Dec. 03, 2008 - Issue #685: The Art of Rock

Games: Giving gifts to gamers - a guide

If you’re reading this guide as a true seeker, honestly unsure as to what the gamer in your life might appreciate under the tree and desperately looking for answers, I will tell you now, in my best Cliché Fantasy Wizard tone of voice: Guess not the wishes of thy Loved One, for down that path lies the disappointment of Lame Games for the Wrong System! Better the commonplaces of Socks and Underwear than the cursed Unplayable Disc!

 

Seriously. Don’t guess. Don’t go into the store and ask the dude “What’s good?” If you haven’t got a solid, explicit entry on the wish list, go generic. Gift certificates are the default of last resort; better to pick up system-specific Points cards redeemable in the consoles’ online stores. Every system offers plenty of downloadable little treasures that a gamer might otherwise never spring for; they’ll think warmly of you when your thoughtful gift makes that drunken download of Shining Force II possible.

 

Even better, why not think outside the glowing box ... and put your thoughts into another box, a box of colorful cardboard? “Party” video games are one thing, but nothing beats a good board game for sociable holiday fun. Might I recommend Carcassonne? Actually, I can’t recommend it highly enough; this multi-award-winning German game of kingdom-building strategy takes two minutes to learn, plays fast with zero set-up time, and offers endless hours of joyful competition for 2-5 players. If you must go digital, an electronic version is available for download (see above) on the XBox Live Arcade.

 

Books are always good gifts, and there are plenty of titles available, from glossy coffee-table tomes to scholarly tracts, on the subject of games and gaming. One book every gamer—and every non-gamer interested in the mystique of the medium—should have on their shelf is Raph Koster’s A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Deep and thoughtful, and at the same time personal and informal, Koster’s extended essay explores the nature of play, the psychology of fun and the challenges of game design, accompanied by the author’s own charmingly amateurish illustrations. Enlightening, entertaining and accessible, Koster does for games what James Barber did for cooking.

 

Above all, remember that for all the time we spend in virtual worlds gamers are still beings of blood and bone. Why not treat your gamer to a session or two of massage therapy to work out the kinks that come from hours of intense zombie-slaying? On the flipside of that, you can never go wrong with a bottle of classy booze; there are few pleasures as fine as the soothing clink of cubes in crystal as one watches a long loading screen refracted through liquid gold, or the warm glow of a big-bodied Cabernet spreading through your chest as you consider your inventory screen.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends; may all your achievements be unlocked and all your games be saved. V 

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