Are any themes OFF LIMITS for games? - Your Board Game Questions, Answered! 

Note: When presenting your point of view, please refrain from comments like "people need to grow up", or "get over themselves", etc. I've had to delete a few of those so far. I am confident you can find a way to express a point of view without being antagonistic. Varying points of view are expected, but dismissive or combative statements are not a necessary part of that. Thanks for understanding - and thanks to the majority of you for not needing this message. Appreciate you!

I always appreciate the honest yet professional take Matthew has on seemingly controversial subjects. I'm not offended by much and should probably be more sensitive about mamy topics, but i still notice and value when someone can approach a subject without being flippant, dismissive, or demeaning. Feels more like an intellectual discussion that a dividing wall of screaming into the void. Very classy as always, friend.

I mean, Brenda Romero's board game Train is about the holocaust and that has been critically well regarded as a commentary on fascism, authority, and compliance. It depends on the statement being made.

About the themes thing, I had the concept of a euro game about a funeral director because death is such a universal theme, but it needs to take a level of sensitivity due to its nature, which is why I decided it to be a co-op euro with defined objectives. EDIT: I'm also considering having an actual funeral director to be involved with the design of the game.

I specifically avoid games with colonization. The rare exceptions are space ones like Eclipse: Dawn for the Second Galaxy.

I live in South America and while my intention is not to derail the subject, I totally agree with you on sensibilities being too US-centric at times. It really baffles me sometimes. That said, I don’t think there is any theme in a game I would refuse to play as long as the game itself is solid, be it a serious one (Puerto Rico?) or a more sarcastic one (Secret Hitler). It really comes down to personal experiences and mentality I would say, I would totally respect anyone refusing to play a game because of its theme but it would be something worth chatting about if the person was close to me.

09:30 The Bloody Inn.

Board Game Arena is great. A good tool that makes game playing easier but I prefer to play games in person even with the extra hassle. It is just the experience I am looking for.

The theme that is absolutely off the table for me is home invasion, i.e. Final Girl: A Knock at the Door. That's not a fictional horror scenario for me, but a real life past trauma. I don't mind that those games exist, but I will personally pass. There are others that fall into a uncomfortable realm for me, but I agree that it absolutely depends on how the game is handled. Love your example of This War of Mine. A theme can absolutely inspire someone to do more research, and some serious thinking.

The conversation on theme is an interesting one. Like you said, I'm not the Final Arbiter of Good Taste when it comes to board games, but there are some themes that I don't want to play, and other themes that I hope most publishers would shy away from marketing. But at the same time, context is key. You said something like "games where you act out the horrible things" aren't to your taste, but does that include Letters from Whitechapel, or The Bloody Inn? Serial Killer themes aren't for everyone, but I would never argue that others shouldn't enjoy them. "Playing as Nazis" is a theme that gives many people pause, but I personally give WWII games like Undaunted or Memoir '44 a pass, because even though they're history-based, the games are abstracted enough that they don't bother me (again personally) any more than "cops and robbers" - _someone_ has to pretend to be the bad guy for an hour. Compare this to a theoretical game where the players are trying to make the most efficient concentration camp for points, and that's a massive difference in my eyes, and I hope no one would want to play that no matter how good it is "mechanically" or whatever. Is this inconsistent? Maybe.

I don't regret it all but I played an entire campaign of Pandemic Legacy in a single BGG.CON weekend. Great experience that I'll never repeat with any other legacy game.

I personally, will not play dark themed games.

Great video! Great questions and great answers!

I will never attempt to teach a complicated game to inexperienced board gamers just because they are intelligent and “they can handle it”

We enjoyed Dice Forge on BGA - no fiddling about with popping dice faces on and off. We don’t play larger games like Viticulture and Arnak because things are too small to see on screen and zooming in and out isn’t a good option for us.

I will not buy or kickstart a game someone in my group has or is getting as we now borrow from each other.

Taboos change; today's commonplace beliefs will be tomorrow's taboos, and vice versa. I appreciate Matthew's nuanced take here. I also appreciate his view that cultures (American, UK, etc.) vary. Even within a country, taboos vary.

My rant about theme: I don’t think there are many themes that should NOT exist in board games, but I am personally a little disappointed in the amount of games that have players casually play as Nazis in their game. I have family that were in the Holocaust, so it's pretty sensitive for me, but it's really just a "me" issue. Things like Secret Hitler or war games that use WWII as a theme just rub me the wrong way because of that. That being said, I know the subject needs to be remembered and taught. I just don’t want to be randomly dealt that kind of role. And I'm not going to judge anyone for playing those games, either. It just doesn’t work for me. Rethemes can work to avoid it. I've wanted to try the Undaunted system, for example, but the theme is a big turn off. Undaunted: Callisto has me excited because it's meeting what I like both ways. The only other game theme I think is a bit taboo are games that are explicitly sexual in nature, but I've only even seen two or three of those (though I'm sure there are more), so it's not a popular theme to begin with. Some may still enjoy it, so I don't think it should be "banned," but if you're publishing that kind of game, I wouldn't expect it to sell at a Catan level.

