The Life and Death of a Discussion Group

by Ed Rozmiarek
The Nigglybits Yahoo discussion group was once a fun place for boardgamers to hang out, have light hearted gaming discussions, make fun of the all sorts of people and things related to the gaming world, etc. In short, you could relax and shoot the breeze. It was advertised as a “virtual pub” by those who posted there. You could “pull up a bar stool” and talk to your friends. No topic was off limits and several interesting items were brought up, but a majority of the threads were still boardgame related. Unfortunately, those days are over. The Pub is still there, but it’s more like rundown bar that no one frequents anymore than the friendly neighborhood pub it once was.

I think that there are several reasons why this happened. The Pub had grown over the past couple years and as such the traffic on the group had grown as well, almost too much in my own opinion. The signal to noise ratio was dropping with more non-boardgame related talk and insane quick polls (for example, “What type of underwear do the pub dwellers wear?”). Since nothing was “off topic” for the Pub, calls to return to more game talk were usually shouted down. In fact it had gotten so bad people would apologize when posting something game related. However, I believe the downfall really started when Nick Danger, the creator, owner, “bartender” and heart and soul of the Pub left this past summer. Feeling burned out and needing to simplify his online life, Nick slipped out in the middle of the night, turning over the keys to Mark “Fluff Daddy” Jackson. A month or so later Mark left as well and then the fabric really started to unravel.

Nick started the Pub after getting kicked out of the SpielFrieks Yahoo group back in May 2001. Kicked out may be too strong, more like he was asked to take his funny remarks and “quick polls” elsewhere since SpielFrieks was for “serious discussion” of boardgames. I was one of the early pub dwellers, joining the group a couple of days after it was created. It quickly became my favorite discussion group and for the next couple years, the first one I would catch up on each day. There was a ban on “emoticons” and Pub dwellers were trained to take insults as a joke or friendly jest, just as if everyone were friends sitting around a bar having fun. SpielFrieks (or the “lounge”, in Niggly speak) became the place for rules questions, news, play reports, and cannon fodder for Nick’s sharp wit while the Pub was the place to have fun. I must admit I was more of a reader of the discussions than a contributor. I wish I could have contributed more than just a few posts here and there, but work and other things usually got in the way.

These days, the Pub has grown very quiet, almost completely dead. Looking at the number of posts for the last six months or so, you see a disturbing trend. After peaking in April of this year with 1891 posts, the number of posts each month has dropped off. They have fallen drastically the last few months with only 503 in October, 357 in November and only 60 so far December. It’s not quite dead yet, but it’s like a zombie, slowly stumbling forward looking for a brain.

This fall I started to realize that the Pub just wasn’t fun anymore. Around the first of November I decided drop e-mail delivery of Nigglybits posts to see if I would miss it. To be honest, I really haven’t. I have peeked into the Pub’s windows a couple of times via the web interface to see if anything has been going on. It seemed just boring as before I left it. It’s pretty obvious in hindsight that Nick was the spark that made the Pub the fun place that is was. No one was able to pick up his bar rag when he left.

So Nick, here’s to you, a virtual root beer toast and a thanks for all of the fun in the past. Nigglybits may continue in name, but the spirit is gone. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s time to move on.

The Past Month's Gaming

by Susan Rozmiarek
Yeah, I know. It’s been quieter than a tomb in here lately. I’ve been playing loads of games, my weekly gaming group ensures that, but my opportunities to plant myself in front of the computer to write about them have been few and far-between. Rather than bore you with excuses related to my personal life, I’m going to sweep out the cobwebs here, squash those chirping crickets, and comment on all the stuff, much of it new and shiny, that I’ve played over the last month or so. I’ve gotten some great close-ups of most of these games in action, but alas, we are having problems with the Picture Gallery software right now, so I can’t use them here in this blog :-(

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Despite the numerous flaws, this game is just plain fun. The haunts don’t always quite work or seem balanced and you may find yourself plugging holes in the published rules with house ones, but it’s a fun ride of a game, nevertheless. The theme is great and I loved the exploration aspect of it. I predict that the fun is really going to be group dependent, however. Players need to lighten up, not take the game seriously and just enjoy watching the story unfold.

Dancing Dice

Sigh. I really wanted to like this one more than I did. It has a unique theme, some nice ideas and really cool dice. There just really isn’t enough tension or a push-your-luck element to it. Only one gamer in our group seemed to really like it. I thought it merely “okay.” On the other hand, my 8 year-old son, Shea, loved it and wanted to play it over and over. It has a Yahtzee-like feel to it and probably reminded him of his old early childhood favorite, Pokemon Yahtzee. I’m wondering if it would appeal to my Bunco–loving friends as well. Like Bunco, it would be easy to socialize while playing, as it doesn’t require a great deal of concentration.

Viking Fury

This one has been climbing higher and higher up my all-time favorites list with each playing. Ed really needs to get busy painting the little ship miniatures that he found for it.

La Citta

This is one of those games that you wonder why the heck it doesn’t come out more than it does. I enjoy every playing of this game, even as I’m getting walloped as soundly as I was this time. People were just leaving my cities in droves. I highly recommend keeping up with your population and grain during the game with the scoring track found on Boardgamegeek.com.

Boomtown

It’s no secret that I’m fond of a western theme in a game, but I’m not letting that color my view when I’m say that this game is loads of fun. As expected, it’s got a hefty Bruno dose of luck and chaos, but the clever, clever auction mechanism in this game adds plenty of fun decisions as well. Its shorter playing time makes it a very good lunchtime game candidate too, I think. I do have to gripe about one thing however and with me being female, I think you know what that is. The art! Sheesh. Put some clothes on, sweetie! I could be placated, though, if a hunky cowboy replaced one of those gap-toothed geezers.

Oltre Mare

It’s rare that I want to play the same game again right away, but Oltre Mare has the distinction of being one of those rarities. This game has so many little interlocking mechanisms, all driven by the same set of cards, that it is really hard to digest the first time around. The second time around, I got “into the groove,” so to speak, and really enjoyed it. While some of the mechanisms remind me of other games (Hansa, Bohnanza), the sum of the whole feels like nothing else I’ve ever played.

Well, that’s about the best I can do for now. Pretty lame when compared to the longer session reports that I usually write. Hopefully, the picture problem will get resolved soon, too.