Are you addicted to purchasing board games in general?
A quick note about this blog…
Remember: Dr. Matt is not a clinician. Nothing in this post is intended to diagnose or treat and disorder or illness. If you think you need help with your mental health and wellness, or are experiencing an emergency, seek qualified care immediately.
Anyone who has ever played an RPG knows that choices have consequences.In a multiplayer scenario, we may tend to make difficult game decisions more quickly than when we are playing solo, because we don’t want to slow things down for everyone. But it can be agonizing to ponder the fate of a beloved character you have spent months developing. Sometimes the dice seem to stick in your hand.
“But what if they die?”
Real life decision making also comes with consequences.And I have noticed a tendency among those of us who love geeky things to hoard them. It seems like there is an entire geek-onomy that is determined to separate all of us from our money by creating niche merchandise for our various fandoms. Yay, capitalism!
Then there is FOMO. What if that game on Kickstarter is going to be really, really good? It will be so much more expensive in retail and I probably won’t be able to get that cool, first player token made out of genuine, some-kind-of-metal!
Then there are the minifigures, and the expansions, and the neoprene playmats, and the deluxe materials (even thicker cardboard!), and dozens of other things that activate our board game greed.
And as a cognitive psychologist with colleagues who work in marketing, I can promise you; developers and publishers know exactly what you want. And they know precisely how to market those things to you. Crowdfunding sites, and to a lesser extent online auction sites, are masters of this. So we need to ask ourselves, to what extent are we addicted to this aspect of our hobby.
Feeling the pull of a new game or any other thing that we like is normal. But few of us have the resources to indulge every wish and desire. Board games are amazing, but it’s also nice to eat and enjoy the shelter of a roof over our heads. But crowdfunding punches us right in the impulse control center. And it can feel almost painful even as adults when we see something we want, but either can’t - or maybe shouldn’t - spend our limited treasure upon. Choices.
Addiction, as defined by the American Psychological Association, is defined as “a state of psychological and/or physical dependence on the use of drugs or other substances, such as alcohol, or on activities or behaviors, such as sex, exercise, and gambling,” and this can include hobbies like board gaming.
So here are some things to ask yourself about your board game purchasing:
Am I maxing out my credit to purchase games?
Have I ever been unable to purchase necessities or pay my regular bills (rent, food, utilities, clothing, tuition, etc.)?
Am I embarrassed about how much I spend on my hobby, and do I ever lie or hide what I am spending from others, especially significant others?
Do I have any more physically safe space to store my games?
Has anyone ever criticized how much I spend on my hobby?
Am I stuck in a cycle of emotional highs when I acquire a new game, alternating with emotional lows when I cannot acquire a new game or back another campaign?
Am I secretly feeling like my interest in board games isn’t what it used to be, and my new purchases are only providing momentary joy?
Board game “addiction” which is not really a clinical thing, would necessarily have a negative impact on your activities of daily life. Remember, I am not a clinician. I am a researcher.
As I have written many times, board gaming can be very good for you. That’s essentially the primary recurring theme of this blog. But any good thing can be taken too far. I get it. RIght now, there are two projects active on Kickstarter that I am powerfully drawn too, And when I look at them honestly, I would be disappointed with anything less than the “all-in” bundles which will cost around $400-500 each with taxes and shipping. Is $1000 really worth it?
I am a teacher in my day to day life. That is and always has been a lot of money. So, I research games a lot before I buy them. The more it costs, the more I force myself to delay and think about it. I look at my game shelves, and consider those boxes that haven’t been opened in a long time. What happens if I pay another $1000 for games that gather dust?
Hard questions when they involve things we love to do. But responsible adults have to ask and answer such questions all the time. And when it comes to financial health, I definitely do not recommend rolling a d20 to determine your path.
In my case, I deliberate which decision makes the most sense.I ask myself things like: Is either game really worth the price? Will I actually play everything in the boxes that arrive? Is this similar to other games I like in regard to theme and mechanics? Do I like the designer? Does the developer have a good track record of delivering on promises? Has the project been funded already? How many times will I need to play this game to make it worthwhile?
I love calculating how much each play costs for a game. A popular app lets you track these statistics when you log a play session. Getting a games cost to be under $2 a play is a reasonable goal. But for a $500 pledge, I would need to play it 250 times. That means playing almost nothing else. And this fact helped me make my decision. I am not purchasing either.
Is it going to sting when people post about how much they love it? Probably. But, as I said before, it’s good to eat and live in a house.
I have also become more likely to accept standard components. As I browsed a few game stores last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice how dusty the hundreds of Warhammer minifigures were. And I was keenly aware of what 8 year old me felt when The Empire Strikes Back hit theaters, and when the toys hit the stores. They literally printed pamphlets that you could take for free from the Kenner toy display. They were glossy, perfectly-sized for a child’s hands and gorgeous. “Collect them all!,” it said. And, boy, oh, boy did I want to. But alas, my parents were educators. The $40 AT-AT was never to be mine.
All of us have these stories. I am convinced that this is why the vintage toy market is so insane these days. So many of us want to make up for past disappointments. But we don’t need everything. The contemporary political landscape should remind everyone about what happens when no one ever says no to us, and we never say no to ourselves. We just tend to get away with excess when it is “harmless.” Board games are not illicit substances that we inject into our veins or anything. But too much of anything is never good.
I love board games for their art, design, mechanics, themes, immersion, puzzles, challenges, and even the way the pieces feel and sound. And if I am honest, I actually tend to be a little overwhelmed by some of the bigger boxes. Wood and cardboard just seem to make me happier somehow. You may be different, but it is very important in life to define what you like, what you want, and what you don’t. And if we look honestly at a lot of the things we buy, there are some that just do not provide the experiences we crave.
It’s okay to make mistakes in game purchasing. But if you find you are buying dozens of games a year that you never play, then maybe it’s time to be a little more discriminating.
No, your board game hobby and your crowd-funding habits are probably not symptoms of addiction. But they can still be problematic. I always like to feel that I can enthusiastically share about my games with my wife, friends, and family. I am sure I bore them with my energetic descriptions of games like Wingspan and Harmonies. Fortunately, I am an absolute delight to everyone who knows me. But if I were to be ashamed of a purchase, I would want to be able to talk to my wife about this as well. We have a dollar amount over which we will always discuss before making a purchase of any kind. That dollar amount happens to be right around the average cost of a board game.
Maybe this is a good idea for you. But even if you live alone, it’s a good idea to set a budget for your hobbies. It can be a lot of fun to know on payday how much you can spend down at the game store. It also has the positive side-effect of helping you to really hunt for the games that will have longevity on your table.
Games are a good thing, but we can love them too much. Sites like Kickstarter are a powerful driving force in the development of outstanding new content. But there have been many notable failures. So use crowdfunding wisely. Enjoy those days when the UPS driver has to use a forklift to drop off the haul on your front porch. But please be mindful of what you are spending. You will be happier in the long run.
Play on responsibly, friends!
See you next time.
Dr. Matt