Are Board Games Relevant Anymore?
Board Game Related
Name: Nedd
Comments: You can just turn on your computer and go on a network with millions of others to play games, why would you pull out a boring board game and then have to look for someone to play.
Board games are an activity for friends or other social group in a real-life immediate setting, such as around a table, and are a great way to help "break the ice" between strangers or people unfamiliar with each other, or to pass the time and entertain medium to large groups of people, such as meetings and family reunions, or just for the sake of spending time together, as family or friends, and enjoying quality game and socialization "face time" with each other, interacting and learning about each other.
There is also a friendly competitive spirit and challenge aspect to most board games, which helps players subtly pit themselves against one another without being overtly aggressive, which can help implicitly establish boundaries and "first impressions", as well as impress and help people demonstrate various qualities to others, that might not otherwise be apparent until much later, any other way.
I think board games are very relevant and should be used by any family especially those with children.
The problem is that a number of parents would prefer use a baby sitter (xbox, ps3, ds) to entertain their children instead of spending quality time with them and teaching them in the mean time.
I look back at my childhood and remember the days of Monopoly, pop up pirate hungry hippos and best of all mouse trap! but its not the games that give the good laughs its the people you play them with and the quality time spent doing so.
The exhilaration when your father lands on Mayfair (top price property in the uk version) with your Hotel on there..
So I think yes they are relevant but not used to their full potential any longer.
In my own life, I have found the use of board games to be very profitable for cementing and deepening relationships with friends. Board games offer a group an activity that most can take part in without risk of offending sensibilities or causing embarrassment because the individual lacks the necessary athletic prowess to take part. I don't think board games are likely to ever go away.
Board games are still very relevant at least in social settings where people want to interact beyond a first person shooter or chat on the phone. Board games are great ways to see the mind of the person with which you're engaged.
Board games are called jeu de societé in French - social games. Many cafés and bars have a selection that you can pull out (I'd advise JoePublic not to pull out the boring ones - they aren't as good as the others) and play between friends. Body language and social interaction are generally much better than through a monitor and there generally geared to pass a couple of hours. They don't fire my imagination like a roleplaying game, or my adrenaline like a video game, but they are more all-inclusive and, as the French say, social. And I like being social!