Two games in particular that I enjoy are Carcasonne and Settlers of Catan. Since I don't have many people to play with, I naturally try to find an on-line version of the games I like to play. However, now I'm wondering if this is a good idea. With Carcasonne, for example, I have played hundreds of games on ASO Brain recently, and I think my desire to play the game is a little bit less now. It would probably take me years of play on a physical board to get to this point. Does the quick-fix, play 8 games in two hours approach to gaming diminish our enthusiasm for the real game? Often times, when playing against an ultra-fast PC or computer player, you can play enough games to start to see patterns that you may not have seen in the real thing for years (50 plays, for example), or because the people are less predictable. Plus, IMO, most games are more interesting with live people, and therefore you might get sick of a game after playing it online, but really, you are not playing with interesting opponents. I think I might avoid games against the CPU for now on to prevent this from happening. And believe me, this will be nearly IMPOSSIBLE for me to do, but it might be necessary...

Anyone else share my feelings on this?

Michael

Though I do play settlers and Carcassonne on my Xbox 360, it doesn't prevent me from playing other games face to face. The way I see it, it frees up my game nights to play other games instead of playing settlers and Carc for the xx-teenth time.

Depends i think, passing the time with online counterparts is likely a common practice around these parts. For me i had played a lot online settlers and while this game in particuliar i'm pretty much over, i think that in person gaming means different things to different people. For me, the social aspect of getting together to play some games typically trumps the actual games we end up playing. I would imagine that a direct answer to your question would be 'somewhat', i would imagine 100's of computer played games would likely decrease the desire to play the same game in persono... But with the thousand of boardgames available, i think you'll have plenty of other options if you feel the need to 'just one more game' of your favorite pc version...

It might just be a simple matter of variety. I know if I play the same game too much in a short period of time, I lose my desire to play a bit. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to play ever again, but unless it's a game that really offers the ability to try different strategies, it might lose out. I know my desire to play Acquire is almost nil, but I used to play it frequently when I first got into gaming. I have been playing Imperial online quite a bit, but I think that game has enough going on to keep it interesting. It might just be a case of too much of a good thing.

P.S. Carlos, I challenge your avatar to a duel.

I haven't played anything "online" but I bought Empires in Arms as soon as it was released for the PC and it's outstanding. Getting 6 together for a full epic campaign of this game is a nightmare because the 6 have to get together regularly, for many sittings. With the PC version I can play whenever I want and my friends and I now have a PBEM game going in the background while we explore ever greater numbers of Euro's on game night.

For some games it's a definite YES. Games which are relatively simple, which you can play multiple games in a hour, or several games in a night, definitely suffer from burnout. When you play so many games online, not only does your enthusiasm for that game diminish in general, but some friends have also complained that they dislike the slooooooowness of playing face to face. This particular complaint has come up with TTR in the past.

Additionally you can find that your skills rapidly outpace those of your game group. Didn't happen to me, but did in a game group before I joined--one of the players started playing Puerto Rico online constantly, and rapidly he had hundreds of games under his belt whereas the rest of the group only played in-group, and was still in the newbie less-than-10 games played category. That ruined it for everyone for quite some time.

Other types of games--play by email games, wargames via VASSAL,etc.--are inherently so complex and take so long to play, often several days to months, that it does not cause burnout or excessive skill game. For those games it's merely another chance to play some of these big games. Mabiweb.com and Spielbyweb.com are both pbem sites, and most games take about a week or so to complete--chances are even if you play a lot, you'll only be adding 20 to 50 plays of any game through those outlets.

Indeed. I downloaded the computer version of Yspahan from West Park Gamers and have played countless games against its AI. It is no longer a useful gateway game for me to play ---- I trounce the newbies.

There are some fantastic games made to be experienced in all their glory on the PC, such as Medieval Total War II, Civ 4, Europa Universalis III, and Oblivion. If I am going to be sitting at a computer, I'll play them. I just never get the itch to play a boardgame online (not counting certain play by email games and werewolf).

I downloaded this too. I don't have the game, but playing it on the computer has made me want it. I like that you can learn the rules and try the game this way, to decide if you like it. I play "casual" when introducing people to a new game anyway, so the fact that I am more experienced because of it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I have a few computer versions of my games. I don't play online ever, just against the AI. I have Tigris & Euphrates (Dartmoor), El Grande (Koch Media), Carcassonne (Koch Media), Samurai (Klear), Tikal (Dartmoor), Ticket to Ride (Days of Wonder) and Settlers of Catan(MSN). Of all these, perhaps only Samurai has made me tired of playing, but that's fine. There are lots of other games to play. Also, with several of these, I can't find human opponents to play face-to-face with anyway.

@mjacobsca, quick Q, which Settlers implemntation do you use?

Overall, I don't feel playing Settlers/Seafarers online ruins the real thing. Problem with my case is it's VERY DAMN difficult to find a 3rd person for Settlers/Seafarers. A friend for the 2nd Catan player refuses to play any 2p variant of it, so it was a great thing she introduced me to Sea3d. I've logged almost 500 games of Settlers, Seafarers, their 5/6 player extensions, and various variants (like jungles and volcanoes). I got great fill of a game that I still enjoy. I'm playing less now, but only b/c I'm busy and nothing to do with losing interest. When I'm not busy, I play other board games IRL as I recently joined several board game groups.

Furthermore, online, u meet ppl instantly, and can get a game going in as little a few minutes. No transporation time required there

On the minus side, it has made me more reluctant to call up buddies for a game, and spend more face to face time. However, in the past, they were understandably busy, so the same result often occurs

It has spoiled me on some accounts too. For example, playing a 6 player game on the Greater Catan VI scenario from Seafarers of Catan is supposed to take 3 about hours according to the instructions. When u play onine, the comp does alot of stuff for u, like setting up the monstrous board, determing who goes first, shuffling the cards, handing out the cards, counting/converting the cards towards purchases, and calculating Longest Road. This cuts the game time down to about an hour and a half, half of the IRL session!

As for online play quality, I'd guess many do not own the actual board games, but some of them definately excellent players that I enjoy playing again and again. Their mannerism and the thrill of the game, even if i lost makes it all the more worthwhile.

Finally, one thign that Sea3d has are ladder games that influence ratings. Ppl SHOULD be in it strictly for fun, but this system does get ppl very competitive and ensures players aren't jsut goofingaround.

In some cases yes. I played Pillars of the Earth of BSW, and after so many plays, it became less and less interesting. I like testing out the boardgame via computer, and if I like it I'll buy it to play face to face.

I went to BSW to play Puerto Rico. I ended up playing Settlers more, and then I hit upon Tichu. I haven't stopped playing Tichu and the interface is great for the game.

So it depends on the game. Computerized version greatly reduce the set up time. It speed up gameplay nicely. So I can sacrifice quality play for some fast play. When I play face to face, I try much harder.