this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
79 points (94.4% liked)
boardgames
5853 readers
1 users here now
Everything boardgames
Please stick to English for posts and comments
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I completed Gloomhaven. It was a MONUMENTAL undertaking, required diligent organization and a dedicated table that was never used for anything else. You also need a bachelor's degree in the rulebook (or just get comfortable with house rules that fill in)
I'm 15% of the way through the expansion (Frosthaven) and am utterly exhausted. There's so much to do and so many opportunities to put something back wrong and now my draw pile somehow has the discards in it. Fuck.
But it was a glorious journey. Gloomhaven added a welcome interface layer that classic DnD was missing for me. And the combat system is so colorful! That said, the game basically demands a companion app for tracking health. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but immensely rewarding.
I am not into board games. What you describe sounds like Gamification, but in reverse. Do you people not have exhausting, tedious day jobs to fill that space? Why even attempt something like this? Honestly curious.
Do your hobbies not have some less exciting but necessary aspects? I liken it to maintaining the gears or motor on a bike, motorcycle, or boat. Or perhaps running drills or stretches to improve your sport performance. Or fiddling with settings to get a PC game running just right. People can find enjoyment in even the mundane tasks of their hobbies.
That said, Gloomhaven leans into that aspect hard. But once it’s setup, there’s a rich and complex game to play. It was just hard for my group because of busy schedules.
I don't have that many hobbies. Most games run on my PC just fine on their own, and I don't do the stretching that is usually recommended in my sport because at my level, that#s not what's holding me back/I have no health issues. I do fun things for fun. If something isn't fun, that's work, not a hobby. That might just be me, though.
Man, feels like you’re being a little pedantic. Stretches are to prevent injuries, not just for the injured. Maybe you’re not doing them, but you should be. You also concede not all of your PC games run fine out of the box. Do you ever travel? Do you enjoy the packing/unpacking just as much as the trip itself? Do you enjoy the shuffle into/out of the venue when you’re seeing a game/show/concert? It’s not bizarre for enjoyable things to have some mundane but necessary aspects.
As I said, I was curious about how other people feel, I was not judging. For me, the ratio of tedium to enjoyment has got to be right. I don't enjoy alpine climbing because you gotta do 4 hour approaches to get 2 hours of climbing, then walk down 6 hours. That ain't my thing. If packing took a week for 3 days vacation, you would feel the same, I am pretty certain. Same thing with some boardgames: If learning the rules and setting everything up takes longer than the game itself, why bother?