This Blog 2019, Goals and Grommets


Friday, April 12, 2013

Why write games anyway?

So why write table top games?
I have asked my self that a lot lately, especially in the past 2 years or so. I suppose it has to start with creative impulse. I possess an artistic temperament. One day I am high on creative projects to the point of almost manic enthusiasm, a day later I am maudlin and just want to scrap or cancel everything. I go through periods where in my view every hobby is a waste of time, then other periods where I simply can't stop the ideas from coming. I have found that this manic, obsessive, depressive creative cycle is as much a part of me my eye color, I can't change it.
Part of the answer to why design games is that there are times I'm simply driven to work on things. Is it a waste of time? Yes. Of course writing random game ideas on scraps of paper is a waste of time. I've never made a dime on the things I've written, I'm almost 40, and I should be tending flowerbeds. The rewards however, are great. Playing a game of your own devising with a group of friends is thrilling, nerve wracking, and, sometimes when things go wrong bitter sweet.
There is no more a frustration that realizing your great idea simply does not work how you saw it in your head. There is also nothing more gratifying that fixing that issue so it does work the way you visualized, it's addicting.
Why write games? I think the final answer is because it's a gratifying shared creative outlet, wherein I can funnel some of my excess energy to something others can share and enjoy.

So why start this Blog?
Self indulgence pure and simple.
I come up with a lot of ideas. The vast majority are forgotten during busy days, slip out of my mind somewhere between the shower and the kitchen, or are just not very good once closely examined. My goal with this blog is to put those lost ideas here, before they die. A virtual scratch pad for game ideas. Eventually I will invite my friends to look at the rubble and perhaps one of them will see a “gem in the dust pan.”

1 comment:

  1. yeah I've seen that thru the years. :) I get that way with the projects I do. I have a great vision of what I want it to be and then when I gett started after a little while I'm thinking "why the hell did I start this".