Things We Think About Games

by Will Hindmarch, Jeff Tidball

"An unholy mixture of helpful guidebook and jabbing provocation, [Things We Think About Games] will earn its right to rattle around your brain. It is essential reading for designer, critic, and straight-up rank 'n' file gamer alike."
--Robin D. Laws, creator of HeroQuest and Feng Shui Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball think a lot about games. At their commentary website, Gameplaywright.net, they think out loud about what it means to play games, make games, sell games, and love games. They are gamers. Here, with fellow game designers and notable game players, they think out loud on paper in the first Gameplaywright book. Things We Think About Games collects dozens on dozens of bite-sized thoughts about games. From the absurd to the magnificent, the demonstrable to the dogmatic, this collection spans both the breadth of games--board, card, roleplaying and more--and the depth of gaming, offering insights about collecting, playing, critiquing, designing, and publishing. Forward by Robin D. Laws
Introduction by Wil Wheaton Includes the contributions of John August, Pat Harrigan, Fred Hicks, Kenneth Hite, John Kovalic, Michelle Nephew, Philip Reed, S. John Ross, Mike Selinker, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin.

Genres: Nonfiction, Game Design, Games, Gaming, Role Playing Games, Ebooks

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Will is a writer, game designer, graphic designer, producer, and mooncalf aiming to write one of everything. He's got a lot of work to do.

Reviews

[Doug Levandowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for board gamers or roleplayers.

[Timothy Sikes · Rating 1 out of 5]

With a title like "Things We Think About Games", and a book cover with a chess board and a couch, I assumed I'd be picking up a book with thoughtful essays on the nature of games.

This book is not that. This book is "101 Things We Think About Games", which is an entirely different thing. The 101 things are more like tweets than a blog post (far away from a thoughtful essay). Just like a series of tweets fired off without knowing who'd read them, I'm not quite sure this book knew its audience. Most statements seemed aimed at game players turned amateur game designer, but the book also included a substantial number of mind numbingly obvious statements to even casual fans of gaming. (such as "Plan your turn while other people are playing").

The only statements that I hadn't really thought about before generally dealt with tabletop RPGs, and that could be chalked up more to my lack of experience in RPGs than any particular insight the statements provided.

Overall, this book got a 1 star because it felt like the cover and title are intentionally misleading to make potential purchasers think this book is more substantial than it actually is.

[Goulo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it in one sitting when I woke up before everyone else in Portal Sunday at Pionek; it's pretty short. Many pages have only 1 sentence, or a short paragraph. A diverse set of aphorisms and lessons learned about game design, game playing, and seemingly obvious general advice abouts social behavior that aren't particular to gaming.

For me it is too focused on RPGs and social/casual gaming, and rather dismissive of people who genuinely enjoy the strategy and competition of games.

The book notes that there aren't many books that qualify as game criticism or game reviews or discussions about gaming, which is true. So the book indeed serves a purpose in helping adding to that scant body of literature. But I find a lot of interesting discussion and criticism about games online (e.g. at boardgamegeek.com), so such material's already available (and often more interesting to me than many of the pages in this book), albeit not in such an easy to find and read book format.

The book was a nice way to kill 30 or 40 minutes while waiting for the others to wake up. :)

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the preface (or was it the introduction), the author said that you might not agree with some of the bits of wisdom in the book. While I found myself (in large part) agreeing with the ruules, I did indeed find some that I did not agree with, and that was as it should be, the whole purpose of the book is to make folks think critically about game design, and this book does a good job of jumpstarting that critical thinking process. If you don't agree, then that's good, since that's by design, part of the book's purpose. If you ever designed a game, want to design a game, want to play a game, or have ever played one, then you should pick up a copy of this book, and read it through. It's simple, straightforward, and contains lots of good advice for gaming in general.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A list of a combination of uninspired and unsupported ideas, punctuated with a few novel ideas. Needs sources and more fleshed out list items. Only given the third star as most of the advice isn't bad (except for one piece, which one is left as an exercise to the reader).

Skippable unless you're really into the subject.

