Board Games like a System

Books and Boards

In 1959 the Brazilian literary critic Antonio Candido wrote Formação da Literatura Brasileira – Momentos decisivos (in a free translation, Formation of Brazilian Literature – Decisive moments). In this book Candido shows to the reader an interesting concept about Brazilian Literature: the first books produced in Brazil date to the 16th century, but the Brazilian literature was only born 200 years later.

To Candido, an isolated book doesn’t constitute national literature. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, writers wrote poems and chronicles in major cities of the Portuguese Colony in America (Brazil was a colony until 1822), but in fact they didn’t create a Literary System.

Literary System is a concept in which we can find three pillars: writers, readers and mechanisms of transmission. The writers need to be conscious of their role in the culture; the readers are receptors of the art and it’s possible to divide them in different types of public; the mechanisms of transmission  are the style and the common language that connects writers and readers.

Production, consumption and the creation of a common language between artists and the public are the base of the Literary System. Without production, we have only a bunch of customers in a passive position; without consumption, the creators can’t dialogue with the public to make an original piece of art; without common language probably we will find an attempt to copy the external ideas.  

How does this relate to board games?

Three connected elements

The concept of Literary System is a good method to understand cultural production and in my opinion we can extrapolate the idea for Board Games.

Unlike writing a book, producing board games is a collective work. To publish a board game we need a great number of professionals involved in the process: game designers, artists, editors and many others. Because of that, in the Board Game System the place of the writers is occupied by publishers and game studios.

Similar to readers, the players can be divided into different types of public. There are those who are satisfied with playing the games with their friends and family. However, it is increasingly common to find players who share their opinions and reviews in forums like BGG or in a YouTube channel. It’s a fundamental part of the System and enforces the connection between public and publishers. 

To board games the mechanisms of transmission are the creation of a common language to communicate. If you use terms like area control, deck building or work placement, players and game designers around the World understand the main concept of the game. The themes are part of this mechanism of transmission: the popularity of certain thematic universes like farms, space fantasy or medieval castles creates a common ground for publishers and players.  

Brazilian Board Game System

If you think about Board Games as a System, an important question arises: is there a Brazilian Board Game System?

It’s a tricky question, because we can find games produced in Brazil, but is it possible to say that they are Brazilian games?

For sure we have ⅔ of the elements present in a System: consumption and production.

Since the beginning of the 21st century we have been able to find board game’s players in Brazil. The number of players is growing year after year, creating an active market hungry for launches and new products.

The success of games like Cartographers, Paper Dungeons and Brazil: Imperial attests the entrance of Brazilian publishers and game designers in the role of producers in the system.

How about mechanisms of transmission? This is a complicated question.

In general we use the terms and ideas of European or American game designers to think about our games. The use of categories like eurogame or ameritrash is a major signal of warning: maybe we only reproduce the logic of the big centers in our periferic market. In this case, we didn’t create anything original, only copies without creativity or innovation.

On the other hand, the modern board games born in a connected world are quite different from that of the birth of national literatures. Board games are published in many languages at the same time, and they need to communicate with different audiences and contexts  at the same time.

Today Brazilian game designers and publishers are searching for new ways to integrate this international community in a more active role, without neglecting the contact and the dialogue with Brazilian Players.