Thursday, March 31, 2011

LDS themed games not catching on

8:36 AM by Mike · 6 comments
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A recent post on the BYU Universe website (here) talks about the fact that LDS-inspired games are not catching on. Daphna (the author) talks about the Wilkinson Student Center at BYU and how students are able to check games out (for FREE!). The library at the student center does not contain a single LDS-themed game (I better get them a copy of Hagoth).

Some choice quotes, talking about LDS-themed games, from the article:

Joy Hopkins (one of the employee who works in the Wilkinson Student Center) said: “Some people here embrace corny Mormon things. Some people don’t. Not enough people think it’s cool or fun.”

Jacob Mecham (a sophomore at BYU studying music) said: “I think they’re copouts. I just think we shouldn’t buy games just because they’re Mormon-themed.”

Patrick O'Sullivan (owner of Games People Play in the University Mall) said: “Board games are competitive. You have to have a plan to win. That’s what people like best. People perceive Mormon board games as not as competitive or great strategy games, more educational about scriptures and skewed to a younger audience.”

This displays for us a clear perception, held by many people, that LDS-themed games are corny, poorly designed/conceived, non-competitive, and usually made for a younger audience. Why are there not more good, quality LDS-themed board games?

I agree with the points from the article. Most LDS-themed games have been remakes of already published games. A lot of them are rather corny or sometimes childish. I've also seen a lot of trivia based games, not that trivia games don't have their place, but it's like Patrick said, "more educational about scriptures." When I see an LDS-themed trivia game, I think to myself, "this game is just trying to teach me about the scriptures."

What, if anything, can be done to help change this state of affairs? Is there a way that this perception can be transformed into something different, even better?

What do you think?
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