New discussion forum has opened.

It seems like a good idea in principle, but since 100% of designers are themselves gamers, it seems as though you're aiming at a disconnect that doesn't actually exist.

As a first pass, I think a designer's first aim will be to create games that he himself wishes existed. In my opinion, that's the best hope for creating a game that excels; if you're trying to make a game for someone else, it may not be as easy to get as excited about it and really invest the time and energy that a design requires.

A designer can also get ideas about what players want by paying attention to what others are saying about existing games. For example, I've been working on a "Civ lite" game, and by reading critiques of the games that have fallen in that category, many are dinged for not giving the feel of trading that is central to Civilization. This prompted me to see if I could cook up a trading mechanic for my own game.

Of course, I think the most useful thing would be to have direct knowledge of what publishers want to publish, since they are the ones who ultimately make the up/down decisions. In theory they're influenced by the preferences of players, but probably in a less direct way. In other words, if you made a game that was exactly to the specs of what players expressed they wanted, there's still a good chance it wouldn't get published, unless it fit into a market that was performing well. But again, I think that by looking at what games a publisher has produced, and/or by considering what their submission guidelines are, this information is knowable.

Still, keep us posted if the discussion heats up at your site; it's not a bad idea by any means.

-Jeff

Ok, but keep in mind that this is also the central aim of the BGDF -- to be a meeting place for designers to discuss their games, set up playtests, share information, etc.

This is definitely not true of BGDF; a quick perusal of the forums will reveal discussions involving designers at all levels of experience, from published pros to folks working on their very first designs.

-Jeff

I don't think we're aimed at hardened "gamers" either; obviously, the majority of people who show up at a game design site are going to be gamers, but we do have folks post questions who are not themselves hobbyist gamers. For example, every semester we get a couple of graphic
design students looking for help with a game design project. We get folks who have just discovered gaming and want to try their hands at a design, but don't know where to get started. Other folks who are designing mass market-style games. etc, etc. Bottom line, from a design perspective, BGDF already fulfills what "BoredGames" is purporting to achieve.

-Jeff

Sorry, but I have to disagree with what you say on the first page about the UK. Maybe it's because I'm fortunate enough to have moved to Glasgow but I've found a very active gaming community which has one team of established designers amongst their number and (hopefully) will soon have another.

In addition to this there are at least two other regular gaming groups, one of which claims to have numbers of up to 60 attending their regular groups. At the office where I currently work there is another member of the team who also belongs to a different gaming group which is run out of Edinburgh. And where is www.grognards.com based? In Edinburgh. So to say that the UK is lagging behind is taking a very narrow vew.