subject: Fantasy Card Games: Decreasingly Popular [print this page] I wanted to invest in magic games when I was young. They often provided a way to feel adventurous. Naturally they introduced me to computer games and I would guess that this is a common story for other gamers. Regardless of the fact that I felt encouraged to enjoy these by school, some shame was felt when ever I played.
Fantasy card games vs. electronic gaming
Among the well-known fantasy card games on the market in the last 15 years that I've played are Lord of the Rings TCG, Magic the Gathering, and Digimon. A majority of these have been unfortunately programmed into video games. I don't hate video games for the reason that they are a cousin to physical games, as both of them are a product of duplicate ideas; despite this, they both create unique results in lifestyle. Perhaps it's important to say that the financial side of either is pretty much the same. To compare publishing of video games to fantasy card games; in 2005, 1130 digital games and 24 fantasy card games were released. I gathered this information from wikipedia.org and gamesarefun.com.
Encouraged by More than Peers
Maybe it's do to the fact that fantasy card games improve healthy competition and problem solving that I have memories of being encouraged to play board games by my family while still very young, and was even cheered for when I volunteered to be the score keeper. I remember an assignment during elementary school from my math teacher to think of a board game. This was the first and undoubtably the last time I ran home excited to begin an assignment. What I designed was of course my first of what became lots of fantasy card games. This was the nudge to begin a long road for me, because I kept on creating, even though the bulk of what I thought of was dismissed. Besides playing fantasy card games, teachers encouraged reading and writing fantasy books including The BFG and the Redwall series. Computer games still win out over books since there are approximately 9000 titles listed on isbndb.com for the fantasy genre, but 25 thousand games on gamesarefun.com.
Public embrace of fantasy card games.
Fantasy is increasingly popular as a genre for movies over the past two decades. According to listings at imdb.com, the ratio of fantasy productions among all feature films was one out of 57 before the 90's and has expanded to 1/26 and 1/23 from '91 to 2000 and from 2001-present respectively. Despite this rising popularity it seems to me that fantasy card games are stubornly labeled as 'nerdy'. This fact doesn't go unnoticed by gamers who play fantasy card games. My own friends can be divided into 2 groups of players; the quiet and probably ashamed gamers, and the proud promoters of the cause. While one group will larp around the playground, the other sticks himself out of the way and conceals the title of the book he's reading.
In part writing this is my attempt to escape from the group I have always been in and become one of those who openly embrace fantasy card games. I am excited for when we can all let go of the stereotype that fantasy is acceptable in digital games and film, but a reason for rejection in board games. But my real objective is for all of us to turn off the computer screen and learn to enjoy something better.
