Story Two

It was arranged that a group of girls would come over for a games night at our house. We had decided to play a round of cluedo, and considering we are all fairly competitive we placed a bet on it. The winner of the game was allowed to choose two people to cook dinner for us. Now it’s not that I don’t enjoy cooking, but the thought of cooking for 5 girls pained me; especially when I thought of all the juicy gossip that I’d be missing out on. There was just no way round it, I had to win!

As always I chose Miss Scarlet to be my player, pretty much just because she’s always the first to move. Once the murder cards were placed in the envelope and the remaining cards were dealt, I started to think up my game plan. The past few times I played I just stayed in one room for a long time and tried to eliminate the murder weapons and murderers. However this time I had to be different, I couldn’t let the others catch on. Looking at my cards it became apparent that I had to retrieve a lot of information. But the question was who to ask?

Throughout the game I tried to maintain a good game face, but inside I was struggling. I’m pretty sure the player to my left had only a few more things to find before she made her final guess. I was really getting nowhere.  I played it pretty cool, making it look like I had everything under control, I’m sure it wouldn’t be long until somebody was going to make a guess, I just had to get in there first. The extremely frustrating thing was, Miss Scarlett was one of the prime suspects. This meant that I really struggled to get anywhere as the different players kept bringing me back to same room over and over again...how annoying!!

After a few more rounds, that certain player to my left was going to make the call when it came to her turn. This gave me no option as the player before her; I had to make the guess first! I had no idea what I was thinking; I really wasn’t even close to having all 3 murder cards. I was pretty sure it was Miss Scarlett with the revolver but I wasn’t sure on what the room was. I had study, ballroom and hall. Before I knew it, the four regrettable words slipped out of my mouth, “I’m taking a guess”.  I decided on choose the ballroom, just because it seemed the most appealing.

As I revealed the murder cards to myself my heart sank. It was the study, not the ballroom! Oh no! Not only did I lose the game for myself, but it meant that I was definitly going to be doing the dishes. Why did I have to be so competitive! Nonetheless I walked to the kitchen and started to prepare the meal while trying to hear what juicy conversation was happening in the background.


Affordances of Boardgaming
So when searching at a range of dictionaries to sum up the defianation of affordances, the best one I came across believe it or not was....WIKIPEDIA! Wikipedia (2011) defines affordances as, "a quality object, or an environment, which allows an individual to perform an action". Although there was a variety of different definations describing affordances, I felt that this one best suited what I wanted to discuss which was the communication within my activity.

I think one of the best aspects of boardgaming is that everyone playing is on the same level. There is no teacher, student, authoritive member but participants playing on a level ground. In fact, when boardgaming you can portray anyone you want to be. It allows you release your competitive nature, provide you with oppurtunities to show off you strategic abilities and become mysterious in your game play.

There is a particular way we communicate when we are engaging in a boardgame, let's take cluedo for example. Communication in this game is not only about what is being verbally said, but also what is being said visually through facial expressions. Once your cards have been dealt it is important that they remain mysterious to other team members, therefore the way you communicate to your opponents becomes very important!

Just previously I wrote how the relationship of boardgaming is one where everyone is levelled. However, is this the case throughout the whole game? I think not! There is always going to be a winner or loser(s). Therefore we can see that this activity leads towards one member asserting power over the other members. This prize of power is one of the main reasons people engage in boardgaming. Winning is a great reward!

So, looking back at the excellent defination that I found..."a quality object, or an environment, which allows an individual to perform an action"...we can now see that boardgaming allows individuals to communicate through expression, competitiveness, use of language and oh so many more ways!

Just before I finish I would like to leave you with a poem that sums up how I communicate when board gaming:

Competitiveness

Competitiveness;
the bane of our own existence
When we let it go,
and we really know who we are,
and we continue with persistence,
we live at last, with our own essence

Competitiveness;
the veil to our own existence
When we let it go,
and we really find who we are,
and we continue with persistence
we live at last, in our own presence.

Wikipedia, (2011). Affordance. Retrieved on the 22nd October 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance

Lugtan, S.A. (2008). Competitiveness. Retrieved on the 26th October 2011 from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/competitiveness/