HoGS Annual Report 2004

HoGS (Hobart Games 'of' Society) is an informal collective of game players based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Started in 2004 as an effort to broaden exposure and interest in game playing as an entertaining interactive social activity.

Background

A new wave of game design originating in Germany (called 'social games' - Gesellschaftsspiele) is gaining popularity globally as a healthy stimulating addition and alternative to existing popular forms of entertainment (such as television, home video, computer and video games, parties, sports and social clubs, dinner parties). This is a new genre of game with which most Australians are unfamiliar, adding to the existing commonly-experienced genres of children's (e.g. Snap), family (e.g. Monopoly), party (e.g. Pictionary), serious strategy (e.g. Chess), social (e.g. Bridge), word (e.g. Scrabble) games, etc.. Unlike earlier genres like war (e.g. Axis and Allies), miniature (e.g. Napoleonics), simulation (e.g. Empires of the Middle Ages), role-playing (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons) and collectable card (e.g. Magic, the Gathering) games which attracted and appealed to a minority of gaming geeks (mostly men) in Australian culture, this new genre often called German or Euro games, is attractive and appealing to a broad range of Australians - families, men, women, adults and children alike. They are beautiful, relatively simple yet challenging, generally interactive and entertaining.

In 2004 some social players in Hobart got together for regular open meetings advertised on-line and by word of mouth to help bring new players into the hobby and new games to possible enthusiasts.

What's in a Name?

The name "HoGS" is an intentional pun and word play on a few levels. The German term used to describe the genre of games played is "Gesellschaftsspiele" (GS where the G is for society and S for games) and many or most of the games played are of German design. This translates literally to "social games", but the English differs significantly from the German in its nuance. The German term is broadly understood in German culture and has recognition akin to the English term "board games". People know what it means and are comfortable with it. Gesellschaftsspiele though are not restricted to board games, they include all manner of other media - though perhaps a majority are indeed played on boards. The English term board game also has rather strong associations in Australian culture with games like Monopoly.

The term "social games" though is not widely understood in English to represent the genre of games played as a social activity. It als has a nuance suggesting games played to manipulate social relationships. It was noted that "games of society" is just as obscure and not widely understood but doesn't carry this nuance, remains a reasonable and meaningful translation of the German and is conveniently close to "games society" and Gesellschaftspiele (GS).

So, we became Hobart Games 'of' Society or HoGS.

Meetings

The first HoGS meeting was in May, and meetings were held on the first Friday evening of every month, with an extra mid-month meeting on the third or fourth Friday on most months). An informal report was written after each meeting summarising the occurrences. The following estimates were extracted from those reports.

All told 2004 saw 13 meetings with attendance and gaming was as follows:

A total of 34 different people attended over the 13 meetings for an average of 7.5 players per meeting - this does not include the three children under 2 which attended many meetings.

The players were (listed in order of most regular attendance, then alphabetically - informal gatherings, only first names available, apologies for any spelling errors):

A total of 35 unique (distinct) games were played. A count of games played per session follows:

That makes a total of 75 game played (many of the 35 distinct games were played several times) for an average of 5.8 games per meeting (or 4.5 distinct games per meeting).

Many games on this list and others were played socially outside of the context of HoGS meetings by players listed here and others. And end of year extravaganza for example found a dozen people coming together on the evenings of December 26, 27th and 28th to play almost as many games.

Resources and Finances

All 13 HoGS meetings took place at Bernd and Maka's house in Mt. Stuart which provides ample space, comfort and refreshments.

Games played were provided by Bernd, Maka, Bart, Lieve and Frankie (and Alan and Fiona)

No monies were requested or contributed towards refreshments and HoGS remained an informal social gathering. Occasional players contributed very welcome snack foods.

Communications

New players were invited by existing players in a growing network. Communication among exist players, announcement of meetings, reporting thereupon and such was predominantly performed through the Yahoo group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/HOGS_tasmania/

Reports on each session, including photographs are stored there.

Plans

2004 was a successful experiment which saw HoGS sufficiently patronised to suggest it has a future. We are hoping to see HoGS grow, more regular attendees, more people exposed to and enthused by the genre of Eurogames, and particularly in the winter months another opportunity for many people to enjoy a relatively novel indoor social activity suitable for all age groups.

Discussion is underway with the Van Diemen Wargames Club, which faltered in 2004, exploring the possibility of amalgamated use of public venue and possible club structure into the future. We envisage for the year of 2005 however HoGS is likely to remain predominantly an informal social gathering at private residence.

The meetings in 2004 were all Friday evenings. Sunday afternoon meetings are being considered for 2005 (tentatively the mid-month meetings) to enable young families with small children to attend more readily.

We encourage all existing players to spread the news and bring others along.