that columnists like Dale Yu and Frank Branham also cover occasionally. Alfred Wallance dips into wargames from time-to-time, and Kris Hall has been running an excellent series of interviews with designers of card-driven wargames.

With the coverage these writers provide, Boardgame News feels somewhat diverse and expansive—but if you take a step back and look at the larger world of boardgames, there are huge chunks of the game industry that aren’t being covered. This is where you come in: How do you feel about the types of games that BGN covers? Are there sectors of the game industry that aren’t being covered that should be? What, if anything, should be added to the site? Are there types of games already being covered that seem out of place?

Admittedly I lack the background to cover something like, say, wargames, but if readers are interested perhaps I could find someone willing to report on this material a few times a month. What about miniatures games? Games aimed at young children?

Please keep in mind that any changes I make will likely be over the next 6-12 months. Yes, I’m already thinking about 2008 and beyond, starting with plans to attend some of the conventions that I missed in 2007. I’ve been able to cut back on my freelance writing work as more members and more advertisers have signed up, and if the growth continues, I’ll be able to devote myself to the site full-time. I’m having fun, and I want to make sure that you’re having fun as well. Let me know how I can help…

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