Game Distro Games Blog

Grand Theft Auto Emulators

Gaming

I’ve been a mentor in the local schools for eight years. There have been some happy times and some sad times, but what happened yesterday was the most devastating. When I arrived, my mentee was eager to tell me what had happened to him at the library. He goes there almost every day after school to play an online game with his pals. He has been working on his prized character for about two years for two to four hours a day. That’s a lot of work. I can’t help wondering what else could have been accomplished with that amount of energy, but never mind.

This twelve-year old boy was practically in tears as he sputtered what had transpired. It involved grand theft and ransom. It seems that some Junior High school larcenists had purloined his prized game avatar and stolen all its attributes that had taken two years to acquire. How would you feel if someone absconded with something you had so laboriously created? It’s akin to child theft.

As he was finishing his tale of woe, his buddy walked into my office, which is really a closet, and unleashed his even sadder story. It seems that not only had his character been stolen but horror of horrors, turned into a female. To make matters worse, all of the avatar’s hard-earned attributes had been stripped away in a cruel act of malicious mischief.

But, it was more than just malicious mischief. The Junior High library larcenists had given these grammar school guys 24 hours to fork over 25 bucks if they wanted their avatars back intact, and time was running out.

How were these Junior High hooligans able to perpetrate this kidnapping? Turns out that the gullible grade school guys gave them their passwords because the big bullies promised to use their superior skills to improve the younger guys’ characters. How magnanimous. But how could they be so evil? Maybe it’s from playing games like Grand Theft Auto IV. Do you think?

Here were two demoralized and depressed grade-schoolers needing justice and not knowing where to turn. Neither boy had a father, and I guess they looked to me as the next best thing. I think they just wanted me to kick those bullies’ butts. I rose to the occasion by calling the library director on my Windows Mobile phone to make an appointment to discuss the matter right after school that day. I wondered if I should call my lawyer and the chief of police too. These junior hijackers needed to be brought to justice. They needed a good spanking, but who would administer it? Maybe it would be a far crueler punishment to banish them from the library and trash their avatars. That would show them.

At the library after school, we waited for the culprits to appear. When they did, we descended on them like a pack of jackals. Of course they denied everything and said they were just kidding about the ransom fee.

To save the day and resolve the situation, I proposed that the self-proclaimed innocents restore characters of equal prowess at their earliest convenience or suffer the consequences. The consequences I hinted were library banishment, telling their parents, informing the police, and possible legal action because they had committed serious crimes. I wanted them to be aware of the gravity of their transgressions.

Librarians, what would you do if this kind of thing happened at your library? By the way, the Junior High guys physically threatened the little guys if they did not turn over the computers.

Educators, Parents, Law enforcement officials and legal beagles, any comment?

I also wonder how other kids in this age range would feel about this situation and how they would react if it happened to them. Actually I understand that it is not all that uncommon. It’s sort of an online fact of life, part of living in the real world of cyberspace.

Now, dear reader, how do you feel about this situation? Do you think a real crime has been committed that involves grand theft and kidnapping? To establish grand theft, there usually has to be stolen property of a certain monetary value. You could argue that an avatar has no real monetary value, but neither does a junker car, but if stolen would be grand theft. How much value could you put on something that took two years to create? Stealing a personal creation with human and super-human attributes and holding it for ransom is a form of kidnapping. Should we call in the FBI? At the very least, it’s identity theft.

Actually, there is real value that can be attached to avatar assets. There are people out there making a handsome living selling game commodities online to those who do not have the time or inclination to earn them. The lazy ones are willing to pay real bucks for online game assets. The commodity brokers rarely generate the goods themselves. Instead, they organize nerd sweatshops in places like Mexico and China and pay chump change for the services of the foreign miners and sell the results for mucho wampum online. So, you see, one could argue legally that grand theft has been committed here. Should the perpetrators be tried as minors or adults?

I just hope these digital delinquents don’t grow up to be adult thieves and kidnappers–they are not off to a good start. The line between online crimes perpetrated in games like Grand Theft Auto IV, and the real world can be transparent and present a whole new moral paradigm for the younger generation–a paradigm that our education and legal systems are perhaps not yet equipped to deal with.

