Why Learn Theory?

Youtube food journalist Adam Ragusea has more than once observed that great chefs know what works but frequently are wrong about why something works. If you know what works, you don't necessarily need to know why in order to perform a given technique. So, why learn theory at all? Board game design has been chugging along since the nineties mostly through design iteration and oral tradition. When is it important to know why something works?

I believe that formalized knowledge (and, to an extent, formal training) makes for more competent practitioners who can work more efficiently. Chefs who understand the real reason behind a technique are better equipped to alter a recipe or make adjustments to a technique in order to make something that is both new and tasty. Knowing what the technique is actually doing makes it easier to change or replace. Better understanding of what a mechanism is accomplishing means zeroing in on what could replace it with fewer false starts. I think designers generally understand this concept even if they've never thought about it explicitly. 

Where we get tripped up is in believing that some knowledge is ineffable. Belief that certain things can only be learned by years of experience (or by lucking into something that works) does two things. First, it trains us to believe that inefficiency is a feature, not a bug. In other words, that the years of grinding away are a necessary part of the process before we can produce anything of quality. Second, it stops us from exploring concepts that appear on the outside to be abstract or ethereal. Exploring abstract concepts helps us think more flexibly. Flexible thinking makes us better designers. And that's before we account for the benefit of learning the abstract concepts themselves. 

I firmly believe that there are any number of concepts that are extremely helpful to absorb then sort of forget. This seems to be the basis of a lot of arts education. Certain concepts can be recalled specifically when trouble shooting, but are more often utilized instinctively when creating. (This is also why you can skip formal learning, but it takes longer to figure out what works through trial and error.) The concepts I write about here trend toward that foundational sort of theory, the kind you are meant to forget. Think of these concepts as an optical illusion that once you begin to see it a certain way you can't go back to your initial confusion. This is the type of theory that teaches you not what to do but how to see. 

I am glad to see that some abstract concepts are making their way into the board game design canon. Psychology is the front runner at the moment. Learning aspects of psychology and applying it to board games is a cornerstone of the 'designing for experience' movement. Achievement Relocked is an excellent foray into the importance of psychological concepts in game design. I lucked into making loss aversion work for me, but understanding how it works makes me a better designer. 

There is a whole host of other concepts, however. None of them are essential anymore than understanding the types of auctions is essential to being a game designer. Instead they add more colors to you design palette. Concepts like art design theory, immersion, and resonance. 

For me, these concepts are far easier to grasp than probabilities or data merge. But everyone's brains learn differently, and what comes easily to me will appear as nonsense to someone else (and vice versa). I am reminded of the sound engineer that I took a drawing class with. She went from zero sound experience to national tours in 2-3 years. But she couldn't quiet the analytical part of her brain long enough to make much progress drawing. In contrast, no matter how many times I learn how to set up sound equipment, the knowledge seems to slide right out of my head. But drawing and painting concepts stick even though I wasn't a good artist prior to taking classes. This is why I keep coming at topics from several different angles—I want to find ways of explaining that will be absorbed by as many brains as possible. But not everyone can or needs to design using the approaches I use. 

Why learn theory? It will make you a better designer. And because you never know what bits you learn will end up being useful down the road. And if you learn something that doesn't stick, well, that knowledge probably ended up in the same place as my knowledge of how to properly hook up an amp. And that's okay. There isn't going to be a test. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.