Social media I love you
I am a huge fan of social media. I use both Facebook and Twitter a lot. And before I move further, let me throw here few examples.
I am in Bojszow, south of Poland and I tweet: 'I’ll be in Chicago next week. What places should I visit?’ In a moment my Twitter feed gets crazy. I get addresses of 3 game stores. I get address of Jazz cafe. I get address of super amazing book store. And I get this: 'I live in Chicago. Let’s meet and have a game or two.’ And soon after: 'I live in Chicago too. Game night? When you come?’
Few weeks later I am in Chicago at the train station. I tweet: 'I have train in 3 hours. I am in Chicago downtown. What do you recommend?’ In a moment my Twitter feed gets crazy again. I got one cool idea after another. That’s how I discover super cool mexican restro and that how I discover Chicago stuffed pizza.
I tweet: 'Wyndham hotel sucks!’. Two minutes later I get replay: 'I am at Wyndham too.’ Few hours later we play game at hotel lobby and have great time. First I teach Dan and his buddy Imperial Settlers and then they teach me Trieste. Another super fun evening. Because of one tweet.
***
There is this famous YouTube movie called Look Up about us being enslaved by smartphones and technology. Well… I couldn’t disagree more.
Because of Twitter technology I met Tony, Brian and Walt and had an amazing game night in Chicago. Because of Twitter technology Brian knew I was looking for Star Realms – so he took me to the local game store where I could buy Star Realms. Because of this technology I met Jeff (#1FanOfImperialSettlers ) and Chevee who both became Portal Games Team at Gen con and who are freaking awesome guys.
I could now post few hundred names and nicks of people whom I met at Gen con for the first time in person. People who I knew from social media, with whom I banter about games every day and who live few thousands miles away. With social media we stay in touch. With social media we make jokes, we talk, we explore and celebrate our hobby. And once a while, when we have a chance to meet in person, we do Look Up. And we have fucking awesome time.
This Gen con was an amazing experience. I was not stranger. I was not alone. Wherever I looked, there was a person I knew from social media. I was among my people.
Now I am back in Bojszow, Poland. I am back to Twitter. Till the next con. I Look up and I Look down. I have fun for the whole year with my gaming friends.
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
Leave a Comment