Saturday, September 5, 2009

In Praise of the N00b

We have awesome neighbors.

We live on a quiet culdesac in Citadel, which used to be the community at the highest elevation in Calgary (it's named Citadel for a reason ... back, foul devils!). We have the good fortune of having a great bunch of neighbors. Weekend get-togethers, group camping trips, a yearly block-party, impromptu driveway parties, we enjoy spending time with them.

Recently, we have been teaching the neighbors how to play Settlers of Catan. They seem to be enjoying the game, and this gives us another opportunity to get together with them. More players to get a pick-up game going never hurts!

My point here is, that they were all N00bs, or Newbs, when we started playing Settlers with them. Now several of them are really beginning to show their chops, and the games are getting quite competitive (in a good way). I don't know if this is as big a problem as I imagine, but treating new players (to any game) with distain or derision is a good way to limit your hobby, and also limit your own personal growth.

I enjoy gaming with N00bs. I think they bring a fresh perspective to any game that I quite enjoy. Us grizzled old gamers can learn a thing or two, about immersion, from those newer players.

Hug a N00b today.

2 comments:

Rusty said...

Settlers is an awesome game that I wish I could play more.

Aaron E. Steele said...

It is a great game. We have the Cities and Knights expansion, which we often play.

You know what? The original game is just as much fun, we often play the original, even with some of our more "seasoned" Settlers gamer friends.

I think we end up playing at least one game every other week.