Keep connected!

Scrabble Tips and Strategies

Gaming

Scrabble is one of the most played games in the world. People from all walks of life play this game for the intellect, strategy, and fun it provides. You can learn so many new words from this game alone. We all start as beginners at one time or another. But, many have difficulty advancing to the higher levels. There are a few basic tips that will help improve your game dramatically if you are willing to try.

The one biggest component that will increase your score is learning all the two letter words. These are extremely important to know since you can create multiple word strings. In addition, these words can be used as hooks for larger words, such as bingos. There are many lists of these words in books and on the internet. I would advise to memorize them as much as you can.

Prefixes and suffixes are important to know for the creation of large words. Try to learn as many of these as possible. Some include re-, de-, un-, be-, -er, -ier, -iest, and -ing. It will be much easier to formulate words, such as bingos, by knowing many prefixes and suffixes.

Hooks are another aspect of the game that can be overlooked. Hooks are additions to words that are already on the board. Examples include o-give, o-vine, a-mice, bred-e, person-a, retina-e, and so on. When the board gets jammed, knowing many hooks, particularly obscure ones, can help you to open up the board and score big points.

Utilizing the bonus tiles can generate a massive amount of points. For instance, placing the letter x on a double or triple letter twice can boost your score. The idea is to use high scoring letters twice on these bonus tiles by forming multiple connecting words. Of course, memorizing as many three, four, five, and six letter words will come in handy in addition to the bingo words.

Rack management can be the key between winning and losing. Make sure you have a steady and even flow of consonants and vowels throughout the game. Also, memorize many words that utilize a lot of consonants or vowels in case your rack becomes one-sided. Knowing when to give up a slightly higher play for a better rack the following turn can also improve game performance.

Scrabble can be an extremely fun and productive game. It is no wonder that it continues to be the world’s # 1 word game. You gain many benefits from playing with others. I certainly hope this advice will help you to become a better scrabble player!

Ways on How to Download Tycoon Games

Gaming

Different online games now come with superb effects especially when you choose to download tycoon games. Online gamers can get a chance to create their own concept of events and interact with the virtual world.

When you download tycoon games you will definitely enjoy different graphics and visuals that seemed real. These games have realistic and authentic designs like different environment settings, weather conditions and land geography. All of these are some of the perks that you can get when you choose to play tycoon games.

A perfect example of a tycoon game is the Roller Coaster tycoon. This amusement has 3 parks, 3 roller coasters and a whole lot more that you can choose to modify. However, there are some people who would opt to buy these games on sales or game stores.

If you wish to do so, the prices are $25-$30 or it can also be less than this value. Upon installing it, you can convert everything and make your own settings. It can be a zoo, amusement park, or a combination of both. This will all depend on how creative you are and how you would want the whole game to look like. All of these are limitless and are beyond your control.

There will also be available links when you fail to have your newly purchase tycoon game match with Vista. These links will open a blank web page and a download tycoon games window. From there, you would have to click the open button and extract it to the original folder. When you’re done, click on the new or create shortcut to desk top. When you create new shortcut make certain to delete the old one to have a smooth download.

When all of these things are done in an appropriate manner, this will be the time for you to close all the programs and click on restart. There will be times when you will encounter adversities when you download tycoon games; however the best this to do is to install it again or visit other online forums that will give you insights and other related topics regarding tycoon games download.

Tycoon games are good online games for the whole family that will not only strengthen your ties as family but will also enhance your skills in managing your finances as well as your problem solving abilities.

All of these can be learned when you visit my site. Get to know of other tips to download tycoon games the simple way.

Davion is a game fanatic. Join him and millions of gamers as they grab hold of the latest and full version game downloads at the most popular game downloading site among online gamers. Also read another interesting article about how to download full PC games.

Making A Great Video Game!

Gaming

When making a great game there are a number of factors that need to be considered if your game is to survive in a market full of great game designs. Below are listed a few of the more important factors that need to be considered when designing a great game.

