What is Adult Gaming?

My Home Built Dreadball Stadium Featuring the Librus Rebels, my home team. The pitch and figures, as well as the game itself are property of Mantic Entertainment Ltd.

Well that is a question I anticipated right off the bat. Most people I meet hear me discuss games and have one of three responses.
Response One: "Games? Oh, like Battleship, right? Or Candy Land? Yeah, my two year old plays those. And you do too? Interesting."

Response Two: "Games? Oh, like hrmrhffhrrmmm? (some other illegible muttering and throat clearing.) Yeah, my two year old is still awake, can you not discuss this again? Ever?"

Response Three: "Like Madden, right? You do mean video games? Cause the only other types are Candy Land or (A pause, they get bright red and move to response two.)

How lucky for me that the stars have aligned at this point in time so that together we may travel the path of enlightenment and understanding so that in the future one of my ilk can stand up and proudly say, "Yes, I game." Without fear of being misunderstood. Here are the common gamer misconceptions, and how they can be debunked using science. Just kidding, by science I mean my own opinions and no hard facts whatsoever. And for the record, I do play Candy Land. But in my defense, I play it with a four year old...

Common Gamer Myths I Think Everyone Thinks About When Probably No One Cares

• Games are such things as Monopoly, Risk, Sorry, Life, Connect Four, Etc.

No. 

• That's not a very solid answer, in school when asked for a full sentence you would've gotten dinged for 'no' as your only answer, do you intend to take anything in this blog seriously?

Yes.

• My frustration only intensifies when I realize that I am poorly answering my own fake interview questions about a topic only I care about. 

Well, while it is true that 'games' covers quite a broad category, there are really only two types of games. If you were to break games down to their component levels, looking past the themes and the stories and the mechanics, there is only two elements that make a game what it is: Luck (or Chance) and Strategy (or Skill).

Most games are built using mechanical elements from both in varying degrees. Games like Risk are high chance games based around highly random dice rolls, but also contain tactical elements utilizing resource management and unit positioning. My brothers and I have tweaked this type of game even more, and have made far more tactical versions of Risk where negotiations and deals run the table instead of the dice. In these games it is highly possible that you can have a bad run with the dice and lose an otherwise 'sure-win' situation. Other games like Monopoly use far more resource management strategies than randomness. Far less emphasis is placed on the dice rolls or spins or what not but the limited yet present randomness keeps top players from immediately winning the game. A very small number of games use fully one or the other of these two base mechanics. Chess is an excellent example of a game with no luck involved, purely strategy. It is entirely possible for a Grand Master to sit down and know from an opening move who is going to win the game (they are). Other games are too chaotic, like Candy Land. You have literally no control over your pawn, as your daughter tends to move it for you. But more to the point, it handles movement based on card draws and you must move to the next indicated colored square. So with no strategy, it can be just as frustrating to play as a full strategy game with no chance. So when one speaks of games, they must take into mind the broadness of that statement and continue to refine it.

• ....Well that was a lot of words.

Further, games can than be separated into more specific categories. Genres are an easy next step. Is it a board game? A dice game? A card game? Some admixture of all of them? Is it a roleplaying game, a casual family game, a war game, a tabletop game, or a collectible game? Is it great for parties? Is it attractive in terms of it's theme? Once you begin the branching out of categories and definitions, it never truly stops. So when one says games, it is important to bear in mind the true spectrum available.With the thousands of variations even on popular themes, it is likely I might have never even heard of 'Connect Four'. Have you heard of 'Nexus Ops'? I thought so.

• Aren't games just for kids?

