jumanji The new Jumanji[SPOILER WARNING]

[Christopher]

So 2 days ago I watched the new Jumanji movie. And I had a few observations about it. It does not belong firmly into one genree (indeed it allows the transcending of genrees).

 

The evolution of the game:

Jumanji (the magical/cursed item) had been a boardgame for pretty much forever. But in he modern age, it faced a challenge: "Who plays those anymore?". So it had to Evolve (Digivolve?). It became a 5-player console video game, that also transformed the console it was inserted into.

 

I wondered where this evolution would have to go with even more modern technology:

Consoles might die out too. What if it became a Appstore or Download only Game? Could you only download it from a "mysterious Appstore that is no longer there when you look later"?

Or would it need to by a object in the physical world? The switch does reintroduce cardridges. But for computers and smartphones, any USB stick/dongle/SD card could do.

 

But that raises another question: User interface/presumed gameplay.

By it's nature, the game is multiplayer. Consoles usually have place for up to 4 controlers, making it likely that 4 players split-screen co-op or even play on the same screen.

But for Computers that is different. A few old games (usually beat em up ports) offer the option for 2 players (each using a different half of the keyboard for control). But at large, this approach is rare and would appear alien to most computer users.

 

Hotseat multiplayer is a even older approach, but it only works for turnbased games. And Jumanji seems more like a action/realtime game.

At large, Multiplayer modes over a network have replaced mutiple players on one PC. And with Smartphones that much is not even possible.

 

But having multiple instances of the Game Media could also have issues, like them being split up. I mean it could be a way for the game to replicate (effectively everytime someone wants to play it with friends, he discovers a hidden area with exactly the right amount of media)s. But such a thing might also dilute it's magic power among the instances. Plus not all deviceses have all kinds of connectors.

 

But what if it was a small server?

Most Routers are de-facto small Webservers for the Interface (router functions like DHCP)

Original a seperate part, Print Servers have become integral part of many

Nettop/Mini PC's have become a thing. Or a resurgence, depending how you look at it. The Raspberry Pi is a more extreme case (being single board computers), but the technology is well established.

So Jumanji could become a simple mysterious Nettop. Power connector+button, Network connector and (possibly integrated) WLAN&Bluetooth connection (for smartphones). On it's bottom a IP adress/server name is listed, that mysteriously is always resolved no mater how technologically impossible that should be*. The game is distributed via ClickOnce. Or maybe it has it's own Webstore. Even a thin Client approach (playable in webbrowser) might be possible. It is really just a front to get people to register themself to it, so the game can absorb them. For true modern age mutiplayer, it might even have the mysterious ability to create a VPN network with person you want to play it with**

 

 

*Routers get away with defining those values, because they become the networks primary DHCP Server. That means they define the IP adresses for the network and declare themself the DNS server. Maybe the sticker just changes depending on wich Network/router you connect it too?

 

**Normally getting onto the non-internet side of a router is damn hard. You always need some internet reachable server to do it, even if all it does is aid the hole punching. Actually the ease with wich you can play this game together might be a big teltale that something is not normal with this game.

 

 

It's a trap:

Something that oddly never occured to me before, was using a game like this as a way to seal away someone or something. It's multiplayer nature combined with split required abilities makes it possible that a single being could never "finish the game". So it might be the can in "sealed evil in a can".

 

It also acted like a time travel device, in the sense that the first person absorbed was thrown back to the point where he had disapeared, with the timeline being rewritten accordingly. In this case it was 20 years. But computing hardware goes back at least to the 1960's (and as the Films game, it might have just changed to that form). And the being might be evil, so the whole timeline might be rewritten by the beings actions in the past.

 

 

The story never ends:

While the game and console were presumably destroyed at the end, I would not doubt it that it will come back. Indeed I fully expected a post-credits scene where we see the game&console reforming itself like Christine from the 1983 film. But this might have been too horror-esque for this film.

[Lucius]

7 hours ago, Christopher said:

So 2 days ago I watched the new Jumanji movie. And I had a few observations about it. It does not belong firmly into one genree (indeed it allows the transcending of genrees).

 

The evolution of the game:

Jumanji (the magical/cursed item) had been a boardgame for pretty much forever. But in he modern age, it faced a challenge: "Who plays those anymore?".

 

Lots of people.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And some palindromedaries

[Christopher]

10 hours ago, Lucius said:

 

Lots of people.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And some palindromedaries

Then you are odd.