Game Graphics:

It is a common misconception that the best games are based on the best graphics. While having great graphics, this factor alone will not make a great game when other factors are not up to standards that match the graphics. However, having said this, it is fair to say that when combined with other equally important game design factors, great graphics can certainly give a game an advantage over other games with lower quality graphics. A few examples of this are the graphics rich worlds of such games as Halo, Myst, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Star Wars, and this is just a few of many games that might be considered to have great graphics. So it is safe to assume that one factor that is vital towards a good game, but that needs to be combined with other equally important factors, id for the game to have great graphics.

Gameplay:

This factor is also a very important game design factor as it covers the point of playing the game, the goal that is to be achieved and the possible interactions between elements of the game such as objects or Non Playable Characters. While a game must have a decent gameplay and storyline, again this fact will not make a great game by itself. When mixed with great graphics however, these two factors will give a game an edge above the competition. Gameplay can be either a simple process or a very complex process and still make a great game, as we can see when we compare the game ‘Tetris’ to the game “Final Fantasy”. Both games were smash hits that have so far remained in many peoples list of great games. Gameplay in itself has many facets that contribute towards the entire Gameplay factor, that we will not explore here, but to name a few, a game designer would consider such things as, Storyline, alternative choices, natural physics, player interaction, etc etc. So again, we can see that this factor alone will not necessarily make a great game but will definitely contribute towards a great game when combined with other important game design factors.

Game Sound:

The Game Sound factor in game design is pretty much on par with Game Graphics. The quality of sound in a game can help determine a good game or not. Examples of this can be found in some of the earliest classics, when we think about games like Zelda or the ancient Atari game called Frogger. Many of us can think of an old game that we can still clearly remember the game music to, granted some were anooying, but most were catchy and addictive. Then coming forward in game history we get to games that rely heavily on the game sound experience, such as games like Silent Hill or F.E.A.R. These games would not be nearly as good as they currently are if they had lesser quality sound. And so again we see another important factor that needs to be added to a game to make it a great game.

Re Playability:

This factor of game design has advanced dramatically over the years of game design, as the goals and aims of our games have become more and more advanced and in depth. To illustrate this point I will take you back again in game history to the old classic ‘Tetris’. This game, and others in this category, were designed so that you play and set a record for that game, and then you play again and try to better that record. Whether it be higher points, longer time surviving, further progress through the game, or another type of score increase, ultimately your only end goal is to beat the score that has been set as best score. Then in later game history we began to see more advanced Re Playability in game designs with the concept of strategy games, where a player makes a decision that then decides how the game shall continue from that point onwards. Some of the great games of todays gaming history that illustrate advanced Re Playability models are such games as LOTR, where once you have played the game as a good guy, you can then replay all the levels as a bad guy, as is similarly found in the Star Wars games and many other games in this genre, Another type of Re Playability is also found in some of the newer Star Wars games and a popular game named ‘Deus Ex - Invisible War’, where the choices made by the player determine the direction that the storyline will take, meaning that every time you play it you have options of making different choices that don’t result in death all the time but instead reshape the way the story unfolds to the player. This game factor is indeed another very important factor to be combined to make a great game.

Additional Factors:

A few other small issues that can make a game a great game that may also be combined with the above factors are listed here. First of all, there is Character development. As you progress further through the game, your opponents need to get more and more challenging. As the opponents are getting slowly stronger it is a natural conclusion that you want your character to grow with your opponents. The better games seem to give you many different areas of your character that you may swap out or reconfigure or upgrade, etc etc, to further enhance your characters capabilities. This allows a player to mould their character into a more personalised character, someone that the player can connect with on some level.

Another consideration when trying to design a great game is the skill level required to play the game. For a long time, people, usually from the older generations who never grew up alongside computers, tend to say that they do not like a particular game because there are too many buttons and it is too complicated. This thought occurs at many different levels for different players and is a factor that should be considered by the designer of any game. The interface between user and game is very important.

As well as this, the designer might like to think also about how hard the overall game interface is to master and also the game itself. In a game such as monopoly the advantageous factor is luck, in that even a child may be the winner of monopoly if their luck holds out, while a game like checkers, for example requires skill and planning or tactics. So what skills are needed to complete the game is also a considerably important factor towards a great game.

