MARTYHAUGHT

Many of you that know me, know I’m a long-time gamer. I’ve played all sort of games from classic Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games (Travelers, Star Frontiers, Champions, Hero, Gurps, White Wolf’s Werewolf and some custom systems) to CCG such as Magic: The Gathering to various computer-based games (The Universal Military Simulator, Sim City, Civilization, X-wing, many FPS, RTS, MMORPG, etc) to a slew of board games (Monopoly, Risk, Axis and Allies, Dungeon, Rails, etc) to more classic games such as checkers, chess, poker, spades, bridge, etc. You get the idea, I know games. :)

Anyway, one fascinating thing that I’ve witnessed at the last couple software conferences is the invasion of Werewolf. I’ve had a chance to play this game a couple times as well as witnesses a few games. In general, I like the game and had some great moments playing the game.

I do know I’ve heard some people complaining about this invasion as it takes over nights of code hacking for game play. However, I don’t think I’m as enamored as others with this game and don’t feel it will take over my willpower when at the next software conference. I’ve dealt with bigger gaming addiction risks and walked away just fine. :)

One game that I do thoroughly enjoy playing is Settlers of Catan. I was blessed with playing this game back in 97 when a friend brought it to a gaming session. It just happens that I have actually played it at two conferences in the last year. As I’ve thought about Settlers and Werewolf I’ve come to the realization that I prefer Settlers over Werewolf. Maybe it’s that my preference for strategy would always lean me towards Catan where so much of Werewolf is about social manipulation and people reading. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some great moments where I was putting together the puzzle of interaction in determining the werewolves. But at the same time I’ve been caught in a game where people were just being dumb and there was no logic whatsoever. That was not fun, it was lame.

Another great game that I’ve played recently was Apples to Apples. This game can scale to many players and can be really enjoyable. Of course, maybe I should steer my fellow hackers back to the editor instead. :)

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