If you look through my account history, you'll see that I've been active here in fits and bursts for over six years. I've learned a lot and some other users have even played prototypes of mine.I loved CCGs when I was growing up (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: the Gathering, etc.), and discovered board games more properly with my introduction to Catan (as I'm sure many others have too). This is when I started to create my own designs. I've gone through dozens of idea/iterations over the years, all of which have missed the mark but also improved as I encountered many of the same pitfalls newbie designers fall into.
After years of different efforts, I put it all aside in April. My designs weren't progressing enough and I was frustrated, unsure of how to improve.
In August, I joined a local board game group. Before doing so, I had played a total of 10 or so "modern" board games. In the intervening months of joining the group I've played 80+ different board games. These have run the gamut from dry euros, dense economic games, coops, quick card games, etc. Not only has this been a tremendous amount of fun, but it's also been an invaluable learning experience. Seeing how different designers approach design problems in different genres is eye-opening, each game bringing their own unique wrinkle to staple mechanics. Playing these games has broadened my understanding of my potential toolkit.
Last week I started and new design and got it to the table yesterday with experienced playtesters. One of the guys who loves making fun of me said, "As much as it hurts me to say this, it's a solid, fun design."
This isn't to say it's finished or perfect or that I'm a genius. This happened because I played more games.
That is my advice to all you hard working board game designers - PLAY MORE GAMES!
I'm glad to see this topic generate all kinds of discussion!
Watching gameplay videos/review/playthroughs are definitely helpful. I do find that playing a game versus watching a game elicits a greater emotional response that can mix in interesting ways when combined with the more analytical side of games. That's why I encourage people to find ways to play more. It's not just about seeing and understanding, there's quite a bit of "feel" there as well.
I'm going to push back at this a little bit. While it's important to understand why traditional games are still being played, much of their popularity is from being first to the market. Chess is clearly a solid design, but games like Sorry!, Monopoly, Uno, Mexican Train, etc. get played not because they're amazing games but because people know how to play them or they're dead simple. Non-gamers simply hate rules explanations - they're the biggest hurdle when introducing people to games. These games also tend to give players few choices and many times amongst those choices lies a clearly optimal one. Modern games are more interested in giving players more choices where the pros and cons are less certain. You don't see players having AP in Monopoly.