The Best of Exiled Here 2011

The vast majority of the things I write on this blog can be summarized as "Grant describes at length why his new game is bad." However, every so often I write what I believe is a worthwhile contribution to the Internet. I was thinking about the year on my morning run and thought it'd be nice to present a Best of Exiled Here styled post.

I wrote 63 posts in 2011. These are the ones I think you should read. (Note: Though some of these are about board games, not all of them are!)

Converting the Heathen
I don't write enough humor posts for my tastes anymore. Perhaps it's because I'm simply not funny or maybe it's that I have my head so deep in board game mechanics that I'm failing to notice the hilarity exploding all around me. This is one of the few humor posts I wrote this year about one of the more hilarious episodes in my life.

I brought home a girlfriend in college who was, among other things, a vegetarian. This is the story about what happened when I brought her to Texas for Thanksgiving.

An Interesting Year

At the very end of 2010 I left my great job of 5 years to venture forth to the land of start ups. 2 companies later I went full circle and arrived back at my old job, though with a new title and role that excited me. Though it's fair to say I ultimately failed, I learned an immense amount about being a designer, designing and building mobile games, working with new people, being a leader and manager, and I'm far better for it. I wouldn't change the experience, hard though it was.

Ultimately, success in your creative and professional endeavors is the result of primarily hard work, being good at your job, and maximizing your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. We all have some of each. The sooner you admit this and acknowledge it, the better you will be.

This post is a fairly concise recollection of some of the lessons I learned.

Writing Rules (i.e. Design)

One of my favorite aspects of the Twitter board game community is that I'm often asked to review the rules of other designers. I love doing this. Love it. Professionally, I'm a producer by trade, which is essentially a design editor for the game industry. I'm also a designer, but at the end of the day I have to admit I'm a better producer/editor than I am a designer. Sad, but true.

I wrote this post about some of the principles on rule writing. I think it's a worthwhile read. I was doubly pleased that one of my design mentors, Ray Mazza (@raymazza) chimed in as well. 

An Evening with Lazy Bear

San Francisco is one of the food (foodie?) capitals of the world. We have astounding restaurants that delight their patrons with cuisine from every corner of the globe. It is one of my favorite things about this city.

Lazy Bear is a bizarre and unique entry to this landscape. The chef/owner is a former lawyer who now runs an infrequent "underground restaurant." He, along with his wife and friends, rent a space in the Mission and serve a prix fixe menu that is absurdly delicious. 

Quick rewind. For a time at university I was doubling as a professional writing major. I ultimately dropped this because I wanted to graduate in four years and I doubted my ability to earn a living as a writer. But, I always wanted to write big features for a magazine that went beyond just what was happening, but focused on the experience.

I feel like this piece is somewhat that. As a side note, we have since dined with Lazy Bear again at his inaugural brunch. It was delicious.

My Thoughts on Kickstarter
The most read post that I wrote in 2011 was by far My Thoughts on Kickstarter. My twitter feed is jam packed with game designers and publishers, many of whom have put a game up on Kickstarter in hopes of it being backed. Those who haven't personally used Kickstarter have spent money on it or observed its impact on the board game space. It's impossible to ignore.

The problem for me, was that every few days the same argument would reignite about Kickstarter. Many of the same entrenched foes would do battle with the same arguments. 140 characters is an impossibly short space to compose a well-written argument and I was tired of it. I decided, with some prompting by folks on Twitter, to put down my thoughts permanently in blog form.

I'm glad I did.

Interestingly enough, I feel that many of the people who came to the post didn't actually read it. Based on their comments to me afterwards in my feed or via email, it felt as if they got snagged on a buzzword and just activated their auto-pilot. What have we always been told? Oh yes, don't get into arguments on the Internet. I should know better!

If you want to skip the long article, here are my thoughts. I still fervently believe them today.

Any creative and entrepreneurial atmosphere in which you have:

1. No (or relatively no) barrier to entry
2. Greatly reduced or entirely reduced financial risk 

Can lead to a terrible experience for customers in the short run and bad tidings for our industry in the long run. Just because you can release your game doesn't mean you should. The book industry has similar issues with e-Books.

We must ONLY deliver high quality experiences. 

One opinion of mine did change after hearing Richard Bliss (@gamewhisperer) discuss it on The State of Games. I used to be on the fence/negative side regarding established publishers or even independent publishers using or re-using Kickstarter. The truth is, it's a great marketing opportunity, or as its detractors note, merely a "pre-order tool." I absolutely agree this isn't Kickstarter's intent, but I can't say I mind it personally.

Our 3 AM Adventure

I cannot leave you fine folks without a fun pet story! Here's a fairly short, simple, and amusing post that I think all pet owners will enjoy. It's about my beloved Peaches and my beloved Beth and how their paths disgustingly collided one January evening.

Thanks for reading. If you have a blog and you have something you're proud of, post it in the comments! Have a great 2012 folks.