Adult-Themed games are not as inappropriate as they sound. Truly they are just games with ideas or thoughts not normally considered when one is younger. There are many games in existence with mature themes involving violence or complicated moral considerations. These games tend to range in complexity and seriousness, but they tend to offer rich thematic or thought provoking sessions for those playing. What specifically drew me in? I am a person who craves structure and order, much as younger me might have railed against the thought. When I game, whether it is an outright silly game like Ugg-tect, or far more intense game like Arkham Horror I find myself in a world with a very finite and easy to interpret set of rules. Games are something I would highly recommend for the slightly OCD or orderly types like myself, because submerging yourself into a world with an established rule set is like taking a hot bath in winter. It completely relaxes you, win or lose, right down to your very soul. In this world where numbers indicate direction, and your next patterns of movement are dictated by a minute flowchart with limited possibilities it is far easier to control and arrange yourself. It helps with the thought processes outside of the game as well. Play long enough, and the world becomes a rapidly flowing chart of decisions and possibilities. Many of the games I play tend to involve intensive computation and mathematical skills, and my real life skills have developed accordingly. And they are fun! The games I lean towards are themed very heavily, and for those of you who don't quite get the term, theme is the flavor or story which cover the skeletal structure of the mechanics. Theme for me is more important than the game itself, because for me it is all about the story I am creating. When I walk away from that table, I don't walk away a winner of Monopoly. I walk away a real estate mogul who just successfully took control of the strongest properties in the United States through his shell corporation, Eastman Thimbles (I always play as the thimble). When I play Risk now, my right hand is tucked in my shirt in mimicry of Napoleon. (Also to keep from flipping the board; like Napoleon I have a strong start and a lousy finish when everyone gangs up on me and maroons me on an island such as Madagascar.) For me it is not just a game, but a whole experience.

• I'm starting to wish for those one word answers again. What about wargaming? Didn't you get enough of that out of your system with your little green army men?

First of all, those little green army men were the originators of many a game of my own design so I still believe they are quite relevant. Next, war gaming may seem like child's play compared to what some people do in real life, but very often they are the people most interested in playing! I read an article in some paper a few years back called, "Marines playing Marines". It was a reference to the popular tabletop war gaming system Warhammer 40K where one can play as heavily armed and genetically modified Space Marines defending the Imperium of Man from aliens and heretical armies played by another. The article mentioned with some surprise the astounding number of US marines one can find playing these games. To me it came as no surprise at all. I found after the army very little that gave me any feeling of military life, but somehow these games helped place me back in the soldier's seat, and I have been hooked ever since. I find it exhilarating in any such war game whether on the ground, in the water or in space to use tactics and strategies I wished I could have implemented in real life. It seems easy to believe soldiers would find comfort again in a world of rules and structures, but one where they got to define the path followed. 

• What does your wife think?

I have been blessed with an extremely patient and understanding wife. Many is the time I have heard the typical complaints on forums and in friend's houses the world over. "My wife made me return it." "I would play but my wife thinks it's infantile." And so on. My wife treats me whenever we can afford it with some shiny new bit for one of my games, and she is highly supportive of my gaming time. She's the first person to have ever played my latest game, and has endured more than any other human being should have to endure in gaming talk from me. And while it doesn't make any sense to her, my Eishes Chayil, my precious beloved, she lets me do it anyway. And I love her for it! Who could be so lucky?

• Is there any money in games?

Yes. I wouldn't be trying to make one otherwise.

• What about video games?

Video games are the same thing. They merely take all the dice rolling, charts, probabilities and strategies and automate the process. I tend to prefer board games because of the increased social aspect, and because I like to follow all the various parts of the game in clear analog format, but there is certainly nothing wrong with the digital system. As a religious Jew however, I find myself needing analog games like board games and the like for those times when digital just isn't an option. And in my personal opinion, you have not had a relaxing Shabbat afternoon until you have spent it yelling yourself hoarse over a game of Dreadball.

• And that brings up my last question of the evening. A religious Jew gaming?

It has it's own unique set of rules, to be sure. Certain games get negated based on content or theme, whereas some just don't jibe with what I was taught. I personally will not play any game based on World War Two, because someone inevitably must play as the Nazis. And to me there is nothing to game about in regards to them. On the other hand, I have no problem playing a game as a fictional 'dark god' or demon; but I do ask questions if I feel the fictional characters run any risk of being misconstrued with actual evils or idols. It is interesting to explain to my non-jewish gaming peers why I can't play certain times and why I can't play certain games. Most are highly supportive; in fact my current gaming group has scheduled an important Attack Wing tournament around my availability Motzei Shabbat. Believe me, they are glad Shabbat is ending earlier now! It can sometimes be hard, as the major gaming days are always Shabbat, and the major conventions are always over the weekend. But luckily, I have always been blessed by having brothers and friends willing to play so I lack nothing at the end of the day. And I actually got to go to a convention earlier this year! (More on that in a later post.)

