Done Lately

I have done some gaming since the start of the new year.

On January 1st, to no surprise, played this tabletop game.  Such a good starting hand that didn’t get there.  We weren’t playing for even points, so the East Winds were just another pair.

My oldest nephew played again, and his partnerships with his father and another of his uncles led to winning the first two hands.  One wonders whether he can carry his mahjong dominance throughout his life and whether that’s even a good thing.

One may note the American Mah Jongg newsletter on the table to my left.  I finally opened it up to see what they include in such things.  Of most interest to me was the Q&A section.  Now, one thing our family’s play could use is some official rules as same hands were counted differently at different times.  I don’t mean base score or max score, which often changed.  I mean what constituted “clear” or all chows would change.

The most entertaining Q&A entry had someone ask an “etiquette” question about how their group had six tables of players where everyone except one player was of similar skill and the exceptional player just owned them constantly.

“We don’t mind losing, but there must be some possibility of winning.  Can you make any suggestions on how to solve this problem?”

Paraphrasing the answer, the response was “Stop sucking.”

I’m not taking that much of a liberty.  “… but rather than feeling hopeless, try to up your game!”

After that, there was more specific advice on asking her to explain why she was so clearly superior to the other players, watching what she did at various steps since American includes such things as a Charleston, introducing a whole skill-based subgame.

I just need to respond to all of the losers out there for various games, myself included, with “Try to up your game!”  It’s such a Yu-Gi-Oh! kind of comment.

On the 4th, before my brother returned to Africa, played again.

Why this hand?  It’s when I remembered to take a picture.  Not really anything interesting from this session.

In between these two sessions, got in some hardcore gaming.

I got out to a huge lead only to fall way back as my oldest nephew “ate the house” as I’m sure all devoted Candyland Crackerjacks call it.  Well, guess I deserved a “Try to up your game!”  Trust in the heart of the cards and avoid the ones with candy pictured is a methodology that any serious gamer is going to embrace.  He was even stuck in the Cherry Pitfall for a long time and still just destroyed us.

So, what is the theme of this post?  Oh, it does have something to do with what I’ve done lately.

I ran Naishou Province for first time in 5 weeks.  I think the session was okay, though I’ve painted myself into an awkward corner for reasons I may go into someday.  But, it got me to thinking about longer term game play.  I got to thinking about the importance of what a game experience has been like recently and how important that is.  I don’t want this campaign to end soon.  I have half the province to develop for the players.  But, is it getting tired?

What about other RPG campaign play?  Does it get tired?  Well, sure.  But, is a couple lesser sessions in a row a sign of that?  Recent inferior play just a sign that maybe there are better things to do with one’s time?

Not just RPG play, but how much does recent CCG experiences affect caring about playing a CCG?  I think it matters with True Dungeon, where one of our team members doesn’t really care about playing anymore after a few negative experiences even with $1000s invested in the game.  But, TD is expensive.  CCGs are cheap … if all you care about is playing.  Tournaments have “ticket costs”, but kitchen table play is free.  Not paying $80 just to play a game every time you play.

In general, when I have bad CCG play, I generally question the players and not the game.  Not playing with the same players can, certainly, lead to not playing at all.  But, it’s generally much easier to find card floppers than to find dice chuckers in my experience … which maybe is just my experience as internet exists and various groups use game stores, even ignoring trying to find new groups at conventions.

Sure, I gave up on Magic.  I didn’t really care when I stopped playing Babylon 5 as it had gotten not particularly enjoyable.  In both cases, it wasn’t just players.

But, I’m kind of getting off a more general thought.  The more general thought is how much recent experiences affect long term interest.  Sure, the players matter.  Could posit they matter much more than the game system.

In my case, I don’t die on games, they die on me.  I’ll play stuff I actively dislike because it’s what I’m used to doing and/or because my friends are into it, where I care more about the social interaction than the gaming experience.

What I’m trying to figure out in my own mind is how much a recent experience or group of recent experiences in a set that includes many experiences impacts the desire to pull the plug on a form of gaming.  Not so much in my case as I’m such a creature of habit.  It matters to me how easily other folks will give up on something as it’s hard to play the games I play without other folks.

What does it take you to stop doing something?