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Board Games Should Be Downloadable

Posted by Bob Mackey

I love board games, though we've had a confused relationship over the years. Once I could no longer torture my parents with endless games of Monopoly, Scrabble, or Hero Quest, I quickly dismissed the whole activity as low-tech kid stuff and concentrated my nerd powers into more pressing matters, like video games. But around three years ago, I wandered back to tabletop gaming on a whim; a few friends and I started to dabble in fantastic games like Settlers of Catan, and I was unexpectedly brought back to something I once truly loved. Part of the reason I opted to first buy a 360 over the other systems was the fact that there were so many board game adaptations available on XBox Live. And while they could be much greater in number--where the hell are my Catan expansions, anyway--things like Zombies!!! are still on the way, which means that the whole XBLA board game thing must not be a total failure.

Then again, if you happen to be a fan of traditional (non-nerdy) board games, the selection available on this gen's digital download services is a bit troubling; the old standbys of Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Sorry, and others are only available in disc form at prices slightly lower than the standard $60 cost of a new game. To be fair, some of the these games have been bundled together in packages like Hasbro's Family Game Night, but the aforementioned Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit are only available as stand-alone retail releases. I can understand why the games' publishers are taking this approach with their properties; it's obviously making them a lot of money. But you have to wonder how absurdly popular something like Monopoly would be if released at $10-$15 on XBLA; I'm certainly never going to plunk down $40 for a disc-based version of Monopoly, but at digital download prices, I'd undoubtedly be playing it online regularly--and I'm not even the biggest Monopoly fan.

So, should more traditional board games take the same digital download format their obscure relatives have taken, or is a disc-based approach the best way to target the casual gamers who'd be interested in these familiar games? I'd like to get some feedback on this.

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Posted Mar 10 2009, 04:00 PM

Filed under: xbla, bob mackey, xbox live arcade, catan, board games, monopoly

Comments

LazerFX said:

Definitely - I'd play board games like Monopoly online - in-fact, I semi-regularly play kDice, which is a sort of online Risk-style game, because it's got that fun vibe you get with a boardgame.

March 10, 2009 5:00 PM

Nick Daniel said:

The only way I ever see myself playing Risk at any pint in the future is if it comes out as a downloadable game. Preferably one I can save and return to later.

March 10, 2009 6:49 PM

DAN! said:

Adaptations would work, but I'm wary of literal translations of classic board games. The original, real-world versions of these games are about ten dollars at the toy store. Paying more for a less tangible form is just plain silly. To that extent, you are correct sir. I've never really cared for console-based board games anyway, but I think the success of online gaming would differ with each type of board game.

It really wouldn't be necessary for luck based games. Why bother playing against real people if there's no skill involved? At that point it's just a chat room while you wait to press the "roll dice" button. This is why Mario Party is good, but WarioWare is better.

Trivia games like Scene It are still being moved on a retail level, so it seems like a poor business choice to offer the mother of all trivia games, Trivial Pursuit, for less.

Scrabble, on the other hand, would work gangbusters, but that's what Lexulous is for, and that's free.

Now strategy games would seem like the best candidate, but the translation might prove too impractical. Being a huge Monopoly fan, I know how long these games can run. Friend parties would work, but matchmaking would be impossible; there would be the same issues that other online games face, plus extras. Impatient douchefarts disconnecting at the first sign of loss is one thing in a Street Fighter match, but half an hour into a Monopoly game? That just won't fly. Plus, putting a timer on decision making is difficult, but so is waiting for some guy to weigh the pros and cons of a proposed trade when you can't throw pretzels at him.

No, I'm afraid online board gaming can't simulate the entertaining by-products of the classic board games well enough, especially if you're like me and my friends and resort to this stuff when everyone's half-tossed after a sweet party.

My last thought is one I've stolen from my thoughts on masturbation as opposed to sex, but I think there's an analogy to be drawn here, and the following applies to board gaming online as opposed to in-person:

think about what's going on in your life if you spend a day doing one vs spending a day doing the other.

March 10, 2009 6:55 PM

Bob Mackey said:

Catan works fantastically online and doesn't suffer from the proposed problems you bring up in your comment. And board gaming online is no less dignified than an online match in any other video game; keep in mind it's not always easy to get a group of board gamers together (I manage to do this once a month if I'm lucky).

March 10, 2009 8:47 PM

DAN! said:

I wasn't talking about what's dignified as much as what's more fun and inherently social, but I can see how you draw that conclusion. I don't think there's anything undignified with any form of online gaming, and I apologize if I've offended.

I still think the real thing is far more entertaining, but online versions of classic games wouldn't hurt one bit. Even after all the blabbing I've done, I'd still play them.

Maybe the small download fee acts as a gatekeeper, maybe Catan players as a whole are generally more dedicated to the niche than those who play well-known games online, maybe there's something I'm not picking up about using a console as opposed to a PC. I was merely extrapolating from my experiences with regular Xbox Live, free services like Yahoo Games and Lexulous, years of table-top gaming, and a side of bitter memories from that time I got SNES Monopoly for christmas only to find I couldn't use my particular brand of house rules. I guess it's time to take another chance. Cheers.

March 11, 2009 9:30 AM

Sarcasmorator said:

I honestly don't miss those classic board games all that much. Family Game Night and the overpriced Monopoly for Wii are good takes on those titles, but they're no substitute for the tabletop versions and almost everyone owns or has played those anyway.

What I'd really like to see are more video game versions of less common titles. Instead of Risk (which is on PC), why not put out Risk 2210? Why doesn't Fantasy Flight put out one of its huge $80 games like Twilight Imperium? The new Call of Cthulhu card game edition is broken up into discrete collections of cards in which you know just what you're getting — it'd be perfect both as a basic game and as a vehicle for regular add-on content.

I doubt it would even cut into sales of the hard copies. Every board game I've tried a digital version of and liked, I've bought. Unless you know someone with a game, go to a con or have a local store that does demos, there's no good way to try a board game before you buy it — unless there's a video game of it, prefereably with a demo.

In short: More board games on XBLA/PSN/WiiWare/PC! It can only be a good thing.

March 12, 2009 10:36 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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