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Author Topic: "You think too much"  (Read 11475 times)

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Kuildeous

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"You think too much"
« on: October 26, 2012, 09:55:38 am »
+6

As a board gamer, do you find yourself accused of thinking too much? Well, "accuse" is a strong word, but I guess "called out" might be appropriate.

My co-workers at lunch have expressed an interest in playing games. Knowing they weren't hardcore gamers, I brought Blokus and Gobblet. I introduced a form of Hanabi. This gets interesting looks from other people in the cafeteria, and one woman that we know even looked at the strange way we were holding our cards in Hanabi and said, "You guys think too much for lunch."

Sadly, this isn't the first time I've heard such a thing. I have a hobby that stimulates my mind. I love thinking tactically. I love solving problems. When I relax, I'm usually not doing nothing.

Even among my game-playing lunch crowd, I'll hear someone say, "Count me out for this one. I'm not in the mood to think." I always found that statement weird.

I mean, I'll sometimes not be in the mood for a game, but I would always say, "I'm not in the mood to play," instead of "I'm not in the mood to think." I'm always in the mood to think.

I guess I'm an oddball in that I don't consider thinking to be a bad thing. I suspect there are a lot of you who feel the same way.
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Qvist

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2012, 10:01:08 am »
0

I thought you talk about me. When I have free time I think about Dominion, statistics, math problems, programming, ...
I sometimes am in the mood of not thinking anything, but mostly then I'm lying sick in the bed.

AHoppy

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2012, 10:06:19 am »
0

I try to get people to play games and they tell me they're too tired, and don't want to think that hard... but I find thinking in the creative way you have to to play games fun and relaxing... Apparently my friends don't understand that...

Ozle

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2012, 10:08:04 am »
+1

Would you like to come work on my helpdesk team?
As opposed to the rest of my team who don't think enough!
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Brando Commando

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2012, 10:20:40 am »
0

"People who think" are running a close second (only behind evil people) for rulers of the world. Adam Smith, Einstein, Fermi, Turing, Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes: these people had a huge effect on humanity mostly through the power of their minds. The people who are looking at you and saying "You think too much" are schmucks.

(In case you're wondering if I'm just defending my own -- actually, I'm not. I'm not very disciplined about the subjects you're so enthusiastic about. I'm okay with that, and I have my own skills...but I respect yours as well.)
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Davio

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2012, 10:23:35 am »
+3

Some of my best ideas have come from the shower, the toilet or my bed; right when I'm relaxing.

You can't stop a brain from doing what it does.
Mine is working all the time, because I'm super smart!
Hey, I took a test as a 5 year old that proved it, so there.

Anyways, I find boardgames which require a bit of thought to be quite relaxing.
I guess I have a lot of extra CPU cycles for these kinds of things.

My wife on the other hand, doesn't like to play difficult games.
This is partly because she is a woman and worries too much: about the baby, about our new house, about housekeeping, etc. So when it's time to relax in the evening her brain is fried from having worried all day.

I on the other hand, am a man. So I just worry about things that need direct worrying and everything else I put away in my brain closet to be looked at later.
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Kuildeous

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2012, 10:23:55 am »
0

I try to get people to play games and they tell me they're too tired, and don't want to think that hard... but I find thinking in the creative way you have to to play games fun and relaxing... Apparently my friends don't understand that...

I suppose it's a personality trait—kind of like how some people are extroverts while others are introverts. They get their social energy in different ways.

There are some who find thinking relaxing and others who find thinking exhausting.
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Davio

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2012, 10:30:01 am »
+5

Do these people find breathing exhausting too?
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Drab Emordnilap

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2012, 10:42:54 am »
+6

I think you're thinking too hard about this.
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dondon151

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2012, 12:04:56 pm »
+14

Related: a pet peeve of mine is when someone believes that competitiveness and leisure are mutually exclusive.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2012, 03:54:29 pm by dondon151 »
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Young Nick

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2012, 12:11:02 pm »
+2

I usually am with you, Kuildeous, but I do have those days where I feel the need to "veg out." If I am either physically or mentally drained, sometimes I can't summon the energy to do anything more than watch TV for an hour or surf the internet.

