I don’t play video games nearly as much as I used to. Boardgames are both cause and result of that. Here’s why.
If you are a Dutch reader (hoi!), you can check out something I wrote on another page of mine about what I’d like to call the game threshold. I find it increasingly hard to be engrossed in a game; games need to put on more effort to convince me to turn my console on. Once I’m past this threshold (i.e. the game has proven itself to me), I find it easier to turn on my Playstation.
The problem is, that threshold keeps getting higher and higher. Sandbox-type games suffer even more; I find that games with a defined story line (‘games on rails’) are much more engaging nowadays, as opposed to years ago when I would grind away in any sandbox RPG I could get my hands on.
In the introduction I made the paradoxical sounding claim that boardgames are both the cause and result of me playing less video games. This process was a two-way street: I play more boardgames because I play less video games, and because video games have an increasingly difficult time pleasing me, I turn to board games more often.
Why do I like board games that much more than video games? Here are my 7 reasons.
1. Away from screens
Starting next week, a vast majority of my work week will be spent in front of a screen. I used to have this kind of work before, but back then I continued spending time at home in front of a screen. I didn’t play solo boardgames back then, so all of my entertainment (save for the occasional book or Magic session) was screen-based. I really don’t like that. Boardgames allow me to catch a much needed screen time break.
2. More immersion
I basically already gave this one away in my intro. Games have a high threshold for me nowadays, while board games provide me with a lot more direct engagement. It feels like board games can suck me in much easier, sometimes making me forget about the direct world around me. This is especially nice after a taxing day at work.
3. Less time investment
Speaking of time, I like how my board games don’t demand a lot of time from me. Many games need you to invest time to get some mileage out of it. There is one glaring exception to this, but I’ll get back to that in my conclusion.
4. Done is done
Each boardgame you play is its own contained experience, while a video game session is like a TV show episode; it is a contained experience, but it’s all but begging you come back and play or to keep on playing. I like that when I play a board game, I play for a predetermined amount of time (meaning I know how much time any given game will roughly take) and after that, it’s done.
Sometimes, I immediately play again. Sometimes, I leave a game on the table for the next day. That doesn’t change the fact that each time you play again, you just start over again.
5. Longer lifespan
When I am finished with the main storyline in a video game, I typically spend some time on side quests, but my attention starts dwindling quickly after the main show, so to speak. I just can’t be bothered to grind endlessly for useless collectibles or for Trophies. I rarely play a game for the second time. Board games suffer way less from this saturation; whenever I am ‘done’ with a board game, I just shelf it for a while. (Your time will come again, Robinson!)
6. More soothing experience
Part of this has to do with the absence of a screen, part of this is due to boardgames not being quick paced, but I just find playing a board game a very soothing experience. I especially enjoy it when I can play a fitting soundtrack or have a nice cup of coffee (or alcoholic beverage) alongside my game.
7. Boardgames are much easier to pause
While video games are much easier to start up, you can’t easily pause them. Wait, what? I’m not even talking about online games! Many games are played in chunks; whether you’re playing from save point to save point, mission to mission, or checkpoint to checkpoint, the times where you can up and quit a game are actually limited.
While it does hurt immersion, board games suffer less from this. Turns are usually shorter than missions or the time between checkpoints, and you can even pause mid-turn (as long as you remember what you were doing exactly) because you have no opponents nor timed elements. Board games are easy to pause – just don’t let a 15 minute break turn into a two day gap.
Conclusion
It feels like boardgames are becoming my go-to form of entertainment to scratch the itch – immersion, storyline, exploration, progression – that videogames used to. Having backed The 7th Continent is perhaps the most exemplary of this, since a lot of people call this a board game version of an adventure video game (even with its own save system!).
In one way this might seem strange, but I’d like to think of it as a form of evolution: I like immersion, storyline, exploration and progression just as much – if not more – than I used to; it’s just that the medium I consume them with has shifted.
Thank you for reading! If you like my content, please consider buying me a coffee.
