'King Me': A Defense of King-Making in Board Game Design

In this 2019 GDC Board Game Design Day talk, Leder Games’ Cole Wehrle mounts a defense for competitive multiplayer design that doesn’t shy away from letting players disrupt one another.

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[theol]

"If you get good at Quidditch, you'll get good at empire." Got it.

[SnakPak]

This dude's voice and manner of speaking is so calming. 10/10

[GakkiSai]

The first time I played Quo Vadis I groked the game when I was beyond the point of winning, but i realized I had created a choke point where I could decide the winner. I asked the other two players to make their cases. One thought that the situation was interesting and wanted to discuss how we'd gotten there. The other thought i was being an ass for even having realized the situation.

His argument was that i had, "given up on the game" and was trying to "cheat because I had lost."

Guess who didn't get voted through.

[ascii_]

That diversion into history with the comeback to kingmaking at 26:30 was so fascinating! What a great talk

[Daemonworks]

This talk is really interesting to me in the context of somebody who spent a good decade or two playing (and very occasionally running sessions of) Vampire the Masquerade in it's larp incarnation, in particular about 34:25 and the discussion of horror movies and "dangerous games".

One of the biggest (and under-recognized) stresses in those games is the tension around the plotting and scheming that's at the core of the tabletop world-building, and typically manifests in larp as player vs player interaction. Not everyone buys into it that in the same way, many don't really buy into it at all... not to mention those who actively dislike it and just want to get on with other things the game offers.
It's stunningly easy for bad feeling to develop when people are playing with fundamentally different, and sometimes directly opposed, ideas of what makes the game fun.

[Griffinx]

I think part of why some games may seem mean is just a matter of framing. When I taught my friends root I told them that it’s a game with player conflict, but it’s just part of the game and try not to take it personally. When you sit down to play chess you know what’s going to happen and the game would be boring if both players were nice and didn’t take the other’s pieces

[MrOrrrange]

that slide with badly cropped cat and "root is a mean game"
i want in on my wall

[nicholascurran]

I think the biggest takeaway here is closing the magical circle. Society cheats itself in mimicking gameplay, just like the old saying "all is fair in love and war". We should be evolving to the level where society is more fair, which further allows for unfairness in gameplay.

[gocaine-multiplayergogame]

Thank you, GDC, for posting this, and thank you, Cole, for such an interesting and informative talk. It was very insightful to me, particularly the part about the circle and players bringing in baggage from their outside world into the gaming circle. So helpful in explaining why negative emotions can sometimes get the better of players who might otherwise usually present as good sports.

[StefanLopuszanski]

43:00 : And the auto-battler genre. The non-zero sum 3+ player space has a lot of room to grow in the video game area. Lots of old WarCraft 3 maps have some interesting gems in that space.

[evanlane]

I watched through this with the feeling that it was a wandering, indulgent talk.

It was not.

What a great commentary on game design and story telling and their place in history and current life.

[rpm]

Saw the title and thought « huh makes me think of Root! »

Saw the speaker and GEEKED THE F OUT 😮

[ChrisShaffer]

It's interesting - at 4:16 he describes who would like Root and says the defining feature is that the game is very, very mean and will only appeal to people who don't mind being attacked. I've found that it appeals to a much broader audience, including players who would never go near a COIN game.

[wigwam]

came here to hear about the cute animals and bro starts doing genealogical analysis of fairness

[Ollie-zscz]

Wish the talk touched more on the thematic and mechanical points about the board game. The history points were detached from me in his talk, since I'm not Western, so couldn't relate to the historical examples of kingmaking nor did her clearly explain kingmaking in a board game context. But I do find asymmetry interesting and fun to explore in board games. Root is also beautiful and very cohesive to it's theme and setting, a thing I'd love to see in more board games.

[constChg]

Looking forward a similar ideology sharing about ARCS. It certainly feels different with ARCS but share some similarities with root, the uncertainty and unfairness of cards is actually feeling very fair for me. It’s fair to be not fair as long as opportunities are open equally.

[cameronross]

Been waiting for this to be posted for 2 years!

[herbertwyndham]

I didn't know Riker knew so much about board game design

[WWFanatic]

Wait a minute. Working on a game about Afghanistan c. 2019? This is the guy behind Pax Pamir??? Makes a lot of sense ngl

[holosmoss]

You talk so well about such interesting things, thank you!