Technology and games (part 1 of so many)
At some point in 2022 I’ll get back into the board game hobby. I was here sometime in the mid-2000s and then sporadically in between.
There was already an internet back then, but either I hadn’t looked for the information on the internet yet, or it wasn’t as diverse and easy to find as it is now.
I now primarily use YouTube for research and general information. There are various channels on which new board games are presented and rules are explained or on which you can watch other players play. This helps enormously when making decisions and you can simply look at a lot of things at the same time.
There are also explanations of the rules from individual manufacturers via app, but here it is usually not that different than if someone were to read the instructions to you, perhaps with a few animations. For people who are a little more impatient, reading it yourself is often quicker.
Reading instructions yourself is now becoming increasingly easier because many publishers make game instructions available for download on the Internet, meaning you can familiarize yourself with the rules even if you don’t own a game (yet).
Of course there are also blogs and news sites for the hobby. One of the most important websites is Boardgamegeek, where there are various news articles, forums, lists and whatever else you can imagine. Boardgamegeek also has a YouTube channel and a podcast.
In any case, it is much easier to find out about games in advance in 2022 than it was in 2007. Although most of the technology was already there back then, I either wasn’t smart enough to use it back then or (more likely) the content on offer simply wasn’t there yet diverse and well sorted.
(Anne Schuessler)