Week 2 - A Risky Endeavour

This week our in-class assignment was to re-design the rules of Risk in order to make the game more child-friendly, in the sense that Risk in its original form is considered too complicated for kids. As we were discussing the steps that had to be taken in order to do this, I began to feel that we were getting a little harsh in terms of what a child would and wouldn't be able to handle. It made me question whether this generalization that we have built towards children is really fair. After all, I remember playing long board games as a kid, and having a great time with them as well. Hell, I was playing chess before I was 10, a game obviously not toned down for that age group.

This train of thought lead me to a realization: it's our fault that games for kids suck. As game designers, the current generation has failed to deliver a quality product to children because they don't believe that they can handle it. The problem this creates is that we now have a generation of children who, through almost no fault of thier own, have been raised on games that pander to their young audiences in a way that sets them up for failure in the future. This lead to another harsh realization: it's our fault that games in general are starting to suck.

Imagine the following for a moment. A child grows up only ever playing shallow games that provide no challenge. As they grow up, the child only spends their money on games that provide instant gratification without merit. The game may be full of blood and tits, but at its core its the same made-for-children game that they cut their teeth on 10 years ago. As a result of this, they have no interest in the deeper, more substantial (and much, much better) games that may provide a challenge, and therefore a greater satisfaction and sense of accomplishment upon conquering them. What does this ultimately mean? 60 dollars less to the great game and 60 more to the crap. No big deal, right? Now imagine that every budding gamer below the age of 6 that was introduced to the medium via the current console generation follows this exact course. Now we have a problem. Crap becomes the norm because it's what makes money, and quality asphyxiates, desperately struggling to stay out of the red.

As designers, we have a responsibility to our medium. By stagnating the universal game library with an endless torrent of crap, we will ultimately bring about its downfall. That is why when my children want to play a game, I'm breaking out the Risk board. We're gonna play with the standard rules and I'm going to CRUSH them, because like we did with Super Mario Brothers over 15 years ago, the only way to get good at something is to FAIL CONSTANTLY. They'll thank me later.