{"id":364,"date":"2006-06-12T20:43:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-13T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2006-08-16T16:08:30","modified_gmt":"2006-08-16T20:08:30","slug":"peace-love-and-understanding-zero-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/2006\/06\/12\/peace-love-and-understanding-zero-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace, Love and Understanding – Zero Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month’s CGM has my review of Breakaway Games new “serious game” A Force More Powerful<\/em>. And so far, it is the only review of this title.<\/p>\n

This has nothing to do with me. I was curious about the title, but was waiting on requesting a review copy until my desk cleared of other stuff. My editor pre-empted me by asking if I would write it, so there I was. And, if you are familiar with the magazine, it even gets one of those gray backgrounds that make it look special. (I use the “give peace a chance” line twice because…I’m an idiot, I guess.)<\/p>\n

The game itself is good. Not great. It has some repetitive bits, and I think succeeds more as a management sim than as the edutainment title it pledges to be. But it is undoubtedly a game – a strategy game even. It’s just one with an overt message.<\/p>\n

The lack of mainstream gaming press coverage of this, admittedly marginal, game is a little disappointing. I know that “serious games” are usually outside the bailliwick of the gaming press, but I think that A Force More Powerful<\/em> is actually something special in spite of all its faults.<\/p>\n

A Force More Powerful<\/em> works as a game because it takes its message completely for granted. There is never an option for your movement to escalate to violent action. Usually constraint of action is a bad thing in a game; you want to give players lots of options. But this overarching constraint doesn’t limit all the peaceful actions available to you. Do you rally the troops this time or call a press conference? Does Susie need more training? Is getting that newspaper out more important than passing out pamphlets in the boonies? These are make or break decisions.<\/p>\n

And there is no single way to win a scenario. The government response to your action may vary from game to game, and you might have assets available to you at a crucial time this session that were lacking in the previous session.<\/p>\n

I won’t re-review the game – I have misgivings that were given ample airing in CGM. And you should buy the magazine anyway. (Not for me, mind you. Do it for the children.) But I would like more people to give AFMP a look. It looks ancient, but plays out today’s headlines and reinforces an important point that all us bloodthirsty strategy and wargamers should be reminded of from time to time.<\/p>\n

King and Gandhi remade the world without firing a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month’s CGM has my review of Breakaway Games new “serious game” A Force More Powerful. And so far, it is the only review of this title. This has nothing to do with me. I was curious about the title, but was waiting on requesting a review copy until my desk cleared of other stuff. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5GFeQ-5S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}