Stidjen Plays Solo 
“If you are a Dutch reader (hoi!),” lol that is how zelda the windwaker started!
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Your suspicion of a game threshold is a very interesting one, but I’m not so sure about your logic. It might have something to do with a convergence of proven products in the industry: most games nowadays are rehashes of something from before. Google and amzn ads pointing to those products that are pushed by industry.
The last time i got wow-ed by a video game was when my hero died in Limbo. Some time later something nice was to see Oblivion and Morrowind on an enhancing xb1. The answer is not to go back to games of old, like FF8 on PS1: those games required commitment in an era where people had the time for commitment. Atari reviews from that era had as criteria:
– Instant appeal
– long term interest
– playability
– addictiveness
These criteria have long since been abandoned by industry, and replaced by just one: market toward 2 types of gamers: casual and non-casual. Assumption is that casual is more people (I think correct), implication is that there is more money to be made there (I think incorrect, casuals don’t spend $50+ on any game).
Another threshold is significant, namely the one platforms create. Steam, PS-store, Apple istore, even google play all are hostile toward newcomers, and favor the existing old boys producers. This also helps the sameyness of everything videogame related.
The most troubling thing is that the same kind of “politically correct” conformism seeps through to other parts of culture: at parties, in transit, at the office, separating your garbage, everything pushes you to conform. Become identifiable consumer cow. Don’t ask questions.
For me, the online / screen experience feels more and more distant (symbolized by a glass screen!) even for something as epic as Ni No Kuni in English on a ds handheld. It has everything to do with that brain trigger that fires saying hey you used to go into that world, now it’s more of a conscious decision. It doesn’t fire automatically. That is the actual threshold.
However, board games also have a threshold, albeit still quite low, there will come a time I’ll “get over that” sooner than later. Perhaps it’s caused by the saturation of board games, I rarely decide to go to game conventions, because the games on offer don’t grab me like they used to. The games I spend my time on are not to be found on game conventions.
A strong cause is probably the marketing machine that underlies (read: undermines) the game selection in board game shops, people with limited time choose among the pre-selected list, not knowing someone made that pre-selection already for them.
Boardgamegeek is an excellent example of a pump-and-dump mechanic that is repeated over and over, overhype new US titles, demonize/ignore non-US titles, employ even low voters to influence the rankings. Don’t believe me, check for yourself the top ratings.
I actually like the Achievements and Unlock mechanic of ps3/x360 and later games, it records what I, ehm, achieved, but truth be told I haven’t touched a videogame in a year or more. I used to collect BOARD games that had the same mechanic, but since our life is too fragmented I only feel regret when I try to get into them.
So in short: marketing has destroyed your fun.
How to proceed from here?
The ideal board game (for me) would be one with a memory of past deeds, but no explicit Achievements or such, it exists in the form of Diceborn Heroes, but I’m looking for something beyond level 3. I have high hopes for Journeys into Middle Earth. The only drawback is the app but geeks will probably find a way around that. In time.
PS I lied about video games, I did play diablo 2 since a few months, but that was more to make screenshots for the artwork of a cardgame version of diablo 2 that doesn’t exist yet.
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The last truly mind-blowing game I have played was The Last of Us on PS4. Although I have to agree that Limbo was amazing too. I love to check out indie titles too, like Limbo and it’s spiritual successor Inside. It might be so that what you say is true and that I am a victim of marketing. But I also think it has something to do with me wanting an offline, tactile experience. I just switched jobs and will be looking at a screen pretty much my entire work week. Being away from a screen will be something I will look for more actively now than I already did. Me and the GF sometimes just play a simple game at night with the radio on (I also think evening radio has programming that allows for stories and a closer connection to the audience, which helps too).
I am also looking forward to Journeys, but being conscious about also having backed The 7th Continent as my next go-to ‘boardgamified video game’. Can’t wait for it to arrive.
Also, thank you for taking the time to respond a lot lately, and also responding with very thought out answers. Glad to have you along as a reader and fellow enthusiast!
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