Player interaction

I have been thinking a lot about this. Many (well most…) games have player interaction in some way. Some more than others. A lot of games get the complaint that there is not enough player interaction. For me that is a weird complaint with some games. If the game is not made to have player interaction in that way, it would be really strange to have it… A fun card game I own is Mystic Vale. There is no player interaction in the game what so ever. You buy cards from a pool and then you add that to a card in your hand. So I would say the biggest interaction is if you buy a card someone else wanted. I really like that game. Another game I really like i Star Wars: X-Wing a miniatures game (2nd edition). There the player interaction is full on. You try to blow the other players ship up! They are two completely different games. Then there are cooperative games and so on…

I know people who like to play games who really dislike games where there is alot of take that and so on, but still like board games. I can tell them about games like Munchkin, but I would not think they would like it.
On the other hand I know people who LOVE to screw people over. I might not show them Race for the Galaxy, more than once…
But honestly, there are a lot of games out there for everyone. Why say something is bad for not having something it’s not meant to have? I like most games depending on who I play them with. Try playing Deep Sea Adventure with different people and that will show you some interesting thinking…

Different people like different things. That’s what I like about people. I love to sit down and play a game with good people. Unless the game is fundamentally broken, I still can have fun. Maybe even if it is broken.
I have played games where people that are giving clues, are giving clues that make no sense what so ever.
I have played deception games where people are so good at decieving that I didn’t see it coming.
I played a round of Sheriff of Nottingham where one player did not smuggle a single thing and another player tried to smuggle every time.
This is what makes game fun for me. The interaction. Then again I am a competitive person that can sit down a game solo just to try and beat myself or the game. That is where player interaction is null and void for a reason… but still.

What do you think about player interaction?

Play more games!!!