Help, I’m Drowning in Games! – with Tom Vasel
The Dice Tower
Views: 20967
Like: 1118
Tom Vasel discusses the over saturation of board game releases, and how gamers can navigate potentially being overwhelmed.
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26.05.2024
You also seem to have too many pairs of glasses and hats, so I guess it makes sense you have too many games, lol
You should see how many new books are published each year
Do you own your board games, or does board gaming own you? This is how I got out of MTG.
On top of too many games is way too many expansions.
For families that have lost someone from drowning, the title of this upload can bring up some painful memories. This being National Water and Drowning Awareness Month I hope some folks can learn to be smarter around water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4lpRWFD_Jo
I thought it was just me. I am feeling overwhelmed, this is just the video i needed to hear from one of the most I respect. Thank you. ❤ I am too busy collecting, then regretting, instead of playing.
Tom, you are a very important voice in the board game hobby. This was a great watch. I own around 175 games and will continue to buy games and occasionally sell or give them away. Great things to keep in mind, however!
Best advice I got told was to decide a realistic amount of space you can spare and then make sure your collection always fits in there. Want a new game? Get rid of a game in your collection! Also helped me stop buying big kickstarter games as they can easily take up the space of several "regular" games.
I only buy 9s and 10s now.
These style of conversational videos are amazing.
we're absolutely hurling from golden era to the point of where the video game market got – oversaturated to a point – where super great stuff is being overlooked constantly
"Going Broke" is my biggest concern. Not for me, but for fans in general. The consumerism around board gaming has become so toxic. The pressure to spend money, all your money, even more than your budget, is just EVERYWHERE. To the extent I question whether the industry is using bots on popular groups to encourage spending. Trying to decide between these 4 games? WHY CHOOSE? BUY THEM ALL! That obscure game from a publisher nobody's ever heard of? Oh yes, DEFINITELY BACK IT. BUY BUY BUY SPEND SPEND SPEND! It's absolutely insane.
I came into the hobby around 2012 and felt then I could have a handle on the in games of the time. I am not sure when that changed, but everything is quickening up just as is life generally..
Carpe Diem.
What's the problem? More games means more chances for fun. And, if a nuke lands in your town, the cardboard will help shield you. I'm safe in several directions.
I’ve actually chilled on buying games. Maybe I’ll buy a super hot game I know I’ll like but my group has cycled through my top games for a year now and it’s so fun! (Spirit Island, Orleans, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Dune Imperium, Marvel Champions, Ark Nova, Dominion, 7 Wonders, Earth, Gloomhaven, Viticulture, Scythe and some others sprinkled in)
Fan fact, I own a large board game store and I absolutely can’t keep up with new releases. It’s insane these days.
I was hoping that Tom would rate and review Mantis Falls.
I found going solo first has had an impact.
* I do not need to own anything that lacks a solo mode because others will own them. I still own a number like Cosmic Encounter I have an emotional attachment to. But others I do not.
* No solo mode means no sale to me. I found the world doesn't care about solo variants I design. But people did appreciate I did ones for Ra and Cat in a Box. It needs to say 1 player on the box now.
* On the flip side, Mage Knight is now on my radar.
* It is not purging but rebalancing. Not just drop but move on. Realize it is pointless to target gateway games and be an ambassador if I have no one to do this with.
Agree that going broke is not necessary. I have over 700 board games and if I didn't have any of them, I would still get games played the same amount each week between playing at meetups and games I've borrowed from my local library. I enjoy having access to a big shelf of games that I can pull something off of any time a friend comes over, but it isn't necessary to enjoy the hobby.
Great topic and video!
I'm new to modern games and loving it. But I'm very careful to be selective with what I buy. I base my choices on a mix of reviews, my intuition and what I think will suit my family.
For example so far I have bought TTR, Cascadia, Love Letters, Jaipur and made our own versions of Funemployed and some other party games. I really appreciate those who take the time to make videos and really enjoy the more free flowing discussions such as on Dice Tower with Tom and Friends as well as other quality channels like Actualol.
With Rodney and others helping with tutorials there is a great community helping guide gamers like me to learn teach and play games enjoyably and effectively and for this I am grateful.
Slightly pedantic, but your first graphic says “ranking” when it obviously means rating. Lots of board game media uses these terms interchangeably and they have significantly different definitions.
I think this is just a sign of a maturing entertainment industry. Movies, books, TV shows and music have created more content than can be consumed individually for many years.
