Tag Archives: Board games

What Type of Gamer Am I? An Analysis

While I personally have played video games far more than I’ve played board games, I certainly still do enjoy board and tabletop games. As such, I was interested to see just how my results for Quantic Foundry’s Test, a test that analyses my motivations for playing board games, might compare to my interests when playing video games. Alongside this, I was also interested in whether the results of this test would match the kind of gamer that I personally think I am when it comes to board games, or if  there would be some discrepancy between the kind of board game player I personally believe I am and the kind of board game player the test believes I am. 

 Quantic Foundry’s Test analyzed my motivations for playing board games based upon four main categories, Conflict, Strategy, Immersion and Social Fun. To begin this analysis, I would like to take a look at my score for Strategy specifically, and its subcategory: Discovery. For the Strategy category as a whole, I scored a 66%, but for the Discovery subcategory I only scored a 15%. At first glance, this seemed very odd to me, as I initially thought that this score was referring to games where discovering something was a main element of its enjoyment. When it comes to the video games I play, I very much enjoy games with large worlds to explore, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Hollow Knight, as finding every nook and cranny of a world is very rewarding to me. However, as I continued reading my results I realized that this was not referring to my interest in an aspect of a game, but rather my interest in seeking out new games to play. As such, I believe this low Discovery score actually fits me quite well when it comes to board games, as I have a tendency to return to games that I have played before or share games I’ve enjoyed with others rather than searching for new board games to play. That is not to say that I will not try new board games at all, as just recently I played a deckbuilder game called Dominion for the first time, but when given the option I have noticed that I gravitate more towards games that I am already familiar with.

However, my Discovery score is not the only score that I am interested in analyzing, as I believe that my score for Conflict, and its subcategory Social Manipulation are quite interesting as well. For my Conflict score, I received a 65%, while for Social Manipulation I received a 21%. Personally, this makes sense to me, as I consider myself quite bad when it comes to games that involve bluffs or deceit. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, as games like Werewolf and Coup are still quite enjoyable, but I often find myself losing relatively early on as I simply do not have the skills needed to hide my intentions or detect other’s hidden intentions. The relatively high Conflict score also makes sense to me, as I find that it can be hard to be motivated in a game you are losing if there is no real way to affect the other players. If one player has simply been dealt a better hand, or just has generally more experience with the game, there needs to be some way to fight against that advantage to make the game enjoyable to the other players, which to me means that some form of direct conflict in board games is needed if the game is not a cooperative effort.

Overall, I feel that Quantic Foundry’s test has done a good job of revealing just what interests me in board games, and possibly even in video games as well. While discovering new board games to play may not be as important to me as having board games that I enjoy playing, games that themselves revolve around discovering new and interesting things in their worlds are still quite interesting to me. Alongside this, my relative lack of skill in deceit and bluffing tends to push me away from social manipulation games, even though I do find that conflict is an important part of board games. And while I did not specifically touch on them, I do find that my scores for Social Fun and Immersion make sense as well, as having fun is ultimately the goal when playing a board game, and a game’s art and world alone.

What Type of Gamer am I?

After completing the quiz on what type of gamer I am, I found that my board game motivations are high conflict, relaxed, grounded, and gregarious. The quiz compared four different types of motivation, Conflict, Social Fun, Strategy, and Immersion. In regards to conflict, I scored 77% and 63% in social manipulation. This means that I tend to be more competitive and enjoy games where players can take more hostile actions against other players. It also reported that I enjoy conformational mechanics which create a more intense and dynamic gameplay as the stakes are higher. My high social manipulation means that I enjoy playing psychological mind manes that are not determined by dice or a rulebook. I was not surprised by this information as my major is heavily influenced by psychology. I like putting on a poker face to try and convince others of a lie during gameplay. My strategy score was 1% which implies that I would prefer a more relaxed gameplay experience where the decisions do have much of a long term impact. I scored a 12% on discovery meaning that I prefer more traditional and familiar games. My need to win is at 82%, implying that I care alot about winning. I enjoy beating my competition and winning in the most important part of the game. The next section is Immersion, which involves going into the world of the game. I scored a 7% which implies that I would rather focus on the game mechanics and don’t like it when the theme begins to get too intrusive. The second motivation was Aesthetics, which I scored a 2%. This means that I do not care about the artwork and production value of the game. Lastly, I have scored my highest of 96% in Social fun. Gamers who score high on social fun means that they are more focused on having a good time with others, and the game is nearly a prop to get people to come together. In Cooperation i scored a 20% meaning that i prefer to go games that focus on individual decisions rather than working in a team. With Chance, I scored a 54%, meaning that I am very neutral on the option of luck in games and can play and enjoy a game if it is or isn’t in it. The last secondary motivation of Social fun is Accessibility, which I am scared of 94%. Players that score high prefer a game that can have a broad range of people pick up bandjoun. I prefer games that anyone can learn and play. Overall, as a gamer, I prefer a game that brings people together the most. WHile i still enjoy competition, I value having fun with my friends above all. 

