The Hobby Professional

The common wisdom says that you don't need to monetize your hobbies. This is great advice. More great advice is that you don't need to define success by monetary gain. Another is that you should rely on interior motivation rather than exterior validation. All good stuff. So why am I only interested in designing games that might make money when I am not also hustling to make this a lucrative career within the next five years? Let's talk about the line between professionals and hobbyists. 

Hobbyists create for the fun of it. My friends and acquaintances who are dedicated game design hobbyists might(!) consider signing a game if a publisher sought them out, but they'd have to think about it first. They design to examine the intricacies of systems, and teasing those out is satisfying enough without seeking an audience. One of the members of my local group designed a whole game as a form of feedback for another member's design. 

I'm not going to make a lot of generalizations about professional full-time game designers (the few that exist) other than that they hustle and have a large output of designs in order to maintain an income flow. 

There are two more categories I would add to this list: the professional hobbyist and the hobby professional. The professional hobbyist spends a lot of time and money to make their games looks really nice. This is more commonly seen in other hobbies such as cosplay, where people will spend hundreds of dollars to compete in competitions, where they might recoup the costs if they win. 

Lastly, the hobby professional is where a lot of us are in board game design. We engage with the industry at the professional level. We may have signed a game or two. But there are practical reasons we can't jump in to the hustle of going to all the big cons and pitching in a serious capacity. (Of course, there is a spectrum between "has one game signed" and "full-time designer," but let's look at the extremes for clarity's sake.) 

Granted, anyone still trying to get their first game signed can still be considered on the professional spectrum, if we are defining professional as "interacts with the professional side of the industry." I tend to define professional as "has made any amount of money doing the work," because of my theatre background. But I don't exclude you if you identify as a not-yet-paid professional. 

My main reason for pointing out the existence of the hobby professional is, I believe, the main reason we exist. For us, money is motivating. I tend to have a hard time creating for myself. Even making Christmas gifts or entering design contests can be challenging (both are deadlines I can impose on myself). But when I am working with the goal of receiving payment, even if that day is years off or never comes, I suddenly find the motivation to create. This blog is the only creative thing I've ever stuck to that didn't involve money. 

Some hobby professionals will move on after proving to themselves that they can get one game published. Some are like me and will hang on as long as possible. I really don't appreciate professional advice that is geared only towards the hustlers when there is a whole spectrum of professionals. 

You don't have to produce dozens of new designs a year. You don't have to go to every con. You don't have to hustle. You don't even have to make money. You can engage with the industry at the level you are comfortable at and can afford. Adjust your expectations to be commensurate with your effort and set realistic goals. For most designers, having a hit game cannot be the only measure of success because that's way too discouraging. 

I can't afford a lot of travel. I've had physical and mental health struggles off and on since I started designing games. Now I have an infant. So I am claiming the designation hobby professional. I don't think it makes me less professional; it merely accurately reflects what level I'm currently able to operate at in the industry. 

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

The Physical Limits of Creativity

I've written about creative burnout before, but I wanted to discuss a similar issue so that the two don't get confused. 

I gave birth recently. I experienced nausea from the six week point onward in my pregnancy. I don't know if you've ever tried to do anything while seasick, but you basically can't. Since then I've been enjoying the traditional sleep deprivation, also not a recipe for productivity. My point for mentioning this is that this is not burnout. If you are exhausted, sick, or injured, if you are going through a crisis, that is not burnout. 

What's the difference? The advice for burnout is probably not going to help you. Yes, some burnout is so severe that it can take as long to overcome as some illnesses, but the strategies are different. 

So, if you cannot be creative due to life circumstances, what can you do about it?

Be kind to yourself. I didn't playtest a single game for ten months. I'm struggling to make the changes I need to after I managed one playtest. It sucks, but sometimes you just have to recover. 

Don't try to force it. You need a certain amount of mental bandwidth for creativity. I promise your ability to create will be waiting for you when you regain your bandwidth. 

