Play a couple of modern video games, particularly third person and some first person 3D games, and one thing you’ll notice is that the old days of screen-cluttering HUDs, health bars, ammo counters, and so forth are coming at an end. These days, the idea is to immerse the player further into the atmosphere and gameplay by hiding some or even all of these mechanical gee-gaws and displays out of view. It’s a way that video game designers can make the nuts and bolts transparent, much to the chagrin of old-school PC gamers who used to play games that were practically screens full of numbers, line graphs, and charts.

What’s more, video games have thrown the idea of manuals out the window. You pop the disc in, and you learn by playing. Most games today gradually reveal more mechanics and gameplay elements so that by the end, you’ve gotten the entire scope of it without ever reading a word of “rules” or writing anything on that “Notes” page.

Reflecting on this idea of effectively hiding the mechanics from the player and thinking about the kinds of tabletop games that I’ve enjoyed playing lately, I’ve come to realize that the games that are my absolute favorites and the ones I’ve gotten the most out of playing are the ones where the actual design slips into the background, becomes transparent, and allows players to actually play with the game and with each other. Some of these games are built that way, others became that way over time. I may put on my board game critic hat to sling mechanical terms, assess process, and evaluate authorial design qualities for a Cracked LCD review because those things should be analyzed in a critical review. I do appreciate these things but ultimately gaming is a social activity for me where the game itself is a gathering point for friends, but not an impetus or focus. Sure, I like big and complex games and I love to see great mechanics and detailed systems function at the table- but more often I just want the rules and “gamey” parts to get the hell out of the way so I can have some fun.

This was one of the primary reasons that I really liked BATTLESTAR GALACTICA back in 2008, because the actual “game” part of it was secondary to the interaction and narrative it created. I think this particular type of game, the kind of game that demonstrates a transparent kind of design, is almost always superior to the kinds of games that really are all about “the game”- the nuts and bolts process and structure. When I think about my favorite games: TALISMAN, TALES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, COSMIC ENCOUNTER, SETTLERS OF CATAN, and so on, these are the kinds of games where you are intensely and persistently involved in the events of the given game. But are you really thinking about the rules, what you can and can’t do, and what the process of the next turn will be? Do you really think about the simple roll-and-move concept of TALISMAN while you’re playing it? I know that I don’t. But I can tell you any number of hilarious stories that came out of various games over the years.

I obviously care that mechanics are solid and that they work. But on a street level, I care a lot more about playing than I do about getting into why and how game functions. I would rather that the mechanics and all the clockwork parts disappeared, because in my favorite games they’re completely secondary. I don’t run numbers while I’m playing, I don’t check probabilities or analyze statistics. I’m more into talking with other players than I am watching their material holdings and trying to second guess what action they’re going to pick or what role they’re going to take. And I’m also not so much into having to consult a rulebook every ten minutes, spending a large percentage of game night in setup, fidgeting with a million superfluous components, or trying to work out what rule or process an indecipherable rebus of icons is attempting to depict.

These elements, for many gamers, would be cited as part of the fun. I think they can be fun, but too often they’re awfully close to work for me. Some people like ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER because of all the rulebook wrestling, and process-driven, rigidly structured Eurogames that all but play themselves are certainly popular amongst hobbyists. The ability to screw with other players or steal all of their stuff has become a “design flaw” to these people—unless it’s cleverly dressed up as “sophisticated” mechanics and balanced to the point of impotence. Gamers like their mechanics, they like the nuts and bolts and for a lot of them the focus is on that aspect of whatever is on the table. I’ve known gamers that read rulebooks for fun. For games they might never play.