Great episode with an interesting conversation. As for my opinions on the topic at hand:
1) Party games seem to provide the largest amount of social interaction. Games like GiftTrap and Imaginiff encourage interaction because the players are the subject of the game. Games like Time's Up and Cranium encourage interaction because the players work together in teams. This brings up a whole different type of game that you neglected...
2) Cooperative games, such as Lord of the Rings and Shadows Over Camelot, basically require player interaction. Without it these games will not work.
Awhile back we were playing Ticket to Ride and we had 6 people, so Rikki offered to sit out. She sat and watched and about halfway through the game she said, "Are we always this quiet when we play?" That one sentence has haunted me ever since. Every time we play, all I can think about is the fact that we're playing a game with a very minimal amount of communication. It actually caused me to lower my rating of TtR. I love socializing while playing games, and if I can't talk with the other players I don't have as much fun.
On a side note: Bravo, Erik! You actually made ASLSK sound somewhat interesting to me, and I'm about as far from a wargamer as they come. Don't get me wrong, I won't be rushing out to purchase a Starter Kit, but at least I can better appreciate why others enjoy the game.
Last edited on 2007-09-10 13:06:28 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)