What is the best type of game for my leadership style

Quiz Link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ostenbb/what-is-the-best-type-of-game-for-my-leadership-st-8azz2m6lnu

When I was creating my quiz, I spent a lot of time researching different leadership styles and how they affect the things you enjoy, such as playing a game. When a person has an autocratic leadership style, they tend to want control over everything. Generally, an autocratic leader believes that they are the smartest person in the group and that they know more than their teammates. They would prefer to make all of the decisions with little to no input from others. A person with an authoritarian leadership style tends to be more confident. They prefer to set expectations and engage their team members. These leaders take time to explain what they are thinking and are open for suggestions to achieve their common goal. A person with a democratic leadership style is more likely to be more collaborative with their team members. They will seek their teammates’ opinions before making decisions and will do things to promote creativity to achieve their goals. The last leadership style is the Laissez-Faire leadership style. They are at the positive end of the spectrum compared to the previous three styles. They appear to trust their teammates and act more as an observer. A person with this type of leadership style will prefer to not overlook every detail and let the teammates collaborate freely. All of these leadership styles are different in their own ways which is why there are particular games that will cater to them.

After completing my quiz I had 10 participants take it and report their results and comments on the accuracy of their results. From my findings, my quiz had a 100% accuracy rate when calculating what type of leadership style they identified with. With my ten participants there reported to be two autocratics, two authoritatively, four democratic, and two Laissez-Faires leadership styles. 

The participants, Jessie and Olivia, reported that they received the autocratic leadership style. Both participants agreed with their results. Jessie believed that her results were accurate because she claimed to be a control freak in regards to group projects and working as a team. She tends to actively try to be a leader and take control at the beginning of teamwork to ensure that their goal is achieved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Olivia also believes that her results were accurate as she believes that she likes to be in charge of organizing everything. I shared my other possible results with Olivia and she thought she would be right in between an autocratic and authoritative leadership style but was not surprised to learn that she was more autocratic. She tends to want to be on top of all of work and feels that taking control allows her to make an outline for due dates and other important aspects of teamwork. I had the opportunity to explain the game I recommended in their results. The game Charterstone allows them to completely customize their town and then discover and unlock parts of your town to complete the village. They both agreed that they would enjoy this game because of the ability of controlling how it looks and the actions you are allowed to take in it. 

My next participants, Taylor and Kate M, reported that they received the authoritative leadership style. Both participants agreed that their results were accurate. Taylor believed that her results were accurate as she is mostly likely to take control early on to be able to facilitate group activities, but claims she isn’t very vocal about it at times. She loves to hear others’ ideas but finds that she would prefer for them to be run by her prior to any decision making. Kate M believed that her results were accurate as she enjoys telling her teammates what to do. On the other hand she does not like conflict at all, which is why she believed that her results made sense. She has a tendency to be in between a control freak and being very laid back when she feels like her teammates are efficiently doing their part. I also had the opportunity to explain the game results for the authoritative leadership style. The game with this leadership style is Forbidden island, a game where you have to work with a team to look for lost treasure while trying to survive. Taylor thought she would really enjoy this game as it will allow her to strategize moves for her whole team while Kate M thought she would enjoy it due to being able to control and voice her ideas for everyone’s move. 

