Gaming Without Frontiers, War Games Without Fear
...as we generally do on Friday nights, we were sitting around the table gaming. If memory serves, we kind of fell backwards into a lazy round of Agricola. Unlike most game nights, this one felt a bit off. Everyone was distracted by one thing or another and it lead to skipped turns and general spells of not paying attention. One of our friend's who chose to sit out this round still hung around and asked a few questions about the game and games in general. The one inquiry that stuck out in my mind the entire weekend was what was the difference between a Euro and an American game.
In the event that the person reading this does not know, European games and American games do tend to have stark contrast. There does seem to be some crossover of ideas in certain areas, but the vast majority seem to adhere to their continental origins. The majority of European games seem to have a deep historical bent or theme with a lot of worker placement and or resource management. Many times, the workers and resources are represented by different colored cubes or wooden person icons called Meeples (Miniature People). Some of the better representations of a Euro game would be Settlers Of Catan, Carcassonne, Village, Agricola or 7 Wonders.
The American games in this conversation are often more fantasy, science fiction or war themed. Heavy strategic elements are involved with a combination of leveling and combat. Resources do come into play, but they seem to be geared mostly towards bulking up one's individual character for near invincibility in battle. Great examples of these types of games would be Magic The Gathering, Axis & Allies, Talisman, Arkham Horror or Thunderstone.
As it pertains to the differences, I am coming to discover that there seems to be an East Coast-versus-West Coast rivalry between American and Euro games. Like a sports rivalry, fans of one or the other might refer to the one that they do not prefer as Eurotrash or Ameritrash. Mostly, it seems to be in good fun, no more serious than Xbox versus PS4. Personally, I am just a fan of gaming as a whole and I either like a game or I don't. From there, it's all about mood. Some nights, I want to obliterate everyone's character or a horde of monsters with epic spells. Other nights, I want to gleefully fulfill reasonable shipping contracts in a timely manner in ancient Greece. I find high levels of skills, value and enjoyment in all types of gaming. But my friend was wondering the difference and beyond the details, I began to hypothesize if there might be a greater meaning.
It began to dawn on me that here in the United States in the age group of myself and of my friends & peers (and maybe this rings true for everyone at this point), we were raised under the constant threat of war. I was born in the late 1970's, just a few years after Vietnam, during the gas crisis and the final tense throws of the Cold War with the USSR. My childhood memories placed in that context involved nightly fear of nuclear war. The news seemed to be filled with constant chatter of doomsday if the two superpowers had abandoned diplomacy and decided to take up arms in combat. Some around me talked about certain prophecy about the eagle in the West clashing with the bear in the East. Even in my single digit age, the gravity of the situation to my young mind meant a possible permanent end. It scared me to death.
I could be completely speaking out of turn here but from what I can sense, Europeans were divorced to some degree from that era by comparison. If the American media of the 1980's was to be believed, the rest of the globe were mere spectators. Knowing the true gravity now, clearly thought thinking was absolutely wrong-minded, but 8-year old me never gave Europe a first thought, let alone a second in terms of that fear. Perhaps there was a sense of that divorce in the minds of people in those countries back then as well? If that be the case, perhaps their game designs were derived more from their long and deep history of cultural advancement? As a spectator and a mere fan, Euro games seem to be mostly a celebration of history, culture and different eras.
Looking at American games of strategy and theme, the games seem to more accurately reflect our own era, culture and contemporary history. As I mentioned, the threat of nuclear war in the 1980's gave me moments of great fear of dying, particularly without any opportunity to seek refuge. My theory is that "Ameritrash" games are representations of that fear and, in other ways, our own hopes. A game such as Claustrophobia or War Of The Ring is heavily laden with fantasy elements, but there is a thick element of combat and battle that drives the narrative. Cloaked in goblins and wizards, this is essentially a war situation where the players get to have absolute control of the outcome and come out entirely whole. The player is divorced from the battle because when you end the life of an orc, it is not a real being in any sense. As orcs do not exist in our real world, killing one made of pewter has no emotional weight. It reduces the idea of war to a manageable medium without the real world consequences.
On the flipside, a game like Firefly or Merchants Of Venus can be thought of as representational of the desires of many Americans to explore, advance and evolve our culture. As we sit by and read about NASA having their budget slashed and various technological advancements becoming stifled by political infighting, Merchants Of Venus gives the player direct control over exploring the galaxy. You get to problem solve the details of presumed space travel and interact with otherworldly cultures. Though combat does become an occasional factor, it gives the player a chance to realize a bit of what we seem to be putting on hold in the real world in terms of seeing what the universe holds.
