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Socially Afflicted - how people affect gameplay experience (Topic Discussion)
Description
As I was listening to an episode of the Ludology podcast recently, one focused on games and health, I started to think about how much the people we play with influence our gameplay experience. Selecting board games based on the audience is much more important than we may like to believe. Get it wrong, and you have one player rebelling and playing opposite to expectations, another disengaging completely, and the overall mood shifting from playful enjoyment to uncomfortable tension. In this article, I want to discuss how a mismatch can impact the enjoyment of the whole group, alter the tone of reviews, and even affect playtest outcomes.
Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2025/12/30/socially-afflicted-how-people-affect-gameplay-experience-topic-discussion/
Useful Links
- Ludology podcast episode 351, Better Health Through Gaming: https://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-351-better-health-through-gaming
- Pandemic review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2020/01/18/pandemic-saturday-review/
- Amit Bar's and Tobias Otterbring's study “The role of culture and personality traits in board game habits and attitudes” in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698921000722
- Qian Zhang's, JiaLe Ruan's and DingYong Xiong's study “Differential effects of exposure to cooperative versus competitive games on sharing behavior in young children" in Frontiers in Psychiatry: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12268353/
- Bez Shahriari's reflections on playtesting behaviour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bez_Shahriari
- Board Game Design Lab: https://boardgamedesignlab.com/
- Mahiro Egashira's, Daisuke Son's and Arisa Ema's study “Serious Game for Change in Behavioral Intention Toward Lifestyle Related Diseases” in JMIR Serious Games: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35188465/
- Ramy Hammady's and Sylvester Arnab's review “Serious Gaming for Behaviour Change, A Systematic Review” in Information: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/13/3/142
Music
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)
Music: "Epic Inspiration" by AShamaluevMusic.
Website: https://www.ashamaluevmusic.com
Music: "Galaxy" by AShamaluevMusic.
Website: https://www.ashamaluevmusic