These are just a few of the questions I have fielded and/or anticipate over the lifetime of this blog. Look, if you get nothing else from this, please understand at the end of the day, Games are fun and highly intellectual pursuits. I know they are games and can separate my reality from the tabletop. But indulge! One day, if you get the chance, join me at my table. Because one thing is certain. Games may not be for kids, but they will make you feel younger again. 

A Comma, Darkly.

Let me get this out of the way in a short little post, rather than hearing about it in the future. Yes, I am aware I have no idea how to use commas. I most likely never will. It is not my mother's fault in any way, she is an excellent teacher of English grammar. I just ignored that class because it was much more fun to sleep. So if you notice errors, of this nature, throughout the blog, grit your teeth through the uncomfortable pauses; try to edit them out when you read this out loud, and remember that I had at least one period in my life where I got great sleep. Evening to all, unless you're on the other side of the planet. To you I say, good morning!

Concerning Beginnings

Hi,  my name is Joshua Eastman. I used to have roughly a million blogs all under different names, but as time went on I stopped maintaining them. This apparently upset my readership of one (my mother), so without further ado I am going to try to blog again.

I used to run a blog about funny satirical ideas I had about life and politics and what it was like to roam Israel as a teenager. Luckily, common sense kicked in and I deleted that blog before anyone I knew read it, and have since toned down my act. But I still needed to have a funny blog.

Next I briefly ran a blog on how to be a gentleman. Yes, I used this title before. But it's not stealing if it belonged to younger me, is it? He won't mind, he's to busy messing up current me's health. I tried to outline the behavior of a well-mannered man, as much for myself as my readership of...well-no one but me read this one either. So I scrapped it. But a blog with my own unique viewpoint on genteel behavior still seemed appealing.

Then I started a blog that people actually read a little of. It was called "Through Josh-Colored Glasses", and to this day remains the best title I have ever thought of for anything. The blog discussed slightly older married life in Israel and the army, but gradually got to serious for me. Also, I moved from Israel back to the States for a few years, so I couldn't truly speak about Israel with anything but fond longing and bittersweet regret. So again, a paradigm shift was needed.

Over the past few years in the states, several events have changed my life even more radically than I would have believed possible and the focus of my writings has changed (some would say regressed) again. Just before we came back from Israel I had a daughter born to me, thank g-d; healthy, vivacious, alive, intelligent. We shall call her Princess for now. She would be okay with that nickname, trust me. After a while in the states I had a son as well. He has been known by quite a few nicknames, but his handle of Jonny Shmu seems most appropriate when you meet him. He is ten times the terror my daughter is, which makes sense in an entirely chauvinistic and gender-centric way. So learning to be a father of Jonny and Princess has led to a desire to speak of them in embarrassingly glowing terms and also a need as a young father just to occasionally vent. I have also been a gamer my whole life. I have always loved games of any sort (save where you have to bet something tangible, which for me somehow always becomes pants) even though I have consistently lost every game I ever played. Ever. And believe me, that's a good thing. I am on that very rare occasion an extremely sore winner. I would like to think I have become a gracious loser, but my brothers may still find that hard to believe (more on that later.) Anyway, being back in the states has brought me back into contact with the more adult side of gaming (not that kind of adult, more roleplaying...and the hole gets deeper) and now I am writing my own games and stories for those games, hoping one day one of them will take off around my busy career of the moment.

So, I needed a place like this one. A place to be funny and sad; a place to write about games I have played or designed; a place to write about my thoughts, Israel, my kids, really a place to just put to paper anything and everything I'd rather not store in my head (before publishing remember to look up name of Harry Potter memory mirror bowl thingy for a little cultural push). Welcome again then, and don't say you weren't warned! Tread lightly, this is after all someone else's brain. Wipe your feet, close the door...I really don't know a good way to wrap up a brain analogy, but I hope this is as good for you as it will be for me. Thanks for reading!