Rant: Game Night Disaster (in Off-topic)

A few years ago, I had a regular game night with some friends in my master's program. All of us were gamers, but with different interests. We respected this by playing a variety of games from Settlers of Catan to Euchre to Cranium. It was the best thing I did each week, in fact, we often hung out several days a week to cook together and play games. Sadly, most of these folks moved away after they got their degrees.

Last month I tried to get something similar going with my new set of friends/acquaintances and their SOs. I cooked dinner for 12, we started the night off with Taboo and moved into some more serious gaming. All in all it wasn't too bad (some of the non-gamers really got into Killer Bunnies). We tried the same thing last night at a different place, but there were new people, non-gamers, who couldn't even get through Apples to Apples and Cranium (I try 'party games' first to get folks in the mood to try more serious games). Some attendees (all mid 20's to early 30's) were downright disrespectful of each other.

It hurt my soul.

I want to raise a family. I want my children to enjoy games as I do, but is this something most people don't expose their kids to? Gaming is IMPORTANT! It teaches us to win and lose with grace, to work together (Pandemic is a great co-op game) and to have fun with others in a way that includes meaningful interactions.

I can't game in a situation like this ever again. I have mentally black-listed many of my friends/acquaintances. Just a sad evening.

That's a sad story, indeed. I hate it when people are like that. The most annoying part of it, I think, is the people who are most disrespectful always seem to think their way of life is 'better'. Even though they're hurting peoples feelings.

I have a relatively large group of friends who I play many similar board games with (Settlers is a very fun game, we also enjoy Twilight Imperium, StarCraft: The Board Game, Munchkins, and Neuroshima Hex!). These sorts of things happen when "new" people join in, and it's definitely not something I enjoy dealing with. Some people simply don't understand games and would rather just watch TV instead of the interaction games require.

I am also sad to hear you had to put up with this, and I certainly hope it doesn't happen to you (or me) again.

Did they know they were having a game night and not just dinner?

Flatcap,

Yes. Game-night was advertised event, and they all seemed like they wanted to participate. It was apparent that most had nit been raised in 'gaming' households.

Q: What games did all of you play as kids with your family?

I'm sad that I grew up before Eurogames were widely available, but I really enjoyed RISK with my little bro (we made customized rules to play with some 'miniatures' we created from model kits like nukes, planes, and such when I was like 11). Scrabble was and still is a big game in the Deifel household.

Glad they knew, I would hate to think there is another forum somewhere with one of the folks you invited starting a thread "Dinner Night Disaster". *smile*

I am lucky to have married into a family that is more gamer-ish than I or my family... Just had a fun weekend of Ticket to Ride (dice expansion), Coloretto, Citadels, and cards, with some Wii golf and bowling thrown in...

Can't believe the people at your party couldn't even handle Apples -- that game is easy and FUN, especially in a large group like that!

That is unfortunate. :(

A group of friends I play RPG's with regularly are also avid board gamers, although we don't have too much time for that. In-fact, the last time we had a great board-game going was at PAX last year. We played a lively game of "Zombies!!!"

I think it all depends on who your friends are, and how much social interaction they've grown up with and are accustom to. I have great faith that social networking and computer friend things are no match for real life social interaction and in the end real life social interactions will win. I think we are just experiencing a lull in that as a society.

Damn dude that really sucks :S. I know the feeling completely. Every now and again one of my friends or myself would host gamer parties like that, where we'd play Halo, Call of Duty, or some mess and there were these kids there that were just as bad as the people you had over, if not worse. Ruined the whole evening by cursing at the people that beat them and even started a brief fight (which was probably the funniest and most memorable event of the evening). But still in the long run it was the same thing. My brother, friends, and myself ended up leaving within the first hour to an hour and a half into the party.

Hopefully you can find some better people to play with, some people are just too stupid. Though if you're ever down in Southwestern PA Pit would love to play Scrabble with you.

That sucks, man!

The earliest board game I remember playing was Monopoly Jr. I loved that when I was like 5. I also played a large variety of card games with my grandparents and older sister, and later on got into long drawn out games of Risk against my sister and father. Over Christmas this year, I played Trivial Pursuit with my uncle and other family members while Scrabble was going on in the other room, and I played a game called Rummikub with my grandparents, who also like to play Triominoes. I guess as they've aged, we've moved away from cards towards tiles. And with my other side of the family, we tried out a round of Harry Potter Clue. Only one.

You know, I never really thought of my family as a "gaming family," but as I think about it, I guess both of my parents' families are into a bunch of different kinds of games. It didn't at all seem like that's all that I did with my family as a child, but I guess family reunions were filled with Phase 10 and Balderdash! and Scene It? and a bunch of board games that were knockoffs of TV game shows.

sut: Believe it or not, I've had Apples to Apples rounds that I might as well not have played. It can get boring, monotonous, or frustrating if you're playing with people who just don't get it.

Veri: I think you're totally right that our society is lulling as far as doing fun things is concerned. I mean, on New Years' Eve, I went to a party at my friend's apartment, and nobody even wanted to play Risk!

At my New Years Party, we played guitar hero 2, but I had to be the singer since everyone else was too much of a wuss.

Wouldn't that make it Rock Band or at least Guitar Hero: World Tour? ;)

I dunno, maybe it was rock band, I don't keep track of what the game I'm singing into is called, I just grab the mic and throw down!