SOC in Wired

A nice article on Settlers of Catan in Wired , of all places... It does have a quote from Derk from TOS - courage friends

I got it from Aldie on FB in case anyone wonders...
el Van

Awesome. I want Eurogames to become popular. I want them to become so popular that the next generation hates them like we hate Monopoly, and everyone joins the happy Ameritrash camp.

He's quite the awesome journalist...

'...what some have called the perfect board game.'

Who are these mysterious 'some'? They aren't referenced anywhere. Brilliant work.

I even like Settlers but I'd hardly call it perfect. Is there any perfect game?

Settlers has a few hundred million copies to sell before it hits Monopoly levels.

Am I the only person in the world who doesn't hate Monopoly even when it doesn't mean pissing someone off on TOS?

Derk is full of shit.

"Monopoly, a negative experience" my ass.

Monopoly replaced by Settlers would only make a better world for whiners who cried to their mommies when their bigger brothers bankrupted them in the game. It's a real trauma for them as grown-ups find out they were not playing be the official rules - the horror. Their tormented souls only find comfort when later someone tells them their losses were only due to bad luck, not a lack of intelligence.

Monopoly is a fairly good game... when played by the real rules. Derk fails to mention that in his supposed objective, "unbiased" crusade against the game. (LOL)

But the article actually does speak to what I have been saying all along.... IF you give Settlers of Catan a better title, better artwork, better theme and much better box art... THEN you may have something with a bit more mainstream appeal.

Until then... I have had friends flat out turn down playing it because it just looked boring.

This being said, admittedly this is the most popular of the Eurogames...with a primarily "gamer" audience. Although I don't see what all of the stink is about.

Ryan B.

Meh, Wired was relevant when it stole Mondo 3000's fanbase with shiny new pictures and didn't wallow in drug culture. Now they are the new Rolling Stone (editorialism at its pole smoking finest). Why choose now to write about SOC?

mjl1783 wrote:

Am I the only person in the world who doesn't hate Monopoly even when it doesn't mean pissing someone off on TOS?

Nope, I like Monopoly just fine.

"If I could wave a magic wand and replace all the copies of Monopoly out there with Settlers, I truly think the world would be a better place."

Well, if I could wave a magic wand and render Derk Solko mute, I truly think the world would be a better place.

What a fucking clown that guy is. Our very own Steve Ballmer.

all the mechanisms they mentioned don't really slow down the leader. Chances are the leader is the leader because he built on prime land.

"If I could wave a magic wand and replace all the copies of Monopoly out there with Settlers, I truly think the world would be a better place."

What a Queen.

I hope, for his sake (and his friends and families sakes), that "Settlers" is a type-o for "Arkham Horror".

vandemonium wrote:

Nope, I like Monopoly just fine.

Same here. When played by the rules — hint for all cube-pushers: there's an auction on practically every turn — it's a fine way to have some goofy gaming fun.

Monopoly also holds a special place in my heart for driving the worst of The BGG crowd absolutely insane with jealousy. No matter how hard they try to justify it or wave it away, the fact remains that Monopoly still outsells their latest penguin-influencing fad by a factor of about 10,000. It makes me smile just to picture their nerd rage.

Derk is full of shit.

"Monopoly, a negative experience" my ass.

Monopoly replaced by Settlers would only make a better world for whiners who cried to their mommies when their bigger brothers bankrupted them in the game. It's a real trauma for them as grown-ups find out they were not playing be the official rules - the horror. Their tormented souls only find comfort when later someone tells them their losses were only due to bad luck, not a lack of intelligence

Agreed. They should have talked to Barnes or at least Branham. Derk is not up to speed on boardgames anymore.

As I've said before, I don't understand the hatred towards Monopoly. It's not the greatest game ever but it's not the worst game either. Nor is it entirely a zero sum game as there is cash infusion from Passing Go and the cards. Now, if you want to talk zero sum games, there's Container (I was amazed at how tight the money was...or maybe it was just my group).

As for player elimination. Again, I don't see the hatred for player elimination. There's player elimination in all of their favorite Euros, they just don't realize it. You can certainly be out of the running for any hope of victory in Caylus, Puerto Rico or Agricola yet you still have to hang around because noone can ever drive in that final nail. Now admittedly, the winner will win by a small margin but he's usually a clear winner and likely was there from the beginning. I think there is nothing worse than being stuck in a game with no hope of winning and no mechanism for someone to put the final blow on you.

As for randomness (it's not really touched on but that's another TOS Peeve), there's lots to be said for it. Makes things interesting.

I'm a Level 4 board game geek now. That means I can finally try Power Grid.