Games Britannia part 2 - Monopolies and Mergers
Following part 1 of Games Britannia, Benjamin Woolley follows on to show us the historical influences of board games over the past 200 years on British society and how they became a key method of teaching morals to a wide audience over time.
We start off with a game many will not know of but has been a key influence on one of the most popular board games of all time and still is just as popular and successful today - Monopoly. The game that influenced this and many others like it is called The Landlord's Game. The premise of the game was to teach the players the values of fair play and also the advantages and disadvantages of 'Land Grabbing' and renting and how they worked back when the game was made. This was released in the U.K title Brer fox n' Brer Rabbit which was again the key influential point for the creation of Monopoly.
The versatility and playability of both games allowed the game to be re made and re distributed globally as all of the pieces and places could be re named and change so easily but would still follow the rules and have the same game play and moral issues tied to it no matter the geographical location. Simply this game was so successful because you can play the same game, with the same rules, all over the world but with the simple change of street names and this is one of the reasons for monopoly being so successful over the years.
After this the family board games industries were focusing on creating games to help families through the great depression - Cluedo and Scrabble quickly became popular family games during this time, which then fully influenced the start of one of the biggest games companies at the time and even today as they are producing the same games now and are just as successful.
Nowadays however the board games popularity has drastically declined due to the rapid increase in technology and what people can now do with a computer and games consoles, but I personally bet that every person reading this article has a copy of Scrabble, Monopoly or Cluedo in their household or all three which still shows the influential characteristics of the board game and the joining of friends and family that they create. Board games in production nowadays are still sticking to premise of teaching the players about what is happening in the world as they originally started with but with 'Innovative' changes/improvements, such as War on Terror which is a board game designed, obviously to teach the players about the modern day battles and wars that are happening around us all like the board games that were created years ago to help the players get through the great depression these games are here to help us get understand the War on Terror, on a basic level. But due to the views and satirical nature of the game it is hard to find a store that will stock it.
From this I have learnt the influences that a board game has and how important they all are. Boards games are created for entertainment and to help the players join together and get through difficult times. With the increase of digital technology and digital gaming it is important to note board games and the influences they have and what they have done to the gaming world, because I believe that if there were no board games their would be modern day computer games but not to the standard that they are at now, at distracting the players from everyday life as a chance to escape, how to cope with everyday life and mainly as a method of joining people together in the community or just in the family home.
Games Britannia part 3 - Joystick Generation
In this instalment of Games Britannia Woolley follows on with his journey in history of the games in British society from board games to the first fantasy RPG and the progression from classic board games to the modern (at the time of the documentary) computer gaming world.
Woolley start off by talking about the influence of board games during The Winter of Discontent in the 1970's, linking back to part 2 where board games are used to help the players escape from the modern world. From the freezing colds and houses with no heat, electricity and mounds of rubbish being left in the streets a drastic distraction was needed. One such distraction from the modern world was found, Dungeons and Dragons, one of the most famous and influential RPG's ever created and is just as successful today as it was back then, due to its unique methods of play and narrative and the fact that the player could immerse themselves in this completely make believe world and choose their own paths of either fighting or avoiding conflicts and the consequences of the actions you took, again linking to the real world in a dramatised view.
From Dungeons and Dragons and the uniqueness of the game kicked off the creation of the computer game, I believe as it was from the unique method of play and control the players had compared to other board games. This lead to the creation of God games, modern examples include The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon. These types of games gave the players more possibilities of what they could do and taught them the effects of what they do, the consequences of their actions and an escape from the modern world where you can create the perfect world or at least attempt to, when your world isn't so perfect. The player creates their own story and character meaning they can determine everything which was a very unique playing method for the time making these types of games extremely successful.
As the progression of technology and the skills used within games, the players have the highest emotional ties to games because of the narrative and skills learnt over the years starting with the basics from board games. This is why the influences and power of board games should not be discarded, as without board games we would not have the knowledge and capabilities that we now have within the gaming industry and I probably wouldn't even be sitting here typing this blog and studying a Computer Games Design course if they never existed or had the effect on the players that they so successfully did.
Modern games allow you to make a deep connection with the characters which is directly linked to Dungeons and Dragons and the character you play. This gives the player the feeling of responsibility to the character as they will know their story, attitudes and have a greater connection with them and this is only my personal description and views but I believe this to only be a possible emotional response from games as you control the outcome and are effected by your every decision, much like the real world and because of this no other form of media can even come close to games.
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