Re: [piecepack] On Feedback and Reviews

["Eric Wald" <groups@...>]

Jorge Arroyo wrote:
>   First let me make this clear: I won't deny that the motivation for this
> message has been in part the lack of feedback for my latest piecepack game.
> I admit I'm a bit disapointed because I was quite excited about it.

Dungeon Builders?  I might try it sometime.  I didn't notice any
problems in the rules, other than the standard misspellings and grammar
mistakes (though I question the prohibition against blocks of four tiles
together), so I hesitate to comment further until then.

>   But that's not the main concern. This post is also motivated by the lack
> of comments and reviews in general in the piecepack community. I'm also
> guilty of this myself.
>
>   So, I ask, why? Is it time constrains?, do we all have our favorite games
> already? are game groups reluctant to try new games? Are we hesitant to give
> negative feedback for a game?

It does take time to play a game, and even more to learn a new one.  In
my game group, which hasn't been meeting as regularly lately anyway, I'm
really the only one excited to try new things, so it tends to be much
easier to pull out an old favorite.  Unfortunately, my wife usually gets
annoyed when I win games, so that rules out most two-player games.

In addition, many games get ruled out for us due to genre mismatch, lack
of equipment, or lack of the specific suits or sizes required.

Finally, it takes time to write up a review and submit it to the proper
place.  Since game night tends to last well into the night, and the next
day is usually filled by weekly chores, I haven't been good at all about
reviewing games.

>   As a sidenote, Is the Icehouse community much bigger than the piecepack
> community? I see many more new games and feedback comming out of it...
>
>  What do you all think?

The Icehouse system has much lower barriers to entry:
* The pieces are much simpler, and you need fewer of them.
* Paper pieces work extremely well for most games.
* The games tend to be easier to learn and play.
* A very simple game is available in stores for a reasonable price.
* Several piecepack games need icehouse pieces anyway.
* A supervised two-year-old can have fun stacking pyramids.

It's probably telling that Treehouse was an almost immediate hit among
my group, whereas my piecepack tends to elicit an "Oh, no."

Perhaps we should follow that lead and create one or more simple games
that use just the pieces from a single suit:  One pawn, one die, six
tiles, and six coins.  Preferably four or five games, each themed to
work really well with a different suit.  Then market those for about
seven dollars apiece, without over-emphasizing the system.

- Eric