Warmachine: Spoilage
Is there such a thing as too many spoilers? Has play slowed in your meta?
Chalkboard here from Chalkboard War, with a quick thought about how players handle the imminent arrival of a new edition of a game.
Privateer Press’ announcement of a new edition (Mark III) of Warmachine and Hordes has been met with mostly celebration. The current edition has been around long enough that it’s not “too soon”, a problem that certain other 800-pound gorilla in the room gaming companies have run afoul of in the past. Most players agreed that the core of the game was great but that some balancing was needed to make some pieces more competitive, and restore more variety to the meta.
However, as always with edition changes, Privateer Press is now in a spot where the release of the new edition is in the horizon, and that changes their communication with the gaming community. Late April and all of May is a time when the new edition is dominating their news cycle. Privateer Press has chosen to slowly release previews of different units, models, rules changes, and rules retained. Many in the community are calling them spoilers (not sure that’s the proper term, but I’ll defer for now). And those spoilers have created a huge energy in the online mediums where the game is discussed. Privateer Press’ own forums, all the various Facebook groups that serve the game and different factions (I’m a member of two different Skorne groups alone), and Reddit all pulse with activity with each release of spoiler information. Then the same is happening with all the local groups–both in person when we gather and our coordination tools on social media. It seems to be all anyone is talking about, and we’re talking a lot as Privateer Press is slowly and incrementally releasing these spoilers.
And coming. And coming. And coming.
Yet I’ve noticed something occurring simultaneous to all the spoilers. Play has really slowed, not just in my area but it’s being reported by a lot of people everywhere. Turnout at a recent Steamroller in my area was roughly 1/3 normal. I’ve seen enough comments from Press Gangers across the world suggesting that they’re having to work a bit harder and be more thoughtful about their events to keep people showing up. In my own area, we launched an inclusive map campaign with a lot of prizes and rewards along the way to give people a reason to keep showing up.
Some of the slow in play it can be attributed to the new edition itself: people may say “well, I might as well wait until then to play”. But what I really think is at the heart of it is the way the spoilers are being handled by Privateer Press.
Having a new set of things to have to read and think about every couple of days honestly takes a lot of gaming energy. The conceptual “time” the player spends with the game is dramatically increased. We’re frantically reading insiders, messaging on the boards, sharing the newest spoiler with others, and playing sleuth about what changes might be coming. And all of those things take energy.
There’s a concept called “slacktivism” that’s starting to be studied in psychology and media behavior. The basic idea is that if a person likes or shares a post about a charity, a politician, or a cause, that’s enough to make the person feel like they did something. We get a sense of “well, I helped” because we actually took an action (clicking a button)–even if minuscule. And the worrisome thing to scholars who study the idea is that it may lead to decreased levels of other support for the charity, politician, or cause. Because I somehow already have the feeling of having “done” something, as our minds may not discriminate magnitude of action particularly well.
The Ice Bucket Challenge being a particularly interesting case of taking an “action”
I guess I wonder whether the slow in play is in part because we, as Warmachine and Hordes players, are spending so much time taking “actions” with each and every spoiler. We’re spending hours each week engaging with the game, with the rules, with the ideas. Does that diminish desire to play? Have we already played enough, without ever setting a miniature on the table? I’ve wondered this a while about net-listing and certain games that draw many more hobbyists than players. Drawing out a potential list is also an “action” and thus could feel the same way. And all of this is dramatically increased with the choice Privateer Press has made in releasing the spoilers the way that they do. The hype is fun and exciting, but is it decreasing play? Even more than simply the “I’m going to wait two months to play another game because a new edition is coming” effect? Hard to prove, so hence the question being raised.
The good news is that I’m certain a huge burst of gaming will happen when the new edition comes out. This isn’t doom and gloom, as I think all signs (so far) point to this being a decision handled well by Privateer Press, with lots of new Warmachine and Hordes products that look open and accessible to new players while being fun for established long-time players as well. Already my usual gaming circles are making claims about “I’m starting X or Y faction in the new edition” and that alone bodes well for the health of the game as a whole. It’s more of a concern that gaming companies might want to keep the effects of their press mechanisms on their game community in mind–for good and for ill.
~ How are the constant spoilers affecting your desire to play Warmachine and Hordes Mark II games? Are you getting in a last hurrah, waiting for the change, or hybridizing and trying out some of the new rules on the tabletop already?
Want a spoiler free zone that still talks about Warmachine and Hordes? Check out Chalkboard’s blog at
www.chalkboardwar.com