[Krzysztof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short, but rather amusing and thought-provoking selection of bite-sized perspectives on gaming. Like the introduction itself states, a few of these are kind of hard to agree with, but I found many of them ring true even when I don't subscribe to them specifically. If nothing else, they provide talking points that can be further discussed if you're into that sort of thing.

[Marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a very quick to read but it was still an entertaining one. The book is a collection of mixed short observations, anecdotes and ideas of gaming from various people working in the gaming industry.

There is usually only couple of sentences per page and per anecdote//idea, but that is okay. It sort of gives the reader more space and time to think about it.

[ButterPoached · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very slim volume. If they had used a slightly smaller font and not limited themselves to one point per page, it would have been an excellent zine. What you do get is fabulous, though. There are several aphorisms that I sent my friends immediately upon reading them, because they perfectly apply to situations we've encountered together.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book ultra cheap as part of a Humble Bundle. There's some good insights in here, but also a lot of obvious observations. It's geared more for pen and paper and board games than video games but worth checking out.

[Mavrades · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voilà presque un recueil d'aphorismes à propos des jeux, de société, de rôles ou vidéo. Sympatique, bien écrit, intéressant, parfois provocateur, souvent drôle. À relire, certainement.

[Jon Schwarz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring really. Good on them for turning what should have been a medium sized blog post into a book that I paid money for.

[Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Fun little thoughts on games. Nothing earth-shattering, but a nice little look into how people who design games think about them.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great advice for the most part. I disagree strongly with some points, and the authors indicated that I probably would in the foreword.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a great deal, although I HATE playing games (takes time away from my precious readin' time!). The points made in it impressed upon me why people do, indeed, play games for recreation - which, honestly, I didn't understand as much before I read this book. It was socially fascinating from a "Why do people DO this, anyway?" kind of butterfly-chasing aspect, which is how I end up reading a lot of the books that I do. Also, the format of the book itself made it very engaging - if I became uninterested by a particular nugget, I could just skim or skip it without guilt and go on to something else more interesting. It was also intriguing to try and figure out which points each author might agree or disagree with, and which each might have authored (I read introductions). The experience was much like reading a print version of a blog, especially with the tags added to each entry.

Plus, I think the author is a really nice dude and I enjoy drinking beer with him and his wife. Hi, Will!

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of thoughts from various people, many of them well-recognized names in the cottage industry that is tabletop gaming, about why, how, and what they think about games and the people who design and play them. Chances are you'll agree with some, and not with others- but either way, these tidbits will spark conversation and insight about your gaming life.

What? You don't have a gaming life? Well, what's wrong with you? Go read this book, and then get some friends together and play something!

Hurry! The fate of the universe may rest in the balance!

Or, you just might have some fun.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Random musings on games, both playing and designing them. These musings are presented one to a page, so there's a lot of white space as some can be a single sentence, but what's there got me thinking.

I didn't agree with everything, but everything was worth reading. Not every gamer should have this book, but every gaming group should.

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brevísima recopilación de microposts de blog de dos reconocidos autores, tratando acerca de buenas prácticas como diseñadores de juegos y como jugadores. Unas cuantas ideas interesantes, pero quizá estropeado porque no llega a desarrollar ninguna en profundidad. Es recomendable eso sí, la claridad y concisión, y uno se queda con gana de haber leído más acerca de ello.

[Phil Dicemechanic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read, but simply too short. The first 101 points are really the highlight, but if they could have found another 101 it'd have much more to recommend it (possibly as a coffee table piece rather than book to sit and read)

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of tiny, lovely tidbits about games, mostly rp games, and definitions of games. I liked the main section of it best, though there were a few gems in the back as well.

[Jon Bristow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but a little light on content. Some of the stuff was dead on, some was inspiring and thought provoking, and a little was irrelevant.

[Donny Van zandt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's 160 pages, most with a large-type sentence or two per page. This book was short on substance, didn't feel like a lot of bang for the buck.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's tiny for the $20 it cost but has a bunch of nice, bite-sized thoughts on games and game design.