My life has changed drastically since Lottie was born, and my gaming time has been all over the place. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to get quite a bit of video game time, but it’s hard to find the time to play board games.

In 2023, Zelphia and I played board games 47 times. It’s a bleak comparison to the 17 times we’ve played this year. These are plays, not unique games.

I say this just to emphasize I don’t have a lot of time to play board games.

But I still love them. Over the last year, I don’t think I’ve played a game I straight-up don’t like. There are games I would prefer not to play, but if all my friends get together to play Monopoly, I’ll be there (not for Monopoly, but for my friends).

When I don’t have time to actually enjoy something, I listen, watch, or talk with other people. When I was excited about getting Oath, I watched people play Oath. When Arcs came out, I talked with people in a Discord server.

I am a board game person. I’m down to try almost any game. Obviously, I have preferences in what kind of game I play. If it was up to me, I’d be playing the longer, more complex, and more esoteric games. However, party games like Flip7 are also really fun!

I have a small board game time budget, but if I’m free, I’m down.

This is very different from most people online who play board games. Some people have the free time to play games every week. I’m talking about playing a game at least 30 times before feeling comfortable talking about what makes it interesting.

These people have a large board gaming time budget, and I love that for them! But man, they can be real scrooges.

I am in three Discord servers about board games. I’ve been able to have some great conversations with people and brush elbows with content creators that I really look up to.

The vibes in those servers are, for the most part, very positive. People wanting to share their experience, celebrate the industry, and talk about games beyond surface level.

But every now and then, there will be that one stinker.

Here’s an example:

My wife and I really like the game Azul. We think it’s a great 2-player experience and often play it while enjoying a drink or while working. It’s not complicated, and I think I’ve cracked the code on how to win, but I still love sitting down with my wife to play it.

I mentioned this during a discussion about good 2-player games, and the conversation quickly turned to how much people don’t like Azul, and how I should be playing a different game instead.

While I’m not a stranger to people slamming other people’s enjoyment, these kinds of interactions really rub me the wrong way. It’s not because they don’t like what I like, but because they say I should be playing something else.

I love getting recommendations from people online. I have a big list of board games and video games I want to try that were recommended by other people, but the vibe in these conversations leaves such a sour taste in my mouth, I’d much rather not engage with what they’re recommending.

There are two directions you can go if you have minimal time to play games:

I try to get the bang for my buck with my gaming time, especially when it comes to video games, but I’m just as interested in playing something that’s OK as I am a perfect 10/10.

For example, I’ve been really enjoying playing Hollow Knight over the last few months, but when I think about the games I played this year, Ribbit King is maybe the most stand-out game I played, and that game is FAR from perfect.

The same thing can be applied to board games or really any piece of media.

Why watch Gilmore Girls when you could watch Pluribus? Why watch How I Met Your Mother when you could watch Seinfeld?

BECAUSE.

I think the issue of people not understanding that people can enjoy mediocre games and media comes from their gluttonous diet. (no offense)

People who have a lot of time to play board games and video games, watch movies and TV shows, are going to have more opinions about what makes something good or bad. That means stricter critiques and the ability to compare works to similar works.

A lot of the people I’ve had these negative interactions with play a LOT of board games or video games. That’s great for them, but when it hinders your ability to enjoy something, that’s just fine; is it really worth it?

My original title for this was Does A High-Calorie Media Diet Make You a Better Critic or a Worse Enjoyer?

The central idea was questioning whether or not ingesting a lot of media is important for enjoying media on a deeper-than-surface level… level.

I don’t think it is.