My assignment this week is to think of ways to improve the board game life, and as other players of the game over 8 years old would tell you, this is not a difficult task. This is however a formal assignment so I have chosen to exercise some restraint. I've read reviews about the various iterations of the game, and it seems Milton Bradley has also realized the short comings of the game, as evidenced by the numerous re-releases with rule changes. the version I have been assigned to change, the 1970s/1980s version, is nearly completely devoid of choice. The outcome of the game is entirely randomized and there is no semblance to meaningful game play. Future versions of the game have made the decisions of the players more meaningful in the form of squares that impact players differently based on their careers and the ability to purchase and upgrade homes.
The assignment here however is not to, by some alchemical means, transform Life into another game of the same title that is fun like so many revisions of the game have done, but instead to improve upon the actual game. The main points of this game are in question is as follows:
1. The game events are randomly generated
2. Player input as marginal impact on the outcome of the game
3. Some passing resemblance to a narrative of life
4. An unnecessary amount of thought put into the calculation of resources
thus I believe the best course of action would be to integrate computers to calculate the money management so players don't get bored or frustrated with all the menial tasks. Then give life an actually interesting setting wherein the event squares have some sort of impact on the players instead of money up or money down. Then instead of gambling directly, let some degree of skill influence the outcome of the "mini games" in Life.
The solutions respectively are, make it a computer game, the westward expansion of America, diseases, and hunting. In short, the game of LIFE, at it's core, is an underdeveloped version of Oregon Trail.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I haven't played Life yet, but thanks to your forewarning I think I'll just stick with Oregon Trail and continue to live in the fantasy world of What Should've Been.
ReplyDeleteThank you for saving me the hassle and heartache of playing such a chore of a game.
I must say, that was a very abrupt comparison to the oregon trail. Although the oregon trail was atleast meant to be historically educational; even though you'd most likely ignore the names on the trail, and miss the statistics by not talking to people when playing in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteBut that said, I really like your suggested changes to the game of life. You pointed out to a tee the questionable and mundane elements of the game; and although the set up of the newer releases of the game is tedious enough as is, the addition of skilled mini games would definitely make game play more involved and interesting.