Another important factor to consider when making a good game is the duration of each level within the game, or of the game itself. Although a good game might take a very long time to complete, generally the stages are not spaced to far apart. Game Saves are an important factor when thinking about this. Does the game allow the user to save regularly at the players will, or does the player have to get to a strategic location to use a Game Save. Also how far apart and what position each Game Save is at is also a very important factor. Nobody likes to work their way through a stage for half an hour, to be then faced by a massive battle that ultimately has the save game point on the other end of the battle. This will frustrate your player when they die in the battle and the previous save game is all the way back at the start of the level.

Finally and to conclude this article on good game design. One of the most important factors and one that on some merits can be at least or more than 50% of your games success, is originality. Players get excited when they are faced with new systems. Not only do they wonder whether they can master this system and complete the goal of the game, but also, if it is a good system that in some way seems to be advantageous over other systems on the market, will always hook a player. An example of opposing systems can be seen in first person shooter games where the focus was primarily on the shooter as seen from a third person view or a first person view. This seemed to be the most dominant system for shooter games, until the emergence of games such as Swat and Full Spectrum Warrior. In Swat the system makes a change in that if you were to open a door in the game you have options on the way you can open that door. You may walk up and open it yourself, you may order team members to move forward and open it. You can also open the door using different techniques such as breach and bang, meaning to open the door and toss in a grenade before moving in to clear the room. In Full Spectrum Warrior we see the system change again in that your four man team now has to move around the area by way of making tactical formations around objects. These are just two great variants of Unique Systems.

In summary, a good game does not seem to be defined by any one single factor as seen above, but instead, seems to rely upon the successful combination of successful design factor. The few listed above are by no means all the factors that need to be thought about when making a great game, however, they are certainly some of the more prominent factors.

Video and Computer Games that Sharpen Math Skills

Gaming

Working with numbers improves concentration, problem solving skills, memory, focus and general clarity of thought. And there is great news for gamers young and old! Video and computer games are rich with numbers! I have done some research to hone in on the games that utilize math skills to a greater extent.

Computer Games are generally less expensive and a bit more versatile. They are usual sought after by a slightly younger audience. By younger I am referring to school age children. being that a very large portion of video game users are adult males! So I will start with a review of a couple of math focused computer games that I feel are of good quality. Math Munchers Deluxe by The Learning Company reinforces math skills by encouraging problem solving through gaming in areas of whole numbers, decimals, factors and simple geometry. Mighty Math by Edmark teaches geometry concepts using math and and problem solving-solving skills. Students explore attributes of shapes and solids, constructions and transformations, 2D and 3D coordinates, and the relationships between length, perimeter, area, and volume. Teaching Pro: Middle and Highschool Math by Mathsoft has comprehensive coverage to insure students learn math concepts and understand how math is utilized in the real world. The program includes focus in Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry, and Trigonometry. It meets mandated curriculum standards in all states!

There are many math focused games readily available online. Suduko revolves around attempting to fill in a grid so that each line contains the numbers one through nine only once. This games is a widely known addictive brain teaser. It is a great game for sharpening math skills and is available for free on numerous websites and downloadable for your cell phone! Timez Attack is real video game created by the same engineers who have worked on Play Station games. The object of the game is to your way through the dungeon maze and foil those who would get in your way. You will develop your math skills while defeating a host of challenging obstacles and characters. The base version of this game is free at big online. The full length version is also available.

Nintendo offers a game called Math Play for the DS. This game encourages the player to create equations in four different game modules by arranging numbered cards. There are a variety of difficulty levels. There is also competitive multiplayer action and addictive puzzle play.

Donkey Kong Jr. Math has received mixed reviews. By mixed I mean not so great. It is one of the only math specific games however, that my search turned up for GameCube or Wii. When dealing with the game consoles, such as PS2, Gamecube or Wii I would choose puzzle games which are more abundant and tend to require math skill.

Working with numbers keeps many of our skills sharp including problem solving and improves general clarity of thought. Video and computer games are rich with numbers whether they are geared to be a math games or not. Research has brought a few games that focus on math to the surface so they might catch your eye more easily in the future!

Will DirectX 10 Be Good For Gaming?

