Personal opinion that the game is bad. It was the first German-style game people were exposed to, which meant it was compared to games like Monopoly and Life rather than other German-style games, which made it look good and catch on. Settlers is far too determined by early placement, has frustrating trading mechanisms, is diplomatic in bad ways without being diplomatic in good ways, and so on. Bottom line is that I don’t find it fun or interesting.
As for Nomic, with the right crowd it’s one of the best gaming experiences you can have, and in my experience Less Wrong groups fit that bill quite well. We have had excellent experiences every time.
Personal opinion that the game is bad. It was the first German-style game people were exposed to, which meant it was compared to games like Monopoly and Life rather than other German-style games, which made it look good and catch on. Settlers is far too determined by early placement, has frustrating trading mechanisms, is diplomatic in bad ways without being diplomatic in good ways, and so on. Bottom line is that I don’t find it fun or interesting.
Funny, I agree with every one of your criticisms after thinking about them a bit except your bottom line: I still find the game very fun. This makes me think Nomic will just be amazing.
Have you typically played Nomic with the standard ruleset from the initial proposal?
I played an epic game of Nomic at Burning Man two years ago starting with the null ruleset, where it took over an hour to figure out how to agree to make the first rule. I think the zero rule Nomic is probably a more valuable exercise than the standard one with the arbitrary points.
It is useful to have something that forces action, and you can easily make the points not matter if you want to. Our games have kept points relevant, but that is only one option. Game theoretical point madness is great fun.
I’ve seen several people suggest that Ad Astra has most of the positive aspects of Catan without most of the negative ones (e.g. production occurs when you play a produce card rather than depending on die rolls).
Personal opinion that the game is bad. It was the first German-style game people were exposed to, which meant it was compared to games like Monopoly and Life rather than other German-style games, which made it look good and catch on. Settlers is far too determined by early placement, has frustrating trading mechanisms, is diplomatic in bad ways without being diplomatic in good ways, and so on.
Those are actually some damn good criticisms. Settler’s diplomacy pretty much just encourages bitchiness. It really does suck compared to alternatives. I’m going to have to look up those other ones you suggest.
And why avoid Settlers of Catan in favor of Nomic. (Because if you are going to play complete and utter nonsense you may as well at least make it Calvinball!)
Out of curiosity, why avoid Settlers of Catan?
Personal opinion that the game is bad. It was the first German-style game people were exposed to, which meant it was compared to games like Monopoly and Life rather than other German-style games, which made it look good and catch on. Settlers is far too determined by early placement, has frustrating trading mechanisms, is diplomatic in bad ways without being diplomatic in good ways, and so on. Bottom line is that I don’t find it fun or interesting.
As for Nomic, with the right crowd it’s one of the best gaming experiences you can have, and in my experience Less Wrong groups fit that bill quite well. We have had excellent experiences every time.
Funny, I agree with every one of your criticisms after thinking about them a bit except your bottom line: I still find the game very fun. This makes me think Nomic will just be amazing.
Have you typically played Nomic with the standard ruleset from the initial proposal?
I played an epic game of Nomic at Burning Man two years ago starting with the null ruleset, where it took over an hour to figure out how to agree to make the first rule. I think the zero rule Nomic is probably a more valuable exercise than the standard one with the arbitrary points.
It is useful to have something that forces action, and you can easily make the points not matter if you want to. Our games have kept points relevant, but that is only one option. Game theoretical point madness is great fun.
I’ve seen several people suggest that Ad Astra has most of the positive aspects of Catan without most of the negative ones (e.g. production occurs when you play a produce card rather than depending on die rolls).
Those are actually some damn good criticisms. Settler’s diplomacy pretty much just encourages bitchiness. It really does suck compared to alternatives. I’m going to have to look up those other ones you suggest.
And why avoid Settlers of Catan in favor of Nomic. (Because if you are going to play complete and utter nonsense you may as well at least make it Calvinball!)