My following participants include Mikayle, Erin, Kate H, and Katherine who reported to have received the Democratic leadership style. All of these participants have reported that their results were accurate. Mikayle believed that her results were accurate as she claimed to enjoy havingin and voice in the decision making but does not care for taking all of the control in the team dynamic. Erin believed her results were accurate because she likes to be the person who splits up the tasks for their goal between her teammates but does not enjoy leading everyone the entire time. Kate H believed her results were accurate as she really only cared that the work is benign split up evenly between all the team members. Katherine believed her results were accurate because she does not enjoy any type of conflict and tends to be shy when she has to take control in a group setting but she loves the idea of splitting up all of the work or tasks equally. After explaining their results and going further into what the game of their results was, they all agreed that it sounds interesting and would be willing to play it. The game that I recommended with a democratic leadership style was Mental Blocks. In this game they work as a team to try and complete a puzzle while haign restrictions of what you can do or see. This game is reliant on the entire group’s effort, making it the perfect game for their leadership style. 

My last participants, Teresa and Skyler, reported to have received the Laissez-Faire leadership style. They both strongly believe that their results were accurate. Teresa believed that her results were accurate because she tends to not care much about taking control in a group setting. She is more confident in her work when she is assigned a part of the task and does not admit about taking more work than needed. Skyuler believed her results were accurate; she has become more lazy when it comes to group work. She explained that she would have seen herself having a democratic leadership style in the past, but at this point in her life, she really only liked to do her assigned tasks. With the Laissez-Faire leadership style, the game that I have recommended was Pandemic. In Pandemic you have to work as a team to try and stop the spread of a disease. This game is perfect for them as they are only responsible for their own pieces and it is more relaxed than other games. They both agreed that they would be interested in trying the game as it seems like it would keep their interest but not take too much effort to play. Overall I found that all of my results were accurate and that the participants were interested in playing their recommended game that corresponds with their leadership style.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 8: Ladies & Gentlemen

For this week we played, Ladies and Gentlemen. This was the largest group we have played this class, with 8 people being in the breakout room. Of the eight of us, four were ladies and 4 were gentlemen. Each team consists of a lady and a gentleman. The goal of ladies and gentlemen is for each lady to be the best dressed at the ball. However, to do this the ladies must ask the gentleman to pay for their garments. The ladies do not get to know how much money the gentlemen have and the gentlemen do not get to know their ladies goals for the ball.

I have played this game in an in person setting and it was much easier than online. I really enjoy playing this game in person, but playing online with seven other people who have never played before was challenging. You could not continue the game until all parties have completed their tasks. This was incredibly hard to do when people’s internet would disconnect and we would have to wait for them to get reconnected into the room. During class we were barely able to complete one round of the game, when I know that if this game was done in person we would have been able to get a lot more done.

The game Ladies and Gentlemen pertain to leadership in its use of teams. When working in teams, you have to understand that you might not know exactly what your teammate is doing, but need to trust that what they are doing is working towards your common goal. Each of us were making decisions to make our team have the best possible outcome. You have to trust in your teammates to be a good leader. 

A few years ago I bought this game for my best friend’s birthday. The video that made us want to play it was actually the same video the class used to learn how to play the game. I know that all of my immediate friend group loves playing this game. This game is a very silly and light hearted game. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves to role play characters and don’t take games too seriously.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection: Incan Gold and Can’t Stop

This week we played two games, Incan Gold and Can’t Stop. My group used Board Game Arena to play the games. This software was the easiest by far in this class to play the games. When we were on our third or fourth game of Incan Gold, some of the other groups were just finishing setting up the games. Both of these games involve taking risks. We first started the session by playing Incan Gold and then switched to Can’t Stop. My group seemed to have the most fun playing Can’t Stop. Our final round of Can’t Stop was amazing! One of our players was able to win the game in one round without anyone else playing a single coin. We were all rooting for him to complete that and win the game. He used a very risky choice when he chose the 9 column for one of his choices. In the end it played out, and I was so happy for him. 