Gaming

DirectX 10 is the current talk of the town in PC gaming. The promises that DX10 have made has breathed new life into PC gaming that routinely called a dying breed. It is touted as bringing a new era to PC gaming. Is all this buzz really worth getting excited about? Let’s take a look…

With any brand new technology that is introduced, there is always a period where the rest of the industry needs to play catch up. It takes time before it is fully taken advantage of the way it was planned. But how long to PC gamers truly have to wait until DX10 comes into full fruition?

How long will it take before DX10 can bring gamers those amazing graphics they drool over in screenshots and videos to their own PC’s in their own homes? To the layman, all of it can be very confusing. New buzz words and terms come out every year and getting a grip on what they all mean can be very demanding.

First off, what exactly is DirectX? It is a development tool made by Microsoft that lets developers make games with higher performance. Anthing from the graphics, sound, and even network functionality is developed through DirectX. There have been many revisions of DirectX, each bring about new techniques for eye candy and better performance. And now with Vista, we have DX10. Each interation brings us closer to having true gaming realism.

Within DirectX are what are called API’s. This stands for application programming interface. They act as a bridge that allows the software and hardware to communicate with each other. They are what allow our games to bring us the graphics and sound we know and love.

Hardware makers like nVidia are now creating GPU’s with tons more capability and power than we’ve seen in the past. Video cards like the GeForce 8800 provide better image quality and can even process video for Blu-ray playback. So DirectX 10 is not just for gamers, being able to process Blu-ray videos will give any entertainment enthusiast something to cheer about.

Gaming computer makers are also now creating computers that come with these DirectX 10 capable cards.Companies like Alienware, Dell, and Vigor are now in full swing in carrying a fleet of DirectX 10 capable computers.

But all this hardware isn’t any good without the games to run on all of it. But don’t worry. There is a whole slew of DirectX 10 capable games out now and even more are scheduled to come out in the next year. Some of the biggest games of 2007 were DX10 capable. Crysis and World in Conflict to name a couple award winners.

One of the biggest advantages that DX10 provides is power it gives to developers to develop better games easier and faster. This is good for the gamer as we’ll be seeing a much wider variation in games and more to choose from all of which provide a better experience.

So is DirectX 10 still worth all of the buzz in the end? Absolutely. But, it will definitely take some time before the gaming industry catches on and us gamers see the results were are looking for. With all new technology, it takes time before you see the results that the original designers had envisioned. But, rest assured we’ll be there soon!

Gaming Communities For One And All

Gaming

Online gaming has become a community on its own. Gaming communities online have the ability to conduct in-game chats as well as invitations so that players could be invited to the new multi-player games. It has gradually developed into a social network that is participated by players from all over that gather on a single and common platform.

This industry has actually become one of the fast growing entertainment sectors. It has even slowly outdone films when you talk about revenue generation. The past trends have shown online gaming can definitely be considered as a social activity, as the mere act of playing any game, whether online or offline, can help in the building of relationships as well as social hierarchies.

When talking about online games, we usually refer to those video games which are played in some kind of computer network and are usually played over the Internet. These online games could be the simple text-based games or they could be the ones with the complex graphics and effects that have virtual worlds that many players could play in simultaneously. As a result, online games, have fast transformed into online communities that deal with all kinds of social activities.

In the past, gaming communities just consisted of members who had the money to spend for the membership and installation fees, but today, gaming communities encompass all types of gamers from the young ones to seniors. It has given a lot of people the opportunity to reach out to all kinds of people from all areas of the globe.

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The Basics Of Starting Your Own Gaming Clan

Gaming

They say 75% of all startup companies fail within their first 2 years. This is also true with clans, only perhaps even more clans fail than companies. I would say the percentage is probably somewhere around the 85%-90% mark. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already taken into consideration running your own gaming clan. I will say, as a former leader of my own for around 3 years, this is no easy task. There are certain things you have to ask yourself before you begin, that will ultimately lead to either the demise or rise of your new organization;

Questions to ask yourself: (So you don’t end up wasting your time :))

#1) Do I have enough time? To successfully lead a large clan in this day and age, you need to plan to devote at least the time you would to a part time job. Especially during startup. I would say that you should plan for a minimum of 20 hours per week, and as high as 40 during startup.