I play computergames daily. I maybe played a Cardgame (Munchkin) 3 times this year. And that is about as close to playing a boardgame that I got.

[dsatow]

Actually I play board games with two groups.  One is once a month and the other is weekly.  However, these aren't  the stereotypical board games like monopoly, risk, or clue.  Games like Axis and Allies, Power Grid, Terra Mystica to name a few.  If you ask about it at your FLGS, they can probably point out board game nights at the store too.

[Spence]

13 hours ago, Lucius said:

 

Lots of people.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And some palindromedaries

 

3 hours ago, Christopher said:

Then you are odd.

I play computergames daily. I maybe played a Cardgame (Munchkin) 3 times this year. And that is about as close to playing a boardgame that I got.

 

Not odd at all.  I have played multiple tabletop board games in tye last few months, but haven't touched a console/computer game in over a year. 

 

pew pew pew stopped being fun years ago.  As did hack hack hack. 

 

[rjcurrie]

On 12/26/2017 at 11:03 AM, Christopher said:

Then you are odd.

I play computergames daily. I maybe played a Cardgame (Munchkin) 3 times this year. And that is about as close to playing a boardgame that I got.

 

Here's some numbers for the hobby game industry from 2016:

 

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/38012/hobby-games-market-over-1-4-billion

 

My impression is that similar growth continued in 2017. 

[dsatow]

I'd like to note, that when I was young there was lots of talk about computer games killing off board games and PnP games.  30 years later, the apocalypse has not come.  In fact, a lot of my contemporaries who played only video games when they were young, play more board games now.  I still play video games.  Just not as often as I did when I was younger.  The use of the joystick and mouse to run through virtual environments just doesn't hold an attraction anymore.  More often I play computerized board games because setting up an actual board would be a pain or there is no one around to play with.  Even the "not board" computer games I play, with the exception of one or two are mostly things like Starcraft or Civilization or Age of Empires.  The attraction of board games and PnP games is in the socializing aspect that you don't get even when playing against other humans on the net and with headphones.

[Tech]

Why is this in HERO System Discussion? I'd think this is more appropriate in a different forum.

[Christopher]

2 hours ago, Tech said:

Why is this in HERO System Discussion? I'd think this is more appropriate in a different forum.

 

On 25.12.2017 at 11:34 PM, Christopher said:

And I had a few observations about it. It does not belong firmly into one genree (indeed it allows the transcending of genrees).

If you do not know wich Forum it is "better placed in", then this is not really helpfull.

[Lucius]

On ‎12‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 11:03 AM, Christopher said:

Then you are odd.

 

 

Well, yes, I AM odd, but not because I know that lots of people play board games. Lots of people play board games, so lots of people know that lots of people play board games.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I have a palindromedary, and that is one of the things that does make me odd. Lots of people don't have a palindromedary.

[Lucius]

3 hours ago, Christopher said:

 

If you do not know wich Forum it is "better placed in", then this is not really helpfull.

 

Non Gaming Discussion.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says discussion of movies can go there.

[Christopher]

8 minutes ago, Lucius said:

 

Non Gaming Discussion.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says discussion of movies can go there.

But it si for gaming. In particular how to adapt the Jumanji principle, to settings even farther in the future (like a Cyberpunk game).

[Christopher R Taylor]

Actually board games are undergoing a pretty significant rennaissance, but I don't think with young people right now.

[Lucius]

6 hours ago, Christopher said:

But it si for gaming. In particular how to adapt the Jumanji principle, to settings even farther in the future (like a Cyberpunk game).

 

In that case, there's General Role playing or, if you want to talk about adapting "the Jumanji principle" (whatever the heck THAT is, you haven't defined it nor mentioned it until now) to Hero System particularly, right here where the thread already is.

 

Of course, we could also stay right here and keep on discussing the popularity of board games, it's not like we have to worry about the Topicality Police.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary notes that at least one popular thread has been in the "Wrong place" for decades.

[Ragitsu]

Is there a significant or at least interesting motivation to carry the Jumanji board game while out-and-about on various escapades? The closest analogue I can think of is the "Deck of Many Things" from Dungeons & Dragons.

[Christopher]

On 4.1.2018 at 12:22 PM, Ragitsu said:

Is there a significant or at least interesting motivation to carry the Jumanji board game while out-and-about on various escapades? The closest analogue I can think of is the "Deck of Many Things" from Dungeons & Dragons.

