Why aren't video games like board games?

MaximRecoil

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With a board game, if you create something that's generally considered fun to play, it can have a lifespan of decades (e.g. Monopoly) or even centuries (e.g. Chess). Not only are plenty of very old board games still in production, but they are still among the most popular games. The same applies to other types of games and sports (e.g., pool, tennis, darts, poker). Newer and more elaborate games come along but they don't displace the classics.

So why do video games become "old hat" with the public so quickly, leaving only small niches that still care about them? Arcade games typically were good earners for what, a year? Console games (as well as the consoles themselves) get dropped from production all the time, even ones that sold in the millions.
 
The hobby itself is still too new to formulate an opinion, in my opinion.

I think people will be looking back 50 years and saying, yeah Pac-man is great, Donkey is cool, etc etc. They just might be playing it on the newest medium for the time though.
 
I think people will be looking back 50 years and saying, yeah Pac-man is great, Donkey is cool, etc etc. They just might be playing it on the newest medium for the time though.


agreed. vintage classics are coming back a bit - look at the xbox live arcade or whatever it is, not to mention all those jakk's pacific joysticks. they're not perfect, but people are still playing the games.
 
did you miss the google pac man and the worlds biggest pac man and pac man battle royale? Pac man never went away and likely never will. Donkey kong will probably stick around too IMO. I believe tetris will stay with us and likely never leave as time passes. Break out and arkanoid are still around and constantly rereleased in slightly different forms.
 
Is this where you bait people into replying so you can argue?

We have decades old games that still get played on the video side. Pac-Man gets ported in one form or another to almost every popular platform every generation. Board games also have a ton of new games come out every year, with older games that do not reach that classic stature being replaced and forgotten. It's not a gameplay issue at all, it's a market issue. It's perceived as quicker and brutal on the video game side because of a few (of potentially many) points:

- Much more exposure for video games on the brick n mortar level. The number of stores I can walk into and buy a video game from vastly out numbers stores with board games. If I want to find the latest board game releases and not reprints of established classics, I guarantee that the majority of the time you are gonna have to hit a specialty store and not a chain (even Games Workshop only carries their own brand of war game stuff now days).

- Competition is huge in video games. Even with the vast number of stores, there are a ton of publishers shitting product out rapid fire, with a limited amount of shelf real estate available. The budgets are insane and some companies can bet the farm and flop if they aren't careful. Board games can be crazy cheap to develop in comparison and the financial risk is not anywhere near a B or C level video game.

- Tech based products auto-speed up their death clock just for being, well, tech based. With the high competition mentioned in the second point, you can't also afford to be seen as "last gen" with a new product. Tech based products are also throw away products by nature. They are destined to die in the average consumer's mind.

As a side: Chess is almost the perfect game design. It's timeless for a greater reason than being "analog". We won't see what video game's equivalent of Chess will be in our life time, if the medium even survives the next few centuries (but I am pulling for ST).

As a side 2: Sports are not products that are slaves to their market. They are not designed to exclusively sell a box containing a bat, a ball, some plates and some gloves. They have ties with public spectacle. They are marketed as events to be observed, which can then be played by anyone and understood by any generation. Video games are slaves to their immediate consumer market. It is the norm that they are unconditionally products for a shelf, destined to be replaced. Starcraft being the only extraordinary example to break from that norm. Maybe it is actually video games "Chess". We still won't be alive to confirm that. *shrug*

As a side 3: I'm done talking.
 
Because board games are marketed as a family function. A lot of families have a game night but I never heard of a video game night with the family as being mainstream. Sure most of us probably have video game nights but I bet we are the exception and not the rule.

I think the WII has brought families back to playing video games together. A lot of senior citizen homes have WII's to keep those folks active.

Most of the older generation viewed video games as a waste of time when I was growing up.

Can you see you grandma playing Double Dragon with you? Even grandma thinks the game is flawed. :)
 
Can you see you grandma playing Double Dragon with you? Even grandma thinks the game is flawed. :)

I remember trying to get my grandmother to try Barnstorming (Atari 2600) when I was a kid. She'd have none of it. I could never get either of my parents to try a video game either. It's probably a different story now though, since most parents of kids today grew up with video games.
 
It's probably a different story now though, since most parents of kids today grew up with video games.

Exactly!

Gozer is right, video games are relatively young compared to board games. So since we grew up with them we are more inclined to have our children exposed to them and participate with them.
 
I remember trying to get my grandmother to try Barnstorming (Atari 2600) when I was a kid. She'd have none of it. I could never get either of my parents to try a video game either. It's probably a different story now though, since most parents of kids today grew up with video games.

My mom stopped by for Mother's Day and played about 5 games of Ms. Pac which was fun.
 
did you miss the google pac man and the worlds biggest pac man and pac man battle royale? Pac man never went away and likely never will. Donkey kong will probably stick around too IMO. I believe tetris will stay with us and likely never leave as time passes. Break out and arkanoid are still around and constantly rereleased in slightly different forms.



Arkanoid is bad ass
 
Video games become "old hat" with the public so quickly because, for the most part, they want the "latest and greatest" technology they can get.

Consoles/systems for video games are always being updated, and when it comes to video games people have a different mentality. That mentality mostly seems to be "This latest system is more powerful and has better graphics!". As game consoles become outdated when a newer/more powerful system comes out, gamers, retailers, and developers eventually abandon the older games and systems.

Video games also have even more of a "limited-availability", compared to board games, due to not being ported to newer systems. That's why many good video games don't survive through the ages like some board games. Will they ever release Atari 2600 E.T. for the newer gamers to enjoy? j/k

But it seems extremely popular video game franchises like Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Pac-Man, and Street Fighter will always be around, just like extremely popular board games like Monopoly, Chess, Operation, etc.



So why do video games become "old hat" with the public so quickly, leaving only small niches that still care about them?
 
But I guess some games are good enough to become.....board games.

1983 MB (BERZERK)
DSC01706.jpg


Won it off ebay for $4 :D

There is others too. Donkey Kong, Pac Man, & Centipede.
 
I am sure there have been hundreds of board games that were produced for a time and then discontinued.

Some 1970s and 1980s video games will stand the test of time, but it won't be up to us to determine which ones those are. It will be determined by future generations which are not attached to the games by nostalgia. Will it be Ms. Pac and Galaga? Possibly.
 
Well, I'd say be thankful video games aren't like board games, because way more good board games get lost in the shuffle than video games. With video games, something new and exciting always comes out to replace the excitement of the last craze, and the cycle repeats. With board games, everybody only buys the same crap (Monopoly is a hugely flawed game) and never tries anything new.

And the classic video games never die, just their platforms.
 
IMO, it's the "hands on/I'm in control" feeling that board games give you. With most video games, your stuck doing things a certain way/patterns or it's "game over".
 
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