#2) Am I alone? You will never be able to get a clan off the ground on your own. Starting a clan takes a team-wide effort. You will need a minimum of 3-4 VERY dedicated members to help you get this thing on its feet. The more the merrier.

#3) Am I/my founding members mature enough? Age certainly comes into play as a leader. You have to be willing to put up with alot of bullshit. You will hear alot of complaining. Maturity is certainly a necessity. I have never seen a clan successfully run by a 13 year old.

#4) Do I have the motivation to put in the effort? You can have all time in the world, but if you don’t do anything with it, you get no where. You had better plan for those 20 hours per week, to be 20 hours of work. If you sit around and chat for 10 of those you’re getting nowhere.

If you answered all these questions in the correct manner then you have just met the basic requirements of being a clan leader. There are literally hundreds of other things that play into a clan being successful. Now, to get started:

First, decide what kind of clan you want.

You and your founding members must decide the basics about the type of clan you are preparing to found. All decisions are relative to what game you play. (Typically first person shooters like counter strike will not be looking for large numbers on the member list. Real Time Strategy and MMORPG’s also have different sets of core values). Do you want alot of members? Small amount? Will there be ranks? If so how many? Will you be using the standard military ranks, or going for something original? Once the ranks issue is decided, then you must decide which founding members will hold what place in the ranking system. This can get sticky, so try to be as democratic about it as possible. I would suggest having only you, as the founding leader be the commander (or comparable rank), and perhaps let all other founding members be your general staff.

Tip: Save transcripts of all meetings, and keep them for a later date, or to post on your message board later.

Once these things are decided, you begin to create.

Open a website.

Make sure that you have your own .com/.net/.org domain for your clan, and a pay-per-month hosting plan. (This can be purchased at godaddy.com).

The website is the most crucial piece of any clan. The website, or perhaps even more importantly, the forum/message board gives your members a place to chat and get to know each other outside of the game. It gives your clan more of a community feel to it. Your site should, at minimum, have a page devoted to news, rules, members, and a message board for chatting. It is absolutely imperative that you have a message board. Oftentimes, your webhost will have message boards that can be automatically set up in the cpanel.

Make your website look as professional as possible. Do your best to make sure it is neat and orderly, and has a minimal amount of spelling mistakes. The more seriously you take yourself, the more seriously potential members will take you.

Find your place in-game

Depending on what game you are launching this clan for, there are certain steps that need to be taken in order for you to have a meeting spot for your members in-game. For Counter-Strike, and other first person shooters, you must purchase a server. But, for the rest of this article, I will assume you are a battle.net clan. In which case, you must get a clan channel. It really does matter if you have a Clan ______ channel, or an Op _______ channel. Just make sure one of your founding members can keep a bot sitting on ops (ops controls the channel, can kick/ban) 24/7. Make sure that you trust this person, and in fact, it is even best if you yourself hold ops. Make sure this bot is able to delegate out power to others in the channel.

Recruit.

Depending on how you answered your questions earlier regarding the size of the potential clan, you begin recruiting in a number of ways. Most clans like to start off recruiting as many people as possible. Make sure to tell each and every recruit about your website.

Post on Forums about your newly founded clan, and let them know that moving up is an option.
Make recruitment games to reach out to new members. Always have your best player online at the time play the potential members.
When playing alone, make sure to ask anyone you encounter that is of the appropriate skill level, if they would be interested in joining.

Essentially, in creating a clan, you are a salesman. You dress up your website in it’s finest business attire to attract the most business-like crowd. You have to SELL your clan to every potential member, and make them excited to join. The best members are always the ones who were excited from the get-go.

All potential clan-leaders have been provided enough info in this basics to get going. Please refer to our other articles for more in-depth looks at how to successfully run your clan.

Strategy Board Games

Gaming

Strategy games require a great deal of thinking in order for the player to win. Not only do the players need to analyze their move, but they also need to anticipate the moves of their opponent. Besides that, they also need to anticipate the outcome of several moves in the future. The immense importance of thinking ahead and applying the present and past situation to anticipate the future outcome, separates strategy games from many other games in general.

