I recently taught ( on hindsight, more like, attempted to
teach ) Eric and 3 others how to play Stefan Feld’s “In the Year of the
Dragon”. Early on in the game ( after the first round ), we discovered that I
left out 1 or 2 important details. Not too bad I guess, the game went on
smoothly after that. It’s great that we caught it after the first round out of
twelve rounds.
But to my horror, when I went through the rules the day
after, I realized that I had gotten 2 or 3 more rules incorrect. Bummer. Big
time bummer. Small mistakes, but mistakes nonetheless. It irritates me a lot,
and that’s what I deserve when I haven’t touched the game for awhile and when I
didn’t come prepared.
This brings me to a topic I thought I would like to write
about – Incorrect Rules Explanations.
I’m quite a perfectionist by nature, so I tend to get very
irritated at myself when I make mistakes ( especially easily avoidable mistakes
).
This is evident when it comes to rules explanations.
Now, I don’t think I am the best ( nor even a great ) rules
explainer, but I do take heart to know that I seldom miss out on important
details in teaching a game.
But that comes at a price of course, and that is the
preparation time spent behind teaching a game. I tend to read rules multiple
times and prepare game aids before teaching a game. I might go into more detail
in a separate post sometime in the future.
As for my fiasco with the “In the Year of the Dragon” rules,
well, I didn’t prepare and I paid a different price instead.
Problems with
Incorrect Rules Explanations
To some people, teaching a game wrongly or not in its entirety,
is not a big deal.
Well, I tend to disagree.
Now, I am not saying that I get upset when other people
teach me a game poorly or wrongly, I never will let myself get to that point. I
only get upset at myself when I get it wrong. It’s just a great thing to have
someone teach a game to you rather than the other way round, so it’s always
greatly appreciated more than anything else. J
But even so, there are inherent problems with getting games’
rules wrong or omitted completely. And its effects on the group, the game, and
the experience can be devastating ( slightly exaggerated :P ).
1) Not What the Doctor
Ordered
The first problem is possibly the best reason why we
shouldn’t get rules explanation wrong. That is, the players end up playing the
game not the way the designer intended it to be played.
That is akin to watching a heavily censored / edited movie,
or reading a book with two or three chapters missing. The experience isn’t the
same nor is it as fulfilling as it was intended to be.
In some extreme cases, this can make the game unplayable, or
at very least, makes the game seem poorly put together, or some parts of it
poorly executed.
2) Go to the Basement
and Stay there
Ever played a game once, hated the hell out of it, and
decided to never play it again ?
It definitely has happened to me, and sometimes this can be
caused by poor rules explanation.
In the same vein as the first point, when a game is played
differently than intended to, the poor experience of the game will send the
game into the “basement zone”.
The place where all “poor” games go to die.
This results in the player(s) not giving the game a second
chance and thus is both detrimental to the game and the player itself. Missing
out on a gem of a game for rules error can be a very sad thing to experience (
slightly exaggerated :P ).
And not to mention a big waste of money.
3) Pay It Forward –
Poorly
One big ( and nearly unfixable ) problem with teaching
someone a game wrongly is that, this person may end up teaching the same game
to other people wrongly, and so on and so forth that multiple people will be
playing said same game wrongly.
This “Pay It Forward” effect is great when it’s related to
something nice like a kind act, but couple it with our topic at hand, you’ll
get a fine mess and a poor way to introduce a great game to other people.
4) A Grand Waste of
Time
Some rule errors are so bad that after 2 hours of playing,
you still don’t have a jolly good clue what is going on. This leads to a lot of
wasted time that could have been spent elsewhere ( like you know, on another
great game ).
Another case of wasting one’s time that is more subtle is
when a player has formulated a particular strategy in mind, and upon executing
a final blow/move that he/she thinks might win him/her the game, you suddenly
declare it an illegal move.
But what ? Say what ? Yeah you know, the rule that maybe
wasn’t clearly explained or left out entirely. Seen it happen many times. The
tension would have been so thick by then; you could cut it with a playing card.
Which leads to my next point…
5) Some Kind of
Friend You Turned Out to Be
Poor rules explanations can lead to conflict between
players.
It may not have been the poor explanation that got them
there, but somewhere along the way it set the stage for the conflict. Like in
the previous example, some people are so engrossed in winning that the sudden
abrupt halt of a move may send them reeling.
I’ve seen conflicts arise for less, and I won’t be surprised
if differing views/interpretations of a rule may send people scrambling from
each other.
Well, all this might sound super silly or over the top – and
it probably is – but these are just some thoughts that I decided to write
about. Yes, getting rules wrong isn’t the end of the world nor is it such a big
thing in the epic scale of life. That I totally agree, which is why I will
never get upset at anyone over something as small as this.
At the end of the day though, I think as hosts and as people
who try to push the hobby further into the market, we should always do our best
to present the game the way it was designed to be.
It is often difficult, but I certainly believe that it is
something that can be overcome.
Well, there are the exceptions of course. :P
( I’m talking about those games whose rules are like a mini
journal )
But above all, I also hope to speak to those who are used to
being taught rather than having to teach a game. Teaching a game to others is
not rocket science, but there is a level of skill and preparation involved, so
do be nice if the explainer has left out a thing or two on the side. And do ask
questions when in doubt, if something sounds amiss, it likely is, and your
question can help get everyone back on the right track.
Oh lastly, pay attention ! :P
So that’s about it !
Keep gaming and play nice !
Jonathan
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