Urgent: Our games are dull and getting duller...

[Tyrion Cheddar]

With the exception of one or two, like the Devil's Dictionary, I find the games to be, in the words of John Cleese in a famous Python sketch, "Dull, dull, boring, dull, boring, boring and dull." They're lame and have been going on for too long in any case. My main objection is that most of them are simply lists, which is neither stimulating nor represents a challenge to the mind. I'd like to see us start phasing those ones out and introducing more difficult, challenging and creative ones. For example, the collaborative story games in which there are certain limits to what one can write, those are good. What I keep thinking of is that clever, educated creative people must have engaged in many intellectual games involving words and humor back when all they had was paper and pencil, and that imposing a similar limitation on ourselves mentally might bring some of that back. Forces you to be witty and all that. What say you all?

[Pompey Bum]

There are some more intelligent games in the back pages of the Games Forum (and others that are just as lame). My memory is that we used to play those games before my last hiatus, and that somehow the simpler games had taken over by the time I got back (but the old days always look better). You may want to dig around there and see what you find. You may also want to add a few of your own, since that's usually the best way to deal with this kind of issue. I'll try and turn up a few, too.

As far as the lame games go, I too find them irritating, especially when long strings of them drive posts off the What's New page. I even considered starting a parody thread called Random Word Game, but I didn't want to hurt feelings. But the fact is that some people like playing them, and they have as much right to enjoy themselves here as we do. Also not everyone's native language is English, so some may find them more challenging than others. And let's face it, there are plenty of people here who find my style and opinions a little irritating, including those I like and respect (' evening, JR! :) ). So my credo is: irritate and let irritate. No one should stop playing the lame games here just because TC and I don't like them.

And if no one posts on the ones I revive, then start one your damned self. (:) ). That or it's back to: q--I'm quixotic!

[Danik 2016]

I agree that both kinds of games should cohexist. When I entered the forum I myself found the games page dull, but then I discovered that they are an excellent exercise in English. On the other hand it is often difficult for an not native to create a parody of an slang expression which he doesn´t understand.
And I myself had a suprise. I created a game called "food chain" which is indeed very simple and many people enjoyed and still enjoy it.

[Sancho]

Well, my goose berry eating friend, we had a pretty good story tread going at one point until somebody got their panties in a twist and deleted most of their posts.