How Board Game Geek Helped Make Board Games More Inclusive
How Board Game Geek Helped Make Board Games More Inclusive
How Board Game Geek Helped Make Board Games More Inclusive
By Aaron Trammell
April 20, 2023
Summary
Board Game Geek could use behavioral data to curate lists that helped users better discern what exciting games were to them.
Board Game Geek is a website that aspires to be the worldwide locus of all board game data.
Like on Reddit, on Board Game Geek enthusiasts maintain a profile where they can list, rank, and review the contents of their board game collection; contribute to game-specific forums that contain reviews, errata, news, play logs, design notes, articles about strategy, and images; participate in user- and company-driven giveaways and contests; trade and sell games from their collection; buy games from other users through the site's market or linked marketplaces like Amazon and eBay; manage a blog; advertise their projects and local conventions; and access a majority of the site's user-populated database to conduct quantitative research on board games.
Since its development in 2000, Board Game Geek has achieved creator Scott Alden's ambition of being the "Worldwide definitive resource for board games." The reviews on the site drive the board game industry.
A more accessible iteration of the above formula persists on Board Game Geek.
Debates around colonization and slavery in board games are endemic, with many users dismissing critiques of these themes in board games.
Even though Board Game Geek is far more accessible than the paper fanzines and magazines that have historically been the home of hobby gaming, the techniques of exclusion that have been cultivated in paper magazines continue to shape who is encouraged to participate to this day.
Reference
Trammel, A. (2023, April 20). How board game geek helped make board games more inclusive. Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/how-board-game-geek-helped-make-board-games-more-inclusive/