Logging Like a Lumberjack

Descents Into Madness and Numbers

So today, I thought that I would talk about my journey here on BGG and the rabbit hole that I found myself going down mid-September of 2023. This is a story, of a guy named Josiah, and his long descent into madness, chaos, and the general weirdness that comes with becoming a hardcore collector and board gamer (more than he had been previously). I'm really going to have fun with this, so it's not going to be like my other posts, tending towards more of a pulpy Lovecraftian vibe versus a review of mechanics or play reviews. Have fun with this and I look forward to your comments on the absolutely ridiculous writing that I have done with this. I certainly had fun writing it.

Keep in mind, quite a bit of what I have written here is fiction, added in for dramatic flair, yet it does actually portray how I started logging my plays here on BGG. The end will be a bit pulpy since I didn't really go off the deep end with my tracking (at least not that anyone knows yet), but it was quite a bit fun to write it that way. I hope you enjoy the (mostly true) tale of how I began tracking games here on BGG:

Look away if your heart and mind are unable to handle the chaos of peering into the unadulterated void that is my brain and how it chooses to handle the memories of my life. Keep on reading if you find yourself intrigued by the descent into madness and the discovery of the secret texts that rule behind the scenes here at BGG. Read on, oh brave adventurer, to hear the tale of Josiah (LinkToDarkness) and his discovery of what some might call the most secret hidden knowledge and the horror that it entails.

On a Dark, Stormy Night

We begin our journey on a night unlike any other. A wail pierces the night air. It is colder than it should be on this early winter day in the western part of the United States. Almost as if there has been some portent of what is to come. As travelers maneuver around the city, preparing for the celebrations to come, they pause, due to something catching their attention, just outside of their hearing range. They shake their heads as if to clear their minds from the subtle touch of a force as light as spider's silk, but something remains. A sense of dread and horror that cannot be shaken.

This night has seen the first cry of a babe that is to shake the foundations of the world around him. There is terror and chaos that goes before this little one, the likes of which has never been seen before, nor shall ever be seen after the advent of this child. For while he remains small and unable to breathe well on his own, this little minion of chaos knows that one day there shall be a journey that he makes into the deep knowledge, and the thought falls back into the subconscious mind as he slowly drifts back to sleep after his cry had pierced the night.

As the years went on, this little agent of chaos and destruction grew in knowledge of the forbidden. He was taught of plans to dominate the earth through Risk, destruction of his enemies to return them to their starting state through Sorry!, and the overwhelming power and that which corrupts through the chaos of the "Draw 4" card contained within UNO. His knowledge of strategy was further deepened while seeking patterns in SET, and taught to mistrust others while playing Hearts.

A deep love of board games was instilled in his mind, especially being drawn into the chaotic joy that could be found in a last-minute win. He began branching out from these simple games as he grew older, but never truly lost the lessons that he had learned upon initial introduction to games. The little babe grew into a young man and he began purchasing games for himself. His love of fantasy had been awoken and he eagerly supped at the table of potential additions to his collection, adding Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition, Trivial Pursuit: The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy Collector's Edition, and even a cooperative experience in The Lord of the Rings. But it was not enough to satisfy the lust for knowledge and chaos that this youngling sought.

As this youngling grew further in knowledge and experience, he was introduced to a new realm of possibilities. CATAN was shown to him in the latter years of his school days and despite claiming that the game was deeply beyond his ken, a lasting impression had been made. There was more to this unknown realm of games that was originally revealed to him and the knowledge of something more had planted a fervorous desire in him for a deeper connection with the strategy and intensity that could be contained within these games of board.

A Thirst for More

As he began to grow older and cement his experiences, he began to branch out from the safe net of familiar games, seeking to tap the knowledge of those that brought new to the world. He became enamored with Kickstarter and all the potentials that could be found within the digital walls of the domain. As this was the beginning of the realm, many mistakes were made and this young man found himself seeking diversions in areas that were not well-prepared. A faulty supporting of Machine of Death: The Game of Creative Assassination and Story War yielded this young man's first taste of regret in the beatific realm of board games and he found himself at a loss. The promise of new experiences and chaos had been soured by the harsh reality of life and the fact that not all games were created equal.

He sunk into the depths of depression, swearing that he would find something