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tech tantra thursday
for thursday september 15, 2011 ← prev ( 2 ) Cosmic Encounter® Online at Facebook fb thread
The First (Cosmic) Encounter and Trust
We had a booth at a game convention out in the midwest somewhere (I think it was Milwaukee) and setups for two games so we could “teach folks about Cosmic” . . . and a young man came up and said he wanted to introduce his fiancee to Cosmic Encounter®. Two other Cosmic fans were at the booth and wanted to play and it was my turn to be the Eon player so I sat down and said “sure” and the young man's fiancee sat down across from me. I sensed that the young woman was not very enthusiastic about playing one of the board games she was seeing people play at this game convention and did not have high expectations. A challenge! My goal was to prove to her that Cosmic Encounter® was different from a lot of other games, that Cosmic was all about the people who were playing the game and that the magic of Cosmic was the fact that many interesting things about people could happen in a game of Cosmic Encounter® . . . also, it had been a long day and I was in a playful mood. In my first interaction with her, I told her “if you have a Compromise card (this was the Eon or Milton Bradley/Avalon Hill version of Cosmic) you can play it and I promise I will also play a Compromise card and we can each get a foreign base.” She asked, “Can you do that?” . . . (she meant can players talk about what they plan to do and make agreements like that before they play cards) and I said, “Yep, you just have to trust each other.” She looked me in the eye and I looked her in the eye and we each made our decision. We both played Compromise cards and made a deal to trade bases and I saw a twinkle in her eye. She liked it! Which made me happy. Her future husband was watching and he'd entrusted me with a mission; he'd brought her over to try the game hoping she would like this strange and interesting game. Well, as destiny would have it on the next encounter we two were, again, the two players with a decision to make and I proposed the same arrangement. I had a Compromise and said if she did, we could both get a foreign colony again. She said she did and we compromised again and her eyes were twinkling even more. As were mine. Surprising her about our game was fun! Something, amazing happened in that game that has never happened to me since in a game of Cosmic Encounter®. The two of us formed an unspoken compromise connection, an understanding that we would always compromise with each other. Usually, the distribution of Compromise cards will mean that even if you want to, you won't be able to play a Compromise card. I don't remember if we were forced to play Attacks against each other at some point in the game, but if we did, we both understood; and, for whatever reason, the way we had started the game was what was important, it created a bond and, for the rest of the game, whenever we could, without having to talk about it, we played Compromise cards and traded foreign bases. Before long, as destiny would have it, we won that game together. On the last day of the convention, they both came by to thank me and say goodbye. Because of that game, we all felt like we knew each other. It's a good memory. And that was one of my favorite games of Cosmic Encounter®. A final note from me for Cosmic players, “I think it is usually worthwhile to risk losing an encounter to show another player that when you say you're going to compromise (or negotiate), you mean it, and to find out if another player plays the game the way you do. Creating that trust and finding players you can trust is good Cosmic game strategy because Cosmic Encounter® is a game of opportunities - the opportunities you learn to create, the opportunities you learn to nurture and protect, and the opportunities you learn to recognize and use.”
Thanks. — Bill Eberle (for Cosmic)
for thursday september 15, 2011 ← prev ( 2 )
Cosmic Encounter®; Online at Facebook fb thread
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