Practice silent free-flowing thought sessions. You may not be able to do much, but chances are you can sit quietly and let your mind wander. These sessions probably won't be productive until you regain your bandwidth, but the practice is good, especially if you don't spend much time with your own thoughts otherwise. 

Enjoy whatever you can. Seriously, you aren't doing what you'd rather be doing, so you might as well enjoy what you can. I watched a lot of food channels on YouTube and read over 200 books on Libby. 

You aren't a failure if your body decides to stop you from designing. You're putting in a different kind of work to one day get back to where you want to be.

I can't tell you how nice it is to get back to a "what I'm thinking about this week" post. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates on weeks when I am less sleep deprived.

The Unintended Audience

When playtesting new games, the question of target audiences comes up regularly. Who is the game for? How can we tailor the game experience to appeal to the target audience? One thing I think about is how can I communicate who should avoid my game. 

I remember one Christmas when I received a DVD movie as a gift and my grandfather insisted we watch it as a family. I tried to explain that while I (as a 20-something) liked the movie, I didn't expect anyone else in my family to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, no one in my family enjoyed the movie that they insisted we watch over my objections. This experience really taught me about target audiences and properly communicating what your product is. 

As much as I love good art in games, the art needs to match the game experience. The board needs to communicate the game experience. A eurogame still needs to convey the experience of an economic strategy game. A combat game needs to not be mistaken for a children's game. This does not mean that you can't have quirky art or themes in dry/long/heavy games or darker themes or art in light/short games. Root is a good example of a game whose theme and art make the game more approachable without mis-communicating what the game is. Notoriously, Wingspan seems too friendly and approachable to non-gamers. 

A lot of my design process involves managing player expectations. Gamers expect certain things from deck builders or drafting games. Strategy-focused gamers have expectations about replayability. Casual gamers expect welcoming themes to provide fun, easy experiences. We often think about managing the expectations of our intended audience, because they have experience in certain gameplay styles and they will form our core fanbase. However, we need to spare some thought to audiences who might be attracted to our games at first blush, but who may not enjoy the actual product. 

What leads people to buy a game that they thought they would enjoy? How can we manage those expectations? I think one place to start is to recognize who your game might pull in via art and product design (or mechanics or buzzwords) and reflect on what typical expectations those audiences will have. This reflection may lead to two different products, such as a KS version and a Target exclusive (for instance, Spirit Island) or you may decide to change the elements that are leading people to incorrect conclusions about your game. 

One thing to keep in mind is that designer play testers  will not always be helpful in identifying these issues. Hobby game designers like to make suggestions to bring games in line with hobby expectations but  may not key into mass market or casual gamer expectations. You will need to show your game to a variety of audiences (even if you don't play it with them) to see if their expectations match the experience of gameplay. 

Of course, mismanaged expectations can lead to some sales, but they won't do much for word-of-mouth spread of your game. Your game needs to find the people who will love it as efficiently as possible and the best way to do that is for your product to properly communicate what type of experience it contains. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that will update on weeks when I am not as sleep deprived.

A wild update appears!

I'm back! Maybe! No promises!

OK, so I thought I would be able to write more in the past 6 months than I actually could. The good news is that the life event that was occupying all my brain space has abated to only occupying most of it. Which means that I will be easing my way back into board games, blog first. Mostly because my brain feels rusty and I need to get the words flowing so I can get back on my Ludology schedule (I dropped absolutely every obligation in May). 

With that in mind, here's a round-up of my board game related presence beyond this blog:

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms is a recurring monthly segment on Ludology.

Deadly Dowagers has made it to retail in the states and a German version is out.  

Monsters Love Vegas will be launching on kickstarter sometime this year. Give it a follow. 

My book, Thematic Integration in Board Game Design, is currently on sale for 20% off. But if you don't have Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design yet, buy both to take advantage of Routledge's mid-year sale. If you've already acquired my book, leave a review of it somewhere. 

Upcoming cons: 

I'm not committed to any yet, but I'm most likely to be at or around ATX Protospiel, Tabletop Network, and BGGcon. I'm hoping to expand out to other cons as early as next year, but that remains to be seen.