Sunday Sermon: Whose game is it any way?

Things do change, society moves on. So does the hobby.

A few months ago now I wrote a few articles about game balance, you can find them here if you are so inclined:

1. Game Balance - Introduction
2. Game Balance - Points Systems
3. Game Balance - The Battlefield
4. Game Balance - The Mission Objective
5. Game Balance - Communication and Language

I suppose for me the most interesting thing about those articles is where they ultimately led me. No I don't mean up the garden path either, some of you can be really cheeky sometimes! In researching these articles I spoke to many hobbyists and industry types alike. I found though that they actually raised more questions than they answered. Always a sign of a good bit of research I believe. I'll hopefully get round to writing about them all at some point.

One of the most glaring questions though was one posed to me by Jake Thornton. A fairly simple question really, 'whose game is it any way?' This is something I've often asked myself in a roundabout way over my many years hobbying. But, never really tackled head on. It's not as easy, or as straight forward a question to answer as you might first think. Part of me wants to get all socialist on you and proclaim that it's our game 'brother', or 'sister', I'm fully equal opps here at Frontline Gamer HQ. That we the people own the games we play... but that's utter bollocks. And while I'm not adverse to talking complete and utter bollocks, even I have to draw the line somewhere. So whose game is it then? And why don't 'we the people' own them anymore? Well I think it's an interesting evolutionary process to talk about, and in my opinion much of the ailments afflicting the hobby stem from this power shift in game 'ownership' within the hobby if you will, and peoples varying relationships with it. And indeed the unsuitability of some of the 'owners' to take responsibility for their games.
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