Comments on: Anti-social games, defined

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:57:39 +0000

Good thoughtful article! Some examples of “black spot” games are virtually any turn-based tabletop game. Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, etc. Each player can take their turn at their leisure, then check back later to see if their opponent has taken their turn.

It’s similar to the old mail-in games, where a person submits their turn via mail (later e-mail), then waits for a reply with their opponents turn. In many ways these games were a hybrid of same-place, different-time and different-place, different-time. Each player clearly played at a different time, but their were duplicate boards at each location. So, does a duplicate board at two different location make them same or different? Neat thing was that such mail-in games were multi-player, often with many more than two playing simultaneously (with turns defined by a certain duration – e.g., one week).

By: Kurt Goodliff

Kurt Goodliff — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:57:06 +0000

Would the Wii Message Board be included in the black spot or potentially Animal Crossing. In the same room you’d leave messages at different times for other players.
I was going to mention Demon Souls but I think the idea there is to leave messages for other remote players at different times.

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:55:57 +0000

Back in the day we had to play Laser Squad in the block spot mode. One player did their moves whilst the other waited outside, then you swapped round.

By: Jaffar

Jaffar — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:41:01 +0000

I’d say “Play and Pass” type games qualify for the black spot. I play my turn on the iPad game hand it to you for your turn, on to the next person until back to me.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:14:57 +0000

Ah, okay. So you were thinking about that “black spot” section?
check geocaching.com

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:06:19 +0000

Well what I mean is that the way a place changes over time due to the action of humans is a result of same place + different time. The time period could be hours, days, years or even centuries. So I was thinking about what sort of games could be played like that.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:10:01 +0000

I don’t quite understand what you mean Jake

By: Raph

Raph — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:56:23 +0000

The black spot is where games like geocaching live.

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:34:24 +0000

The way graffiti builds up on a wall over time is same place different time. I guess lots of things around us comply to that rule, but aren’t games.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 06:29:28 +0000

I was considering to provide examples on that & brainstorm… but decided to leave that section away (and see if some witty ideas are presented :))

And of course “place” can be defined to be larger than “room”. Could be city block, or city, or region…. or even country.

But in my example I was bit more focussed in “playing same room”. And I don’t want strangers to break in playing my playstation games while I sleep. Or I’d use my Rock Throwing skills.