-
Sean Franco
United States
Hammond
Louisiana
-
The Set-Up
There was an interesting comment made some four years ago that was recently brought to my attention which claimed that The Ameritrash 'Core Priority' is Drama, The Eurogame 'Core Priority' is Elegance, The Wargame 'Core Priority' is Realism. I found this to be a very fascinating concept, both for the way it really did break down the cores of these genres and the way that games could be measured by these rubrics.
What I found even more intriguing was the idea that we could measure all games by these core values, not just those associated with the relevant genre. How often have we argued whether or not Chaos in the Old World was Ameritrash or Euro? Is Twilight Struggle a wargame or Euro? What I am presenting here is not an answer for those questions, nor does it presuppose that an answer is needed or even exists. What I am presenting is a visual representation of what certain games offer of certain core values, and by proxy who they might appeal to.
The Disclaimer
If you really want to complain about how I scored things or the significance of these scores, feel free to. This is how I see these games, but it's truly a subjective measure. Further discussion on the matter will help develop and clarify concepts.
Modern Art
Modern Art is a classic Euro title from Knizia himself. The rules are simple and clever, scoring an 8 out of 10 on my scale. The auctions offer a minimal amount of drama, scoring a 4 out of 10. The way that trends offer bigger payouts I found to be a reasonable stab at realism, scoring a 5 out of 10. This gives of an area of a decent size, but one clearly skewed for the Eurogamer.
Caylus
And now, one of the scorned titles of the Ameritrash gamers, Caylus. I rather like this game with two or three players, so I wanted to look at it as well. Every piece of this game works together so neatly, so elegance gets a 9. However, there's never really any doubt about what's going to happen or what a set of optimal moves are, so drama scores only a 1. Realism actually does a little better, since it is a reasonable idea to stimulate the local economy to fund and facilitate federal building projects, so we score a 3 here. Our total area is much smaller than with Modern Art, and clearly only appealing to Eurogamers.
Power Grid
And now Power Grid, a nice and meaty Euro which is highly regarded and fairly popular. The game play is nice and tight, scoring a 9. However, unlike Caylus, the game play remains tense to the end, so drama scores an 8. Finally, the three different market systems (auctions for the power plants, supply/demand for the fuel, and physical geographical costs for the cities) create a realistic feel that some other Euros lack; here, Power Grid gets a 6. By looking at total area here, it's easy to see why Power Grid might get such mass appeal.
Fury of Dracula
Entering the realm of classic Ameritrash, we examine Fury of Dracula. This is where rule sets become slightly fiddly and not every rule is intuitive, hence an elegance score of 3. However, the narrative of the game is exciting, and every player will tense when Dracula's trail is stumbled upon. Drama receives a strong 8. The game doesn't well simulate the real world (you traveled how far by carriage in one day?) or capture the true logic or narrative of its source material, so realism get a 2. This is a game Ameritrash players should love, but it might not have a wide appeal beyond.
Castle Ravenloft
On the flip side, last year's Dungeons and Dragons title got a lot of buzz and has already spawned two sequels. Its quick and simple game play helped (9), but its tendency to constantly leave heroes near death didn't hurt either (9). However, I still hear some people complain about its scripted and programmed monsters and horribly illogical random encounters (4). Regardless, the total area for Castle Ravenloft should explain its popularity.
StarCraft
A new classic of the Ameritrash genre, StarCraft took Dudes-on-a-Map game play to a new level. It had a slightly complex rule set, but a clever one regardless. I scored this as a 3. The dramatic value is intense, though. There is no way to turtle in this game, and you only survive by constant attacking. Finally, I see a 10 in drama. By keeping very close to its source material (the closest measure of realism I could figure in a game about humans fighting bugs fighting psychic paladins in space), the game gets a 5. The game should have a massive appeal with the Ameritrash lot; I believe it actually does, as well.
Go
I felt the need to throw in an abstract at this point and see how it did. What better abstract than Go? With pretty much only two or three rules but limitless strategy, I feel safe saying there is a perfect elegance score. Also, ask anyone who's played an exciting and well-matched Go game. It's brilliant, so there's a perfect drama score as well. However, there's no attempt at a theme, and there's nothing to pretend to be real about, so the perfect abstract appropriately gets a 0 in realism. Interestingly, though, there's no real reason for wargamers to dislike this game at all.
Brandywine
I wanted to look at a classic counter-pushing war game, so I chose Brandywine. The map and counter strengths are meticulously researched I'm sure, so there's a 9 for realism. The game is quite tense as well, as a proper war game should be, so I gave it an 8 for drama. The rules and game play are somewhat dry and fiddly, though, so only a 2 for elegance.
Twilight Struggle
The current rankings king here, Twilight Struggle has been a hit for a long time. It's simple to learn but complex to master game play hooks players and keeps them, so there's an 8. The narrative is strong and tense all the way through: 9. The basic game play is based on the admittedly disproved domino theory of political science, so Twilight Struggle gets a 4 here. Some might want a high score for realism since the rules and theme are integrated so well, but I see that more as elegance than realism. Regardless, the appeal is obvious from the overall size of the above graph.
1870
On a whim, I decided to end with a train game. Clever but fiddly rules that are hard to immerse yourself in yield an elegance of 3. The drama of buying stock and laying track just does not deliver a tense narrative, so only a 2. However, stock buying and company management are cleverly represented, with some period detail: 7. Do train games appeal to wargamers?
Wrap Up
What I've basically done is come up with some rash assessments and thrown them together graphically. I don't see myself as a Eurogamer or an Ameritrash gamer or a wargamer, so I pretend that I maintained some objectivity above. I also assume that some kind of high appeal on two or three of three axes would imply high appeal to most gamers.
However...
I am interested in what you have to say about my scoring, the conclusions that may be drawn from any such scoring, and your scores for these and other games that might interest you. If you'd like my original blank graph, it's here. Or, frankly, make a nicer looking one if you'd like; I'm no graphic designer.
|
|
