My name is Nate, and among other things I play games.
I’ve played them my whole life. I imagined worlds with my friends, guided Mario through levels, conquered the world, constructed additional pylons for Protoss armies, settled Catan, and have run players through scenarios involving both dungeons and dragons. You might not have played the same games as me, but you’ve done it too. Maybe you play Magic: the Gathering. Perhaps Chess is your jam. You might be the more athletic type, participating in various sports, or the less athletic type who merely watches them. The point is that games of one kind or another have filled your life. I probably don’t know you, but I can guarantee that games have played a vital role in your life.
Games are basically universal, but in spite of that fact we put up tons of barriers to make sure people know they are having the wrong kind of fun. It might come down to sports rivalries, where someone else’s success grinds away at us. It could be because of whatever platform you favor, whether it’s a console or a PC. Maybe we think roleplayers are a bunch of nerds, or we wish people would quit playing Monopoly. We might even have very good reasons for feeling this way. The point is that someone else is wrong, and we want to correct them.
The problem is that this ignores what I consider to be the biggest strength of games. They bring us together. When I think of the games that have meant something to me, I think of my sister, who begrudgingly has learned way more games than she wanted to for my sake. I think of my college roommate, who to this day still keeps in touch to hash out the annual game between Ohio State and Michigan. I think about my D&D group, who let me get away with my seat-of-my-pants preparation every week. And I think of the many, many online friends I’ve met through the gaming community, most of whom I’ve never met but who have still meant so much to me.
To help you get started, here are a few questions: Games build bridges, because games are for everyone. They play such a vital part in our human interaction. You don’t need to be an anthropologist to understand this either, because we all have the evidence of our own lives. To help you get started, here are a few questions:
This blog is, on some level, an expression of my conviction that we all need games in our lives. The phrase “Games are for everyone” is not so much a theme for these articles, as it is the fundamental assumption that guides everything I write. Naturally I’ll focus most of all on my own interests, board gaming and tabletop roleplaying, because that’s just who I am. However, if you want reviews of the hottest releases I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. I live in Asia, a long way away from normal distribution channels. Besides that, I don’t really have a lot of interest in chasing the newest release. It’s just not where my enjoyment lies. So expect ruminations on older releases, analysis on designs that are several years old, and commentary on trends as I perceive them.
But as I state above, games are way bigger than things that can fit on a tabletop. Games can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. It can mean isometric CRPGs, cartoony platformers, the NBA playoffs, or annual college football rivalries. So as the fancy hits me, expect me to dip into other forms of games that have some meaning for me. My hope is that these conversations won’t just be super-indulgent, but will instead prompt you to think about what games mean to you.
So I hope you can join me every week as I think about games and how they have dug their claws into my life, and I invite you to participate in the conversation through the comments. You are welcome here, because games are for everyone.
Games Are For Everyone 