For example, Snakes and Ladders are hardly seen as a challenge for most adults. This is because the game is purely contingent. The roll of the dice determines the fate of the player, and there is no need to think things through. It is only the sheer suspense of it that this game is still popular amongst children.

Strategy games, on the other hand, rely heavily on how a person think things through, applying analysis, logic so a player can study the opponent, predict his or her moves, and eventually win the game.

War and Strategy

Today, strategy games, or sometimes war games, are more commonly associated with video games such as Red Alert or WarCraft. However, way before the advent of video games in present times, strategizing has been used in board games. If fact, it can be traced back to the mid-2000 B.C. with board games like Go.

Some people may ask why strategy games are more associated with war games. The analogy can be asserted by history. War and strategy go hand in hand. A general who cannot strategize well will lose his battles and suffer other considerable losses.

For example, the aforementioned game of Go is a virtual microcosm of a battle, or even a war. Several scholars have theorized that the game Go came from Chinese generals and tribal warlords who used the pieces of stone to make a visual representation of their attacking positions. They, in turn, could map out what will happen in the battlefield.

The correlation of war and strategy is especially evident in the game of chess. All pieces hold true military significance at the time of the game’s creation, which was around the 6th century A.D. Checkers is also patterned on strategy and war board games, utilizing the player’s quick-wittedness to overcome and defeat the opponent.

Other games that fall under this category are backgammon, Stratego, Game of the Generals, Battleship, and many more.

Investors and Murderers

Strategy board games have also evolved into more placid games. One great example is Monopoly. A game of real estate, investing, and many more is considered as the most popular board game in the world. Despite the fact that the player’s pace is controlled by the dice, it still needs a great deal of strategizing in order to overcome the opponent. This is where smart investing, and at times luck, comes in-much like in real life. By strategizing with a business sense, the player can easily ruin their opponents’ finances.

Clue is another game that demands strategizing. Players need to find the murderer among them. In this dizzying and confusing game, a player needs to outsmart everyone to know who the real murderer is. But lies, secrecy and confusion can easily leave players scratching their heads, until, of course, they are killed. Thinking ahead and speculating, like the rules of strategy, can definitely help the player.

There are a lot of great board games out there that require strategizing. The problem with today is that people are now more drawn into the video game types. Classic strategy board games like chess or checkers are actually more challenging to the mind. Contemporary ones influence interaction between family and friends. Video games don’t exactly encourage conversation, so try strategy board games more often.

The Personal Health Benefits of Roleplaying

Gaming

Most people look at roleplaying as a game, a hobby, something to pass the time with friends. Few people understand or care about the therapeutic benefits of roleplaying. Gamers are, as a whole, less stressed out than their non roleplaying counterparts. Why? Because they can immerse themselves in a fantasy world every game night and solve problems by either slaughtering or outwitting their enemies. Their characters are heroes, better than the player physically, mentally, or in appearance. The character is everything that the player wishes to be.

I know that some of you will object to the above statement. Some players don’t need the ego boost of playing a character that makes up for their own deficiencies. Some people will even object to use of the “fantasy world” that I stated all players go to because they play sci fi or horror. I use the word “fantasy” because you are playing in a make believe world, even if the game is set in your home town.

This past year has taught me an awful lot about the awesome power that roleplayers enjoy. The power of relieving stress and grief. Being able to work out whatever emotion that you are dealing with at any given time, with almost any character.

My childhood was so abusive that I don’t remember more than flashbacks before the age of 12. I didn’t start roleplaying until I was 15. At that time I had no friends at all. I was the quiet kid who sat in the back of the classroom and read or drew fantasy pictures.

It took a boy named Robert Strange several tries to even get me to attempt this new roleplaying thing that he had started experimenting with. Like most beginners, he was extremely enthusiastic about the game and felt that I’d be a natural with the amount of books that I read and my art work.

Eventually I tried it and was immediately hooked.

That first session was so retarded that I’m not even going to describe it here. But I could tell that the potential for storytelling was huge and I was hooked immediately.

Within a month I was running my own games.

