Gaming Goals 2017.

I thought I'd take a minute to share my gaming goals for 2017, (GG17 for short. Nothing uses that already right?)

Musings on events

So there was an interesting discussion on A Wyrd Place the other day about prize support in competitions. While it was mostly focused on the types of prizes that could be provided it brought out a couple of different views. In particular some players were of the view the prizes should be awarded to the winners, while others (myself included) were of the view that tangible prizes like models were better allocated in another manner.

This got me thinking and it reminded me of this fantastic article. It is about Netrunner (another great game) but it raises some valid points about how organised gaming tends to focus on the competitive aspect of gaming to the point that competitive players expect that events should cater for them. The reality is that people play games like Malifaux for a variety of different reasons. Not everyone is in it to win tournaments and play super competitively. Now, I am not saying that competitive players are bad or wrong. But at the moment they are heavily catered for, case in point having a look at the UK Calendar there are already 21 Malifaux tournaments in the first quarter of next year. Now obviously you could not enter all of them (quite a few take place on the same day as each other) and they will vary in levels of competitiveness but you can hardly argue that competitive players are missing out. Hell, even Wyrd supports the competitive side through the Gaining Grounds supplement.

Cricket or Gladiators in the Arena

A flurry of recent Facebook posts has really struck a cord with me.

The first was a post about how the lack of a competitive scene was harming the Malifaux community and stopping it growing. The second was from a player who was irritated that a tournament had limited summoners to models in a list of a 100ss models for the day in line with other crews.  He felt that he was being punished for being an experienced competitive player.

As always in Malifaux, the posts and discussions were well thought out and the debate remained civil. At one point it was suggested that the 100ss model pool kept things fair for beginners. One poster opinioned that if beginners wanted that kind of thing, perhaps they should go to a beginners tournament. He had paid for his collection, spent time building and painting it, and should therefore be able to actually rock up and use it in a legal crew if he wanted.

I found it a little depressing. I don’t know if community would grow if it was “more” competitive or not, or whether the model limit is a good idea or not. What really struck me was that there is a upcoming challenge for us as Malifaux players. That challenge is the growth of the game and how to steer a course between ultra competitive and too laid back.