If I or anyone were to ask the individual designers of various games what inspired them, I suspect their answers may even cancel my theory out completely. Maybe most designers construct the game mechanics first and pencil over this with a workable theme. But maybe not considering that many of these designer strategy games seem to have lore and backstory. Regardless, it is interesting to try and better understand the differences and inspirations.
In the event that the person reading this does not know, European games and American games do tend to have stark contrast. There does seem to be some crossover of ideas in certain areas, but the vast majority seem to adhere to their continental origins. The majority of European games seem to have a deep historical bent or theme with a lot of worker placement and or resource management. Many times, the workers and resources are represented by different colored cubes or wooden person icons called Meeples (Miniature People). Some of the better representations of a Euro game would be Settlers Of Catan, Carcassonne, Village, Agricola or 7 Wonders.
The American games in this conversation are often more fantasy, science fiction or war themed. Heavy strategic elements are involved with a combination of leveling and combat. Resources do come into play, but they seem to be geared mostly towards bulking up one's individual character for near invincibility in battle. Great examples of these types of games would be Magic The Gathering, Axis & Allies, Talisman, Arkham Horror or Thunderstone.
As it pertains to the differences, I am coming to discover that there seems to be an East Coast-versus-West Coast rivalry between American and Euro games. Like a sports rivalry, fans of one or the other might refer to the one that they do not prefer as Eurotrash or Ameritrash. Mostly, it seems to be in good fun, no more serious than Xbox versus PS4. Personally, I am just a fan of gaming as a whole and I either like a game or I don't. From there, it's all about mood. Some nights, I want to obliterate everyone's character or a horde of monsters with epic spells. Other nights, I want to gleefully fulfill reasonable shipping contracts in a timely manner in ancient Greece. I find high levels of skills, value and enjoyment in all types of gaming. But my friend was wondering the difference and beyond the details, I began to hypothesize if there might be a greater meaning.
It began to dawn on me that here in the United States in the age group of myself and of my friends & peers (and maybe this rings true for everyone at this point), we were raised under the constant threat of war. I was born in the late 1970's, just a few years after Vietnam, during the gas crisis and the final tense throws of the Cold War with the USSR. My childhood memories placed in that context involved nightly fear of nuclear war. The news seemed to be filled with constant chatter of doomsday if the two superpowers had abandoned diplomacy and decided to take up arms in combat. Some around me talked about certain prophecy about the eagle in the West clashing with the bear in the East. Even in my single digit age, the gravity of the situation to my young mind meant a possible permanent end. It scared me to death.
I could be completely speaking out of turn here but from what I can sense, Europeans were divorced to some degree from that era by comparison. If the American media of the 1980's was to be believed, the rest of the globe were mere spectators. Knowing the true gravity now, clearly thought thinking was absolutely wrong-minded, but 8-year old me never gave Europe a first thought, let alone a second in terms of that fear. Perhaps there was a sense of that divorce in the minds of people in those countries back then as well? If that be the case, perhaps their game designs were derived more from their long and deep history of cultural advancement? As a spectator and a mere fan, Euro games seem to be mostly a celebration of history, culture and different eras.
Looking at American games of strategy and theme, the games seem to more accurately reflect our own era, culture and contemporary history. As I mentioned, the threat of nuclear war in the 1980's gave me moments of great fear of dying, particularly without any opportunity to seek refuge. My theory is that "Ameritrash" games are representations of that fear and, in other ways, our own hopes. A game such as Claustrophobia or War Of The Ring is heavily laden with fantasy elements, but there is a thick element of combat and battle that drives the narrative. Cloaked in goblins and wizards, this is essentially a war situation where the players get to have absolute control of the outcome and come out entirely whole. The player is divorced from the battle because when you end the life of an orc, it is not a real being in any sense. As orcs do not exist in our real world, killing one made of pewter has no emotional weight. It reduces the idea of war to a manageable medium without the real world consequences.
On the flipside, a game like Firefly or Merchants Of Venus can be thought of as representational of the desires of many Americans to explore, advance and evolve our culture. As we sit by and read about NASA having their budget slashed and various technological advancements becoming stifled by political infighting, Merchants Of Venus gives the player direct control over exploring the galaxy. You get to problem solve the details of presumed space travel and interact with otherworldly cultures. Though combat does become an occasional factor, it gives the player a chance to realize a bit of what we seem to be putting on hold in the real world in terms of seeing what the universe holds.
If I or anyone were to ask the individual designers of various games what inspired them, I suspect their answers may even cancel my theory out completely. Maybe most designers construct the game mechanics first and pencil over this with a workable theme. But maybe not considering that many of these designer strategy games seem to have lore and backstory. Regardless, it is interesting to try and better understand the differences and inspirations.
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