You’re Doing it Wrong!
I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase – at the gaming table (let’s keep this family friendly) – lately.
I keep going back and forth to both sides of the fence because I don’t want to be wishy-washy and say ‘it depends.’ On one hand, you have the intent of the designer; on the other, the ingenuity of the player. The 3 of us have played games with their designers and had them literally tell us: ‘yes you CAN do that, but why would you want to?’
We love that. Pushing the mechanics, finding new ways to play a game, making the designer laugh with us… I assume. But it can go too far. I get called the Rules Lawyer sometimes (a lot) because I believe there is a difference between the rulebook stating you “may” do something and saying you “shall” do something. When I question that or seek clarification on that, I am trying to play the game in accordance with the spirit the designer intended the game to be played. If I “must” move every turn, I want to make sure I do. If I “may” move every turn, well, then I might want to think about why the designer is allowing me to stay where I’m at.
The spirit of the game is important.
We as players can’t bag on a game if we insist on playing it differently than the designer intended. Yes, games can be bad and it’s on the design. I’m talking about players thinking they can outsmart the designer. In extreme cases I’ve seen players try moves that would break a game because the rulebook “doesn’t say I can’t do it.” I’ve played space battle games – like with “space battle” repeated prominently in the rulebook – and seen players upset because their resource collection strategy didn’t work! And for the love of all things holy, judges in Apple to Apples gotta stop choosing Butterflies as the Scariest Thing!
Full disclosure: the most popular video right now on our channel is Quorridor with 3 Players. Quorridor is explicitly meant for 2 OR 4 players. We just wanted to try something different and actually had a lot of fun with it. BUT we would never judge a game based on our ad-hoc version.
I’m sure there are times when a player innovates a strategy the designer never thought of and it works out fine. The Puerto Rico rulebook does not mention Corn Baron, but it’s definitely a thing that won’t break the game. From talking to many game designers over the years, I’m confident that they like it when players find new ways to use their mechanics to win. But that can go too far.
And, when it does, is it really the same game?