Reading 08 For Research Topic ‘The resurgence of simple games – board games, card games TT RPGS’

Week 8 Reflection:

(Cheng, 2017)

The blog is taking shape, however, I decided to go back over the weeks' tasks and check if I have everything complete. I am not good at keeping documents in one place. This is a major reason why I can fall behind. However, at the beginning of this assignment I did set up Zotero however, I am sorry to say I did not use it correctly, but I did star my favourites as a quick way to find them. The problem with this is that I ended up with a lot of favourites, but the information was available thankfully.

This week I went in and found the links for images I had not inserted. I added these to the document and also completed the reference list for each of them.

I am happy enough with my introduction and my conclusion.

I am hoping to get my Twitter posts completed and linked to the blog. I feel more comfortable about these now.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, board games have had something of a resurgence in popularity. This is despite the fact that consumers have access to a multitude of digital alternatives for recreational activities. According to Assistant Professor Zachary Horton, who researches board games and other forms of media at the University of Pittsburg, the growth in popularity is linked to smartphones and social media platforms.  His reasoning connects the rise in popularity of boardgames to the rise in popularity of social media in the late 2000s.

                   Figure 17 A mix of a traditional board game on a digital table (Toms guide, 2022)

The interest in board games, according to Horton, is a reaction to social media being so important in people's lives, noting that people seek a connection that is not possible when they are playing video games. The idea is also stated that anyone of any age can participate in a boardgame instead of social media, where not everyone may be as experienced with technology.  The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns increased the appeal of board games.

This study will explore ten academic articles that examine the resurrection of board games, card games, and tabletop role-playing games in order to provide further insight into this issue (TTRPG). This will include articles that are showing the growing trend of the digitilisation of boardgames. It will then perform thematic analysis of the information in the articles and detail these themes in a separate section.

CONCLUSION

As shown, board games have had a resurgence in popularity in recent years. This assignment critically reviewed ten scholarly studies that examined the revival of board games, card games, and tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG). Despite the fact that customers have access to a lot of digital entertainment options the popularity of board games and TRPGs is rising. This has been linked to the importance of social media in people's life, since people desire a connection that is not attainable when playing video games. The academic articles reviewed also suggested that instead of using social media, anyone of any age can play a boardgame, as not everyone is familiar with computers. The pandemic also helped to promote their popularity.

 After reviewing the ten academic articles on the resurgence of board games, card games, and tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG), a number of themes emerged, including community, computational thinking, education, problem-solving, and digitilisation.

References

Cheng, K. (2017). I got an idea [Image]. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ky0ncheng/36910561096/in/photolist-YeEgSq-Mdwypv-fJrhsz-2jYTSp4-2jodr8h-2inMcAA-Z8NC4u-25ckkhF-2gaeiPw-fJHBaw-2kQE5H8-Me3GzN-rqsj76-mQqWaT-yQa3qe-2keCiE5-qgZmhT-2m3yqEZ-AGjvP-ZpZdqP-VyHsDr-z99yzW-2mHQYEZ-947ip7-crya9d-jwuxjY-crybDq-5nHuxC-6aCc39-crygNE-tH85zE-zz3PX2-pvM4Q3-24wqHvo-2jJTeef-dqPQry-6zqmoF-2jJSrA5-AGjvK-JCxmkt-W6AfFi-nBGGxF-MkFkRs-7JEnS7-25B8aaK-LoZzvy-KGKD2-fJHB8N-2dj7LUw-2doA87r [Accessed: 13 May 2022].

Toms Guide. (2020). SquareOne wants to be your all-digital board game collection [Photograph]. Available from: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/squareone-wants-to-be-your-all-digital-board-game-collection [Accessed: 13 May 2022]