Usually, I am all for games as leisure, and seeing the world as one big set of math problems, but I totally see where people are coming from in terms of not being able to handle the effort that playing a game that is even as simple Powergrid Blokus requires.
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SwitchedFromStarcraft

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2012, 12:58:41 pm »
+5

Related: a pet peeve of mind is when someone believes that competitiveness and leisure are mutually exclusive.
Related:  a pet peeve of mind is when someone who is actually too tired to think (or incapable of thinking) agrees to play anyway, thereby drastically affecting the gamestate/outcome.  Would that they decline play instead.
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Brando Commando

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #12 on: October 26, 2012, 02:32:02 pm »
+2

Related: a pet peeve of mind is when someone believes that competitiveness and leisure are mutually exclusive.

I think there's a perception that competitiveness and friendliness are mutually exclusive. With the people I play regularly with IRL, it's a mixture: We crow a bit when we win, but it's more like a group effort to figure out the best strategy; if someone does something that just doesn't make any sense because they forgot something, we just tell them to take it back, since we'd rather have them play their best. But we are also playing to win and actively trying to figure out the best strategy, even as we talk about it during the game. It's makes it more like a collaborative problem than petty "competition," but I don't think most people would understand the difference.
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BadAssMutha

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #13 on: October 26, 2012, 04:19:55 pm »
0

I love puzzles and strategy board games, but sometimes certain games require more thought than I'm willing to invest. In my regular game night group, we tend to play Eurogames with a rule books about an inch thick that usually take several minutes for each person to take their turn because there are so many tactical choice to make. However, we broke out Chinese Checkers the other week, and it was a welcome respite to have such simple rules that didn't require too much thought - move only one piece per turn. Of course, there's still plenty of strategy to be had in Chinese Checkers, it was just nice to have a game built around a very, very simple mechanic.
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Synthesizer

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2012, 04:21:13 am »
0

My brain can't not think. I am always thinking about everything and anything, and I thrive at work when I have multiple projects to put my teeth into (like, 3 or 4 in parallel).

At home, I just keep going and going. The only way for me to get relaxation is by "drowning" my brain in one task, such as watching a movie, play a game, household chores (doesn't really work well, unless it's building something), or participate in sports.

I went to a psychologist to treat my claustrophobia (it really sucks when you can't be in a closed metal tube filled with chairs and lots of other people when you have to travel large distances) and she tried two approaches. One approach failed completely: she tried to make me "not think". I have no idea how to do that. She was saying things like, "close your eyes, sit relaxed, concentrate on your hand, feel it getting heavier, etc." I decided this wouldn't work for me when I caught myself thinking: "my hand has a constant mass, and I am not moving it. Therefore, its weight is constant, so it can't get heavier. No wait, scratch that, maybe the temperature in the room has just risen, then I will probably send more blood to my extremities to cool my body down, and..... wait, that's not the intention of this exercise." :)

(The other approach consisted of a method regulating my thoughts; this helped tremendously and I am proud to say that I can now fly without going into blind panick. Still don't like it, and still tend to avoid cramped or crowded places, but it's progress... Who would have thought that not all psychologists are quacks?)

Thinking rules.
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verikt

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2012, 07:02:26 am »
+1

"You think too much. -Someone has to make up for all the people that don't think at all"
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pingpongsam

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2012, 10:58:44 am »
+1

I have a close friend who is the one guy I can always count on to play a game with me.

One thing I've noticed however is that we approach gaming differently. For me, it is as group experience. Yes, there is logic and thinking involved but I can get that playing solitaire isotropic. My friend, On the other hand, spends an inordinate amount of time analyzing every hand ro play and will often triple;e or quadruple take his turn because he realizes some newfound logical path to be reconsidered. Again, I appreciate the brain work but what I see is that he is effectively isolating himself from a group experience. To top it off, he doesn't win any more often than I do but it is apparent I'm getting a much more organic enjoyment of the game.

that is, I believe there are multiple hues of enjoyment to be derived from game playing. I have found that people like my friend are only capable of existing within a couple hues primarily colored with logic and strategy but are color blind to the hues that involve just having a good time and socializing and thinking up silly puns and stuff.

I feel qualified to make this distinction because at one time I was that guy but I have found recovery in other aspects of my life which have allowed me to experience interactions with people on more than a logical/strategic level and it becomes apparent when that experience is not being shared by the neighboring player.