Roleplaying through High School forced me to be social. It forced me to come out of my shell and to learn to deal with other people, who were usually annoying. I made friends then that I still have today. Roleplaying also taught me the art of storytelling and problem solving. I am a quick thinker and can immediately come up with two or three ways to solve most problems that aren’t mathematical in nature.

I thought that I had learned everything that roleplaying had to teach. As I grew older, got married, and started having kids, roleplaying became a social gathering with friends that occurred once or twice a week. The roleplaying aspect lost it’s importance and we just enjoyed having company over. After running games for 15 years straight, I decided to play for a while and found a friend named Eric to run Shadowrun for us. After a rather rough start, he has performed admirably and we’ve been playing for over a year now.

Our games consist of friends, either home cooked dinners or fast food, depending on who is supplying dinner that night, our children running around, rough housing with our dog, jokes, laughter, gas, and a little bit of actual roleplaying.

My daughter Kathryn loved roleplaying nights. She was the light of the party and played with everyone. She wanted a character, but she was only six years old and we said no. But she’d roll our dice, get us drinks from the fridge, and generally made herself as useful as possible. Once she even started washing dishes because we said that our house was too messy to have people over that night.

Talk about motivation! Our six year old daughter shamed us into cleaning the house in an hour and we got everyone over and played for hours.

Last September, Kathryn accidentally hung herself with her brother’s teddy bear’s scarf from the end of his bunkbed. It took her until the end of December to die. During that time my wife and I had to deal with well meaning but stupid family and friends. Some family members caused so many problems that we had to eject them from the hospital and our lives, permanently. Social services were involved due to the type and seriousness of the injury and that brought about it’s own kind of stress.

Kathryn was in the hospital for almost two months before she came home. Once at home, I became her primary caretaker. I operated and maintained her feeding machine, gave her whatever medicine was needed at different times (she was on so many drugs that we had to keep a log book in order to remember everything), bathe her, and maintain the house.

I was also caring for our two boys, who witnessed the accident.

Kathryn’s body eventually shut down and she died three months after the accident on the last day of 2007 while resting in the arms of my wife and I.

During those three months, the pressure and stress grew so great that OUR bodies started shutting down. My wife grew sick and never recovered until very recently. I became a cripple, with stress aggravating old injuries to my knee and back until I couldn’t walk without a can and medication. After Kathryn died, the stress grew even more intense as we dealt with grief and our boy’s grief and fear. Social services came at us with a vengeance and other problems started manifesting. I didn’t have a job, financially we were screwed, and my wife had to drag herself to work every morning when all she wanted to do was curl up and cry.

How do you help a 4 and 2 year old deal with witnessing their older sister accidentally hanging herself and then dying after three months of seeing her all crippled up and wasting away?

How do you help your children while fighting through your own grief, rage, guilt, and depression?

Roleplaying has been our lifeline. We started playing again in February. Donning the personality and world view of another person, immersing myself in their world, killing bad guys and monsters (my older son sees bad guys and monsters everywhere now, his way of dealing with his sister’s death. He sits with me watching us play and rolling our dice while we kill bad guys. Those nights he has very few nightmares), being young and fierce and able to move and fight in ways that I will never be able to do.

Suicide has lurked in the back of my mind since the accident. But I had my wife and children to think of. Social services decided to remove me from my home last month as a precaution until the police investigation concludes. Suicide became a very real option at that point. I was gripped in a depression so deep that I couldn’t see a way out and didn’t care if I made it or not.

After missing the first week of gaming my friends decided that intervention was in order and dragged me to the next game. I immediately improved. My depression lifted a bit, my health improved to the point where I can walk without a cane, and I was able to find a job.

Every time that I play, I feel better, my mind clears up a bit, and I am healthier both mentally and physically than I was before the game. The power of gaming has eased my depression to manageable levels, something that I didn’t think possible.

I’ve know dozens of people who had to fight depression. I’ve known hundreds more who have a hard time dealing with stress, grief, or heartache. I just want you to know how much of a benefit roleplaying can be. That way, you can be the intervening force that helps someone recover from their inner demons.

Thank you Eric, for running an engaging game. Thank you Brian, Cole, and Freddy, for helping me roleplay.