I would have to say as there are so many excellent games to play now in the hobby, I have less interest in games with themes that don’t excite me. I used to play games that the theme was weak, because the mechanics were interesting, but now I need both. I am a big fan of nature themed games (lucky for me that is pretty hot right now). But I just never had any interest in superheroes even as a kid (unlucky for me as there as so many superheroes themed games). I am also not a fan of end of the world/zombie games. I am not saying these games should not exist. If you love them, great. I am happy that we have so many options to choose from in gaming. It is like books, if you don’t like it then read something else, no need to ban it. I too had a rough go of trying to run a game group. I too had to give it up as I was the only one reading rules and setting up all the games. I no have other game group that I attend which is nice because I can come and go depending on my time and the amount of fun I am having at the table. I love BGA. I have made a clean sweep of all the solo games. I have played every single one. I love games that have a lot of shuffling, set-up, or maintenance that BGA can do so easily. It also helps that you must play by the rules, so you don’t’t have to look up rules about what does this card do because BGA will only allow you to use the card in the way it is supposed to be used. My problem with BGA is that is you do not have a regular group, it can be a real pain to try a game that is not so popular. I spent two days trying to play, “The Boss”. It took that long until enough players signed up so we could start.

Excellent video, Matthew - absolutely agree with your perspectives on the themes of games. I love the reality of and real time nature of U-Boot, but still have a mental hurdle that is very difficult to overcome in playing the German side. I recognize that the U-Boot crews were individual people serving their country and doing their part for the war, but still… wish there were an option to play an Allied side of the same game.

I won’t host games to play at a Con, specifically games dependent on setup per player count. People drop/don’t show for any particular reason and when you need to flip to the other side of the board, block spaces etc, it makes you look unprepared and takes longer.

Is Rodney's voice sped up pitched up for the video?

Excellent stuff as always Mathew. ...." There's some people's opinions I value but their decisions baffle me" your talking about Chaz here aren't you?.....or maybe Paula?...or possibly Rodney? 😉😀

I would say the historical colonization theme. I would love to own ARCHIPELAGO with an alien theme or something as opposed to being so based in something as historically traumatic with elements that still persist to this day. As it stands, even if I could find a copy of Archipelago I would not purchase it with the current theme. You guys had a great playthrough with it that first introduced me to the game.

I think games with big amounts of setup (Arnak, Marco Polo, Heat) play better on BGA. At least with my limited table space. I don’t like that you don’t have an "undo" option in a lot of games (before new information is revealed, of course), but that's just the price for some extra convenience.

Shoves my copy of Spanish WizWar under the bed. Oh yeah I didn't make that mistake totally

Theme is VERY important for my family and our gaming group. We have absolute no-no's, which many scratch their heads at, but we play games for fun and comradery and not to feel uncomfortable or uneasy. This rules out so many games for us, but that makes the consuming aspect of this hobby much more manageable! What would I never do again? Start my collection based on the review channel that I did. I have sold off most of the 100ish games I bought at their recommendation.

I have always avoided the game Whitechapel because it trivialises the real women who died at the hands of J the R. But I would not stop others playing it. That is just my personal sensibility

I don't know if there are themes that shouldn't exist. I think it's more on how you handle them. And it doesn't always have to be at the GMT level of seriousness--though love that too. Board games can be a great medium for great comedic satire of an issue that people think is a real problem (Corporate America or the original theming of GoodCritters come to mind). But I do think the line between making light of an absurd situation and making light of the situation people are stuck in can be an easy one to cross. And I personally wouldn't like engaging with that. And I fully admit I'm probably more sensitive to that kind of stuff than the average person. Like I stopped playing CoD one day when something inside me went, "this is kind of scary." I think it's just more commercially viable in the video game sphere because that market is much bigger and they don't have to worry about warehousing and shipping physical objects.

Kingdom Builder, Patchwork, King Domino, Isle of Cats and Alhambra are my favorites to play on BGA. I actually don’t prefer to play Carcassonne there because I play on my phone and the zoom in and out and scroll on the phone isn’t the best. I wouldn’t buy games just because multiple channels I follow recommend them against the better judgement of my gut instincts again.

I will never play Diplomacy again

I was actually quite disappointed that prison architect ks was cancelled due to theme. I mean there are so many violent pc and video games which are worse but they are fine

To me, there are no themes off limits. It’s cardboard and plastic.

I would have to say as there are so many excellent games to play now in the hobby, I have less interest in games with themes that don’t excite me. I used to play games that the theme was weak, because the mechanics were interesting, but now I need both. I am a big fan of nature themed games (lucky for me that is pretty hot right now). But I just never had any interest in superheroes even as a kid (unlucky for me as there as so many superheroes themed games). I am also not a fan of end of the world/zombie games. I am not saying these games should not exist. If you love them, great. I am happy that we have so many options to choose from in gaming. It is like books, if you don’t like it then read something else, no need to ban it. I too had a rough go of trying to run a game group. I too had to give it up as I was the only one reading rules and setting up all the games. I no have other game group that I attend which is nice because I can come and go depending on my time and the amount of fun I am having at the table.