MIB North Extras: Director's Cut: Valuing Diversity

Director's Cut - Valuing Diversity

When Steve Jackson Games announced the startup of their Ogre miniatures program, I was delighted. I've always enjoyed the Ogre board game, and the pictures of the early Ogre pieces were just beautiful. I ordered a bunch, bought primer and paint, and sat down one Saturday afternoon to assemble my minis.

Within an hour, I had forcefully remembered something: I HATE miniatures.

I hate the assembly process. I hate painting the little buggers. I especially hate freeform movement games. And I HATE that if all of the above goes well, whenever I take those minis that I do have assembled and presentable to a convention, the first game that involves teenagers leaves my army with broken wings, snapped gun barrels, and damage that looks all too much like the virtual scenario played out on the board.

Believe me, the minis get a lot of use. The Ogre board game remains as exciting and tense as ever, and the miniatures make for great eye candy on the poster-size board that comes with them. But ultimately, they will never see terrain and rulers -- at least not while I'm playing, that is. And Mage Knight, Disk Wars, Warhammer 40K, etc. are all territory that will remain unexplored for me, because I hate miniatures SO DAMN MUCH.

The positive I try to draw out of this is that there are those people that are not going to enjoy a certain style of game, or a particular game system, or -- believe it or not -- playing games in general. As a demonstrator, you have to be able to understand when a person is having a hard time grasping a concept or strategy, and when they have simply decided that what they are doing is No Fun At All. Even before the thought gets verbalized, when their body language begins to close off, their lips begin to purse, and their moves become ever more curt and cursory, I need to step in and either propose a different activity, or a different demonstrator.

This is behavior you need to be able to react to, because unless you are demonstrating a two-player game, there are other people that are potentially going to be influenced by this person's attitude. Even worse, if what you're showing off is a new and unfamiliar product, that negativity is going to color what should be an unbiased example of how that game works. I've heard a lot of stories revolving around the theme "The game was OK, until some dude totally lost it and decided to screw around with us," and you don't want it to be about the brand-new game you're trying to get folks to play.

Until the perfect game is invented (and don't hold your breath), there are going to be those disinterested spouses, attention-deficit teens, and rule abusers that may get roped into one of your events. If a game is just not their cup of tea, smile, try to modify or divert their behavior, and remember that there are lots of alternatives to explore in this great, diverse hobby of ours.

Except for minis, of course. I hate those friggin' things.

Alex Yeager
AlexYeager@yahoo.com
SJ Games North US MIB RD/Cheapass Games Demo Monkey