That's it! I love games from 1970 and … actually owns only 20 games!
Because I buy, we play the great games a long time … AND I SELL THEM BACK!
And this from more than 50 years! No rush, no collection! Just enjoying the present 2-3 games!
It's an important message Tom. Even if I wanted to , and I don't, I couldn't afford to buy every new game that is touted as being great. It's definitely exciting to buy and play a new game, but I only purchased what appeals to me. There are many, many games I will never play, and that's ok. I'm thrilled with the games I already have! Happy gaming and thanks.
Appreciate these sorts of broader picture discussions.
Related to being overwhelmed, one issue I’ve personally noticed is that because there are so many games come out it’s caused me to engage in a sort of self-protective mindset of increasingly ignoring new games and being unwilling to try/buy new ones. It’s hard to explain but it’s partially because the flood of new games means it’s too much time and effort to stay updated on future releases/new games so I just focus on the games I already know, expansions/sequels to them, and maybe games by the same designer. It also lowers the excitement and interest of learning about new games.
The other issue is that I think this contributed to the cult of the new phenomenon for some people and that individual games get played less because there are too many new games people want to try.
Great PSA. I am all about just having the best game that is a certain type/playstyle and ignore games that are too similar. Why you guys can be a great resource when you compare games during reviews. I'll have something on my wishlist, but a similar game will come out that is just better.
Tom, you’re wrong. No Condottiere, no Samurai from Reiner Knizia, no Netrunner official release, whale riders (another RK). These games are out of print and EXPENSIVE.
Amen Tom. Our game group shares the load. When one person buys a game I own because they love it, great! Now I can sell my copy.
The glasses are just too much for me lately haha
I have two shelves for my games. One sits out in the living room and it has a lot of the games that me and my friends play often or if I get a new game that I want played I'll put it there as well. And then the other is in my closet in my bedroom and it has games that don't see the same love that they either used to it maybe I really like it and get to play it once every few months or so. But some games don't even make it to the second shelf because I'll get the game and then we play it once or twice and decide that it's not great, or even worse just don't play it. Last year i think I tripled my game library and while I did find some games I really love now, I also bought a lot of games that I have only played like twice. I have since have only bought 8 or 9 games, two of which are expansions this year. I just have to tell myself that I still have games that need more plays and it usually stops me from buying the game.
Thank you Tom!
Be content is excellent advice
Still waiting for Comic Hunter US/International release. It must be a DT Essentials and bring it to NA. That would be awesome!!!🤘🏻
MARVEL UNITED… your welcome
I wonder if one unintentional contributing factor for some people might be seeing the walls of games behind people in videos? Like, it sets a strange false goal or standard that people think they "need" or want to reach. Usually when people enter a hobby there's a huge surge of passion that comes with it and seeing those large collections they think "Yes! I want a collection like that too!"
Love what you said – contentment!
We were playing Agricola every week. Two years, every week. This game is so good and the replay value is very high. I figured out, it is better to play one great game often, than a lot of mediocre games. It saves money and if you think about it, it’s also more worth your time.
Great video and well said. That's why we love you and the Dice Tower!
loved the Shelf of Shame stuff!
Most games I can just pass on easily.
Occasionally get sold on fomo but not very often.
Sometimes I wait for the hype to wear off and see how I feel after that. Lot of the time I just move on and never look back.
Far too many games and it never ends. Every month there’s more and more.
How much more can you have? How much room have you left in your house? How many games are collecting dust? Have to draw the line somewhere.
I’m at around 70
Going to 100.
And then trying to stay at that number, exchanging games that dont get played for new ones.
9 min 0 seconds: "Objectively false" = Subjective
Tom, thanks for posting this. I needed to hear it!
A good start is to try to stop treating board games like social media. Board games should have some layers and depths you get to explore and you should take multiple plays to get to the heart of them. Play once and it’s done is a strange and probably modern thing, too much content……..
One thing that would help is everyone (including Tom) should stop giving games a pass for a game being "ok" or "decent" or "good". Just reclassify that stuff as "pointless". There is no reason now for accepting anything except the very best.
I have been a game player for 40+ years. This is for sure the best time it has ever been. I am all about the secondary market. Buy games used all the time. I don’t feel the pressure of “cult of the new”, and still have plenty of great games to play.
These glasses are a trip..
Anyone else considering mutilating boxes that are way too big to save on space