Values

Almost four years ago, I wrote about the value of games.  At the time I was pretty focused on the entertainment value.  I compared the price of a game to the price of a movie.  I talked about cost per play.  I went into some amount of detail analyzing the cost of some of my games in light of the fun I've had; I spent about three paragraphs on this. 

The last paragraph was almost perfunctory.  I briefly mentioned the value of games as exercise for the brain. And I had one line of about playing games as part of building a family. 

Photo from commons.wikipedia.org

I should have flipped that post around.  You see, I don't think I realized how great gaming is for building a community. As an example, I will tell you that I was laid off at the end of August 2013.  My gaming group, and particularly a few individuals within it, were absolutely committed to making sure that our monthly game day still happened.  Our game day ends with dinner for all those who can stay. That can be as many as 12 people. Without a job, it was hard to throw this little party every month. However, the commitment of the group made it happen. I needed that, as a way to get my mind off of the roller-coaster job hunting can be - as a way to keep my spirits up.

Photo from ru.wikipedia.org

That's great, but it's not where the community building attributes of gaming really struck me. A few of the others in the group have recently talked about how much of a community - a family - we have in our little gaming group. We talk about our joys and hardships, our triumphs and disappointments during our game day, even though we really try and focus on playing. Everyone knows that it is a day to rest, relax, and share a meal. And if you need someone to laugh with you, commiserate with you, or pray with you, you will find it in the group. 

That's the value of games. 

It's Your Move!