In this regard, I would say that the person is thinking too much as they are depriving themselves of a fuller experience through a form of self induced myopia.
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PenPen

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2012, 11:05:55 am »
0

I have some friends and co-workers who said that "using my brain is hard enough at work, why should I use it off work." That came true when I took out Ticket to Ride for a gathering and some of my friends were initially resistant because it looked like they had to think a lot.

I think I run differently than they do - I like to think, I like to strategize a bit and I prefer to lay out plans before doing things. I guess some just prefer to not let their brain go beyond their comfort level in thinking, lacking a better term.
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Grujah

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #18 on: October 29, 2012, 12:46:28 pm »
0

I have some friends and co-workers who said that "using my brain is hard enough at work, why should I use it off work." That came true when I took out Ticket to Ride for a gathering and some of my friends were initially resistant because it looked like they had to think a lot.

And from what I hear, TtR is a pretty light game. SIgh.
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Ozle

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #19 on: October 29, 2012, 02:05:29 pm »
0

I have some friends and co-workers who said that "using my brain is hard enough at work, why should I use it off work." That came true when I took out Ticket to Ride for a gathering and some of my friends were initially resistant because it looked like they had to think a lot.

And from what I hear, TtR is a pretty light game. SIgh.

TtR is a light game, but he did say it 'looked'  like they had to think a lot, which means they thought that before it started....wonder how they felt if they actually played it.

I have managed to get all my family to enjoy Ticket To Ride over 4 plays or so, the trouble is, none of them are very good at it and I usually end up thrashing them, so am going to try to find one that is a little more luck based for Christmas!
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Kuildeous

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #20 on: October 29, 2012, 02:29:46 pm »
0

TtR is a light game, but he did say it 'looked'  like they had to think a lot, which means they thought that before it started....wonder how they felt if they actually played it.

I can imagine that for some people "Lots of little pieces" = "Requires thinking."

I'm usually more concerned about how many different kinds of pieces a game has when viewing complexity.

But then, we know that not all complex games are difficult and not all simple games are easy.
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Young Nick

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #21 on: October 29, 2012, 08:27:18 pm »
+1

Part of the issue is that learning these games does take brain power. So while you or me can coast through a game in Isotropic, newer players are thinking about what each card does and how to play a hand like Village, KC, Smithy, X, X. Once the mechanics, rules and such are down, it is definitely less "work" and more "play." But with Dominion having as many cards as it does, this learning curve is too steep.

Similarly for games like TtR, Catan, or Powergrid, it will take too much effort to learn for most people to give it a chance, sadly.
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Morgrim7

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #22 on: October 29, 2012, 11:10:55 pm »
+1

Here we have a thread...

...where people think to much about thinking to much.

People, this is ridiculous.
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Grujah

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #23 on: October 29, 2012, 11:45:10 pm »
0

Part of the issue is that learning these games does take brain power. So while you or me can coast through a game in Isotropic, newer players are thinking about what each card does and how to play a hand like Village, KC, Smithy, X, X. Once the mechanics, rules and such are down, it is definitely less "work" and more "play." But with Dominion having as many cards as it does, this learning curve is too steep.

Similarly for games like TtR, Catan, or Powergrid, it will take too much effort to learn for most people to give it a chance, sadly.

Powergrid I hear is quite mathy and numbercrunchy, I'd understand that.

I heard of "too boring" or "too geeky"  and also "too political", but "too complex" maybe only once or so .. and we have very few gateway games with us and usually get people straight into bigger stuff.
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PenPen

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Re: "You think too much"
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2012, 08:27:08 am »
0

Oh yes...about TtR, we got to play it eventually. Not all of them joined in the game though, even though I explained the rules. I guess that it doesn't look familiar enough? By mid-game, I asked them if they know how to play now and they said yes, so I'm just really thinking that it's more of a fear of the unknown thing.

I do agree the part that learning a game takes brain power. If you're explaining Dominion to someone who only casually played board games (eg Monopoly mostly) he'll probably have a few question marks hanging on his head, and more when the game goes on even if I'm playing the base game with the first game set.

Power Grid is a different beast altogether though, there's a lot of intricate details needed to make the game running well. I had to refer to the rulebook a few times in the game to see if I got everything right.
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