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Renaming Board Game Genres
In my first thread, I was explaining the difference between "Eurogame" and "Ameritrash". I still cling to these terms since I still find they are useful (at least for me) in helping me sort out the games I like from the games I don't. However, there are quite a few people who felt both labels were equally stupid, so here's my proposal: why not use the terms "Story-driven", "Theme-heavy", "Conflict-driven", "Brain-burner", "Deep but conflict-light", "Solitaire", "Co-operative", etc. instead?
They're much more descriptive and less misleading than "Eurogame" and "Ameritrash".
They're much more descriptive and less misleading than "Eurogame" and "Ameritrash".
Comments
On BGG, Euro and Ameritrash are frequently used, and are often presented in opposition to one another. In some social circles, preferences for one over the other can become a form of (sub) cultural identification, in the same way that people attach themselves to a particular role-playing system or genre of music.
Worker placement
Area control
Auction
Drafting
Deck building
Tile placement
Stock market
Story-driven
Cooperative
Hidden traitor
This is by no means an all-inclusive list, but when I talk to people who are into board games, describing a game in these terms is the fastest way to convey what the game is about, as opposed to using now-dated terms like "Euro" or "Ameritrash." Additionally, you can mix and match terms to better describe a game.
What genre a game is in doesn't matter. How you play the game does.
I like MegaMan! Ok, so what?
If all games are either Euro or Ameritrash and you refuse to play Euro games, then doesn't that force you to only play Ameritrash games? Also, there are a lot of "Euro" games that are made in Americans. The highest prestige a game can garner is the Spiel de Jahres, which is rewarded in Europe, but American made games can win it.
If someone were to just come up to me and say, "wanna play a game?", of course I would care about what kinds of games the other guy wants to play. That's how gaming groups are formed, and I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck playing some cube-pusher with a bunch of Eurogamers.
As for being precise, it's true. Language is not precise all the time. But when you debate/argue among intelligent adults, as we do here, we ONLY use perfectly precise language. Your language is so slapdash we don't even know what you are trying to say.
What is the point you are trying to make? Are you even trying to make a point?
Puerto Rico, Caylus, Terra Mystica, Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Agricola are different, but they share so many common features such as having few to no opportunities to directly attack your opponents, racing for VPs by building efficient economic engines, and emphasizing mechanics more than theme. I seriously don't see how Titan would be lumped into the "Eurogame" category anytime soon.
I have also bought several games based on recommendations from people here on the forum. I generally don't care for long 4x games, but I really dig Eclipse if I can set aside the time for it. I think the time has come around to describe a game or boil it down to it's mechanics rather than whether it is Euro or Ameritrash, as I said before, many really good games have originated in the US.
Ameritrash is basically a term for big box store shelved games made by companies like Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers and Hasbro. Have any of these companies created and sold "good" games? Absolutely they have, but they also put out what most serious board game enthusiasts refer to as bad games. I grew up playing Sorry!, Monopoly, Life, etc., and I enjoyed playing them with friends and family, but later on, I discovered that there was more to the game world than what I could find at Walmart. Since then, I play games that most people haven't heard of because even if they walk into a hobby game store, they are still looking at stuff like Apples to Apples or the newest version of Monopoly.
When I describe the games I play to my non gamer friends and acquaintances, I explain to them that I play games that usually require more skill than luck, and often explain to them why some of the main stream games are actually bad games or non-games (like Sorry!).
The terms Ameritrash and Euro to describe games are used by people to typically play the "Euro" games. People who play the mainstream games like Monopoly call them board games.