24 October,2021 09:05 AM IST | Mumbai | Sucheta Chakraborty
The intimacy and immediacy is what draws Zain Memon to board games as both creator and consumer
Subscribe to Mid-day GOLD
Already a member? Login
Adil Aziz and Mohammed Nedal have fond memories of playing board games at Bengaluru's cafes. Dice N Dine in the city, remembers Aziz, had a huge collection of more than 200 board games. For Nedal, the recollections led him to eventually run his own board game cafe, Baker's Treat From Mariam's Kitchen, in his hometown Mangalore. The two are avid gamers, playing a range of games like Risk where the fight is for control over parts of the world, Pandemic Legacy where players as part of a research team find cure for a virus, and Ticket to Ride, a railway-themed game where players claim train routes across a map. Apart from provoking thought and driving players to strategise, these games also serve to bring out the personalities of fellow competitors, they believe. "They give you a perspective on your friends that you may not have otherwise. They can build and break friendships," laughs Nedal.
Since 2010, board games have seen a massive resurgence, says Zain Memon, co-founder of Memesys Studios, which has produced films like Ship of Theseus and the creator of SHASN, an award-winning political strategy board game. It was Catan, a game where players take on the roles of settlers, attempting to build and develop holdings while trading and acquiring resources, that he says spiralled in popularity, opening in turn the doors for more creators to build games. The industry, he says, has financially ballooned, growing at a CAGR of 13 per cent per annum, citing the example of board game producer Asmodee, which was acquired a few years ago at $12 billion and is now being sold at $20 billion. Digital fatigue, the entry of superior game designers and a rise in the subculture of Dungeons & Dragons have all contributed to the revival of what was once perceived as an antiquated mode of entertainment. "Dungeons & Dragons, more than a game, is a storytelling device," he observes. "You and your friends each personify a character and go on an adventure with that character. And that adventure is not necessarily about killing dragons or fighting monsters. It is about overcoming loss, heroism, and making friends and enemies."
Nedal, realising that while there were a lot of people interested in the game, there weren't enough to guide and teach them, became a dungeon master for hire. Role-playing games (RPGs) in which players assume the roles of characters in fictional settings draw many like him as players buy into a shared imagination acting out roles within the narrative. A common feature of many RPGs is the role of a gamemaster who decides on the rules and setting to be used, while acting as the referee. There are RPGs based on the Power Rangers, the Transformers, those based on HP Lovecraft's mythos, but the most popular among them is undoubtedly D&D. "Table top RPGs such as D&D have western-focused narratives. There is very little if any representation of Indian culture," says Arvindh Sundar, a Bengaluru-based YouTube streamer specialising in D&D content, who saw in it an opportunity to share our diverse and flavourful culture with the world through his channel, The Indian DM. Here he is building an Indian D&D community creating Indian-flavoured D&D content where monsters, mythology, and even elements like a small bhelpuri shop or an idli vada stall are included. Streaming games, he says, gives players the opportunity to interact with the audience while allowing the latter to bond with the creators themselves. In some cases, the audience can become co-creators by voting on what twist of fate befalls the players next. Streaming, however, brings another element into the picture. "You are not just playing the game as a streamer. On air, you become an entertainer performing for the audience," says Sundar.
Table top games offer a level playing field, believes Memon, as they don't require expensive developers like video games do. "All you need is an idea and three-four people to execute it with you. And the market is democratised enough through platforms like Kickstarter for you to export games to the world. That's an industry India has a big opportunity in," shares Memon who predicts a huge market for board games in the years to come. "With the government recognising the opportunity of export happening out of India, we'll see a lot of IPs in India translate to or from board games. So, you will see board game tie-ups coming out of big IPs or board game IPs turning into film and television." In the US, 360-degree campaign plans of genre IPs like Resident Evil or mainstream ones like Avatar, include table top tie-ups as part of their release strategy. Even this year's big tent-pole movie Dune, he says, has two games out already. A 360-degree media integration does not necessarily include a board or card game in India, but the next few years will mark a shift in that direction, he feels. Moreover, board games are normally clubbed with toys and not given the seriousness a film or music album is accorded in terms of its cultural responsibility. With games becoming the largest consumed media format in the world, he says there is a need to see them with the same cultural lens, scrutiny and seriousness that we give to other media formats. A lot of games, for instance, have colonisers as the main protagonists, who conquer land. "This is deeply problematic and no one talks about this. [A change in attitude towards them] I hope will happen in the next 10 years."
Memon also draws attention to the gendered nature of these games. The average board gamer, he notes, is 20-35 years of age, and affluent - board gaming being an expensive hobby as most games are still imported with tax levied on them. Also, most board gamers in India are male. "It is the same cycle that happens in any media format - it is men creating content for other men. You have themes that appeal inherently to a certain demographic which consumes those themes and perpetuates them when they grow up," he notes. Designers like Elizabeth Hargrave and Beth Sobel, however, he cites, don't necessarily follow the same narrative tropes or clichés board games have followed for years. "That cycle is actively being broken by a lot of game designers and publishers," he reassures. "It will hopefully become more inclusive in the years to come".
13 per cent
Rate at which the industry is growing per annum