I honestly can think of anything that was hard for the games. The games were very easy to understand and play. Board game Arena was by far easier to use then TableTop Simulator. There were times where group members had to wait a bit to get into the game due to Board Game Arena giving everyone a bunch of achievements for playing games, but we were still able to play a bunch more rounds than other groups. 

Both Incan Gold and Can’t Stop are risk taking games. In leadership, you have to take risks at times. However, you also have to realize that your idea of risks may not be what your group wants or needs. You have to be understanding of your risk and make sure the benefits of said risk overcome what the disadvantages could be. If you take too many risky decisions with no benefits, you have failed yourself as a leader. Being a leader requires you to be able to make hard decisions that may require some form of risk. 

When learning how to play the games for this week, I played them with my boyfriend. He loved playing Can’t Stop. We would play so many rounds because he loved it so much. He is a lot more of a risk taker than me and always went for the 2s and 12s. I would recommend both Ican Gold and Can’t Stop to all of my friends.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection: Fiasco Week 3

This week was the final week we played Fiasco. During this session we were able to set up the tilt and complete the story. I was surprised to find my character coming out the best. Everyone else went to jail or worse due to my characters actions. My character was able to get away with murder but that doesn’t mean she didn’t feel guity about it. The murder was pinned onto two other characters in the session, causing them to pay my characters price for her crime. My character ended up regretting everything that she did to the others, and even did try to turn herself in. However, due to the police in our session being corrupt, they didn’t believe her and chose to continue on with what they believed as correct.

I think the hardest part of this week was setting up the tilt. At first, my group didn’t know where to go with the tilt. We also had to refresh the rules on how the tilt was played out, due to how long it had been since we all watched the how-to videos. There was a lot of time we spent on trying to decide where we wanted the story to proceed. 

The game Fiasco is a cooperation game, but you are also trying to compete with the others. We all are writing a story and acting out what our characters would do. We all need to be able to give and take to move the story and the game along. Everyone has a role to be played. It takes leadership to direct the story. You have to either direct the story in the direction you want it to be, or follow someone else’s ideas in the story. Everyone has a give and take in this game. However, everyone is still trying to make it so that their character’s goals are achieved. In our session, everyone could state that they lost the game, but how much everyone lost was different. 

I still believe that my friends who are into Dungeons and Dragons would enjoy playing Fiasco. They all enjoy making characters and acting as their characters. They also all have chaotic tendencies. Maybe the next time we all start planning a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign, I could instead suggest we all play Fiasco.  

What Type of Gamer Am I?

Overall, I agree with Quantic Foundery’s assessment of my inner gamer. As long as everyone is having fun while also focusing on the game itself, I end up having a blast. The only part of this assessment that differed from my expectations was the limited strategy and discovery. I love building a strategy up in a persona in social deduction games, working with other players to stop some disaster, or trying to build the best dungeon in that sense of the word. I think I scored low on this aspect because I do not enjoy deckbuilding or the likes of Warhammer 40K. The long-term strategy games do not do well at holding my attention. 

On the other hand, short social deduction games like One Night Ultimate Werewolf or Secret Hitler are right up my alley. Whether it be in a TTRPG or a smaller roleplaying game like the ones above, I love bringing a character to life. It is so fun when everyone comes together and adopts a character for the evening. Games like Fiasco are right up my alley for this very purpose.

The aesthetic of a game can further elevate it from good to great. One prominent example of this type of elevation would be the Call of Cthulu roleplaying game set during the Roaring Twenties. Solving occult mysteries while drinking at a speakeasy with the police captain is reminiscent of such a specific period that the aesthetic could not replicate it in any other setting. Looking at the game art can serve as a great way to feel the immersion of whatever environment you find yourself in.  It is another way to understand how the game makers wanted you to feel while playing it. 

Game of the Week Blog Reflection: Roll Player

This week we played the game Roll Player. This game takes a whole new meaning into the ideas of character creation. I’ve never played a game before where the entire game is making a character. After a few technical difficulties, my group was able to play the game. I really enjoyed having to play a game all about character creation. Throughout the entire game, I was developing my strategy in making my character. However, due to time restraints we were unable to complete the game and determine scores. Despite not finishing the game in the class session, I had a blast playing. I’m thinking of buying and adding this game into my board game collection.

