![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=flaofste-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679640320\")
\n<\/em> is that the Germans never really came close to severing the so-called Atlantic lifeline between North American and Britain, in spite of popular perception. The underlying message behind John Lundstrom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Black Shoe Carrier Admiral<\/a>
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=flaofste-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1591144752\")
\n<\/em> is that Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was unfairly maligned, both during the war and in the histories written afterwards. <\/p>\n
Which leads me to ask a similar question: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why did the designer design this game?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The answer to this question, if indeed it has an answer, I think depends upon the degree to which a game can be seen as a story, and that the designer can be viewed as its author. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy to view role playing games and adventure games as literary works because of their overt story elements; they are literally stories in game format. Baldur\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gate had a story. Fallout 3 has a story. The Longest Journey is a story. But what about strategy games? <\/p>\n
Back in my youth, when I played mostly Avalon Hill wargames, I tended to look upon them as interactive history books. I viewed a game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s designer as the equivalent of a book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s author, and a game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rule book as the equivalent of the text of a history book. That is, I viewed wargames as being a representation of the game designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s viewpoint of the historical event, emphasizing those elements that the designer believed were the most influential in determining the historical outcome, and tailored to produce a range of realistic outcomes appropriate for likely variations in those elements. As a result, I never made up \u00e2\u20ac\u0153house rules\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for any of my games; that would have been equivalent to re-writing portions of a history book to better suit my tastes and preconceived notions. Just as my high school English teachers would ask me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you think was the author\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purpose for writing this book?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I would play games with an eye toward discerning the answer to, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What is the designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message in this game? What historical lessons did he intend for me to learn?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A few wargames were designed with a historical message in mind, and sometimes this was made clear in the designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s notes at the back of the rulebook. Omaha Beachhead, designed by Joseph Balkoski and published by Victory Games, had a very clear historical message \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the US forces could have made deep penetrations and large territorial gains beyond Omaha Beach in the first few days after D-Day, and saved themselves weeks of future fighting through the bocage in the process, if they had only driven inland more aggressively than they did historically. I tended to afford games like that the same respect as a well-written history book, and consider them the equivalent of non-fiction literary works.<\/p>\n
As for gaming today, very rarely do I come away from a strategy game with that kind of feeling. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play tabletop wargames much any more, and maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where most of the difference lies. But the PC wargames and strategy games that I play don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give me that same literary impression I used to get. Take Combat Mission, my favorite historical tactical combat game. Is there a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in there anywhere? Or is Combat Mission simply a situational toy box for historically-representative units to fight each other? Is there a designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message in the Silent Hunter series? Or War Plan Pacific? <\/p>\n
And what about non-wargame strategy games? Is there a designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message in Civilization V? Elemental? Europa Universalis III? Rise of Nations? Dominions 3? Demigod? Is there some nugget of wisdom, some underlying message that we can take away from these games? Do they come anywhere close to being literary works? Are there any strategy games that you would be reluctant to mod out of respect for the designer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original intent? I suspect not.<\/p>\n
No, I tend to view most strategy games today as being toys for people who like to figure things out, who like to create a plan and try to execute it. They are, for the most part, pastimes without a message, without lasting value beyond how long they keep my gray matter engaged in mathematical problem-solving. Like electronic Lego sets, they provide me with a pile of different \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pieces\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of different shapes, sizes, and colors, and invite me to go have fun playing with them in different combinations. No matter how much I enjoy playing strategy games, very rarely do I come away feeling that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned something of value, or gleaned something that the game designer had intended for me to discover. Strategy game designers and design teams strike me as more like toymakers than as authors.<\/p>\n