That too would be a lot easier with a computergame. They tend to be a lot more "space efficient". I can download a PC version of risks with a measily 22 MiB. Just think how many boardgame clones you could carry and play on one tablet with touchscreen. Those games tend to be "hotseat multiplayer" by nature. Some could even work on something as small as a phone screen (but that is less likely in general).

 

Thanks to my computerclub I see a lot of devices every month. Mobile Devices (Smartphones to Laptops) have largely replaced oldschool PC's. Even people that explicitly never plan on moving them, still prefer a laptop for home applications due to better space efficiency.

Heck, more then once now I saw what I thought was a laptop. But was actually a tablet with keyboard in a shared casing.

 

On 27.12.2017 at 10:07 PM, rjcurrie said:

 

Here's some numbers for the hobby game industry from 2016:

 

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/38012/hobby-games-market-over-1-4-billion

 

My impression is that similar growth continued in 2017. 

By how many orders of magnitude is the Comptuer games industry larger then the Hobby games industry?

The mobiles games 2016 alone beat the US+Canada boardgame figures you linked by 5 (1.4 Billion to 6.8 Billion): https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/us-games-market-2016/

 

Sorry, but at large Hobby games can not hold a candle to the Comptuer games.

[rjcurrie]

Deleted.

[rjcurrie]

16 minutes ago, Christopher said:

That too would be a lot easier with a computergame. They tend to be a lot more "space efficient". I can download a PC version of risks with a measily 22 MiB. Just think how many boardgame clones you could carry and play on one tablet with touchscreen. Those games tend to be "hotseat multiplayer" by nature. Some could even work on something as small as a phone screen (but that is less likely in general).

 

Thanks to my computerclub I see a lot of devices every month. Mobile Devices (Smartphones to Laptops) have largely replaced oldschool PC's. Even people that explicitly never plan on moving them, still prefer a laptop for home applications due to better space efficiency.

Heck, more then once now I saw what I thought was a laptop. But was actually a tablet with keyboard in a shared casing.

 

By how many orders of magnitude is the Comptuer games industry larger then the Hobby games industry?

The mobiles games 2016 alone beat the US+Canada boardgame figures you linked by 5 (1.4 Billion to 6.8 Billion): https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/us-games-market-2016/

 

Sorry, but at large Hobby games can not hold a candle to the Comptuer games.

 

I was never trying to claim that board games were more popular than computer games. I was merely countering your condescending “who plays those anymore" comment with an indicator that the hobby game industry is growing and thriving.

 

However, I’m done here. Clearly, my point was lost on you.

[Ragitsu]

Christopher, the distinction between a traditional board game and an electronic video game was not on my mind. I was merely posing a question about the usefulness of a Player Character carrying around a Jumanji board game while they themselves are adventuring. At present, the only purpose I envision it serving is one of a trap. Basically...you get the bad guy to open it up and somehow roll the dice before attempting to escape. Best case scenario? Your baddie du jour gets sucked into the pocket dimension from an exceptionally green hell.

 

It may end up being one hell of a trade item. I'd like to see the bazaar with merchants in possession of brassy-enough balls to barter for it.

[Christopher]

1 hour ago, Ragitsu said:

Christopher, the distinction between a traditional board game and an electronic video game was not on my mind. I was merely posing a question about the usefulness of a Player Character carrying around a Jumanji board game while they themselves are adventuring. At present, the only purpose I envision it serving is one of a trap. Basically...you get the bad guy to open it up and somehow roll the dice before attempting to escape. Best case scenario? Your baddie du jour gets sucked into the pocket dimension from an exceptionally green hell.

 

It may end up being one hell of a trade item. I'd like to see the bazaar with merchants in possession of brassy-enough balls to barter for it.

Of course this form of challenge is more likely to be found as part of a bigger quest (why I mentioend one person being stuck in it for 20 years) or as the mai nfocus of the adventure, then a combat or even adventure useable item/power.

[Ragitsu]

Perhaps it could be utilized as a training tool for prospective explorers?

[dsatow]

On 1/3/2018 at 7:41 PM, Christopher said:

But it si for gaming. In particular how to adapt the Jumanji principle, to settings even farther in the future (like a Cyberpunk game).

 

Was it ever going to lead to a question involving the system?  I think that is the problem people are asking about when they are saying "why here?"

 

You might want to have put this under Other Genres or better yet General RolePlaying.