The hardest part of this game was the amount of things and rules to remember. My group forgot that we had additional skills that we could use when doing a specific part of the game. I might have had an easier skill to remember than my group mates as I was able to hold more weapons than the others. There were just so many things that you had to keep track of that it could get overwhelming at times.

Roll Player ties to leadership into the juggling of all the things you had to do. To be a leader, you might and probably will have to look at several things at one time. I remember hearing that being a good leader involves juggling balls, however your job as a leader is to know which balls are plastic and which are glass. If you drop a glass ball it shatters and is unable to be as it once was. If you drop a plastic ball, it will just bounce off the ground. Sometimes you gotta drop a few plastic balls to preserve the glass balls. 

I think my friends Gavin, Nick and Laura would enjoy this game. We play board games from time to time and always show each other new games. We haven’t been playing lately due to social distancing, but with the help of Tabletopia we could possibly play. Gavin and I actually got to play a game of it together and were having a blast trying to strategise to make our character have the best stats. 

What Type of Gamer am I?

When I took the assessment, I learned that my motivation profile is low conflict, immersed, and gregarious. I had 4% conflict, 88% social manipulation, 50% strategy, 38% discovery, 22% need to win, 98% immersion, 92% aesthetics, 74% social fun, 89% cooperation, 12% chance, and 50% accessibility. Some of these I am surprised by and others, not so much.

For conflict, I knew that it would be low. As much as I am competitive and want to win, I tend to steer away from these types of games just because I don’t want to talk up a big game and lose. I don’t want to be a sore loser and try to cheer up the rest of the game night. I’ve been going for less conflicting games so I can just brush off a loss and move on. It makes it much more enjoyable just to have a good time and not feel stressed about having to win all the time. For social manipulation, the secondary motivation, I was quite surprised. I am a pretty bad liar, so I have difficulty understanding what makes me drawn to this type of motivation. I think in this case, it’s less about my ability to lie and more about detecting other people’s lies. I do enjoy playing the game Coup and it’s just fun to look at other’s faces and try to tell if their lying. I barely lie in that game and when I do, its me pretending to be ambassador just so I can shuffle through the deck and not have to lie about a role by finding it.

For strategy, I was not surprised about either. I do enjoy strategy games but sometimes I don’t want to be strategizing. It’s just my personal preference at that time and it changes constantly. I do love making smart plays but sometimes I don’t even want to think about something in advance. For one of the secondary motivations, discovery, I’m surprised how low it is. I love playing new games and discovering new game mechanics. There are several different types of games that I have. Why this is so low I can’t understand. Maybe I like the same game too much. For the other motivation, need to win, I am not surprised just like the conflict. This one I know is higher because it is more based on how I play independently and I’m not attacking other people specifically. I do like to win but I don’t want to think about it as much.

For both immersion and aesthetics, they are extremely high, and I agree with these results. I love games with good character, and environment design. I love when the style and aesthetic matches with the game’s theme. A couple examples of this is Root, and The Tea Dragon Society. They are just so cute, and I love their style so much. So even if I’m losing, I get to gush over the cute pictures. I also love backstories and lore and fantasy elements. Games should be an escapism, so I want to go to another world. If I don’t, then what’s the point?

Finally, for social fun, I agree with how high it is. When I pull out a game, it should be because I want to have fun with my friends and come up with new inside jokes and discover more about each other. When my friends and I play Bohnanza, it is always hysterical, and it just makes me laugh and have a good time. It’s pure fun with my friends. For cooperation, I also understand why its so high. I love teams and working with people to win. Its nice to be able to trust someone and not be alone. If we lose, we lose together and that’s not so bad anymore. For chance, I know it is so low just because I don’t like it. Chance just feels like you’re constantly losing a fight and you can’t do anything about it. Even when you win, it’s empty because it was all because of luck. For accessibility, its higher than discovery but I still feel like both should be higher knowing how many different games I love. Traditional games are a little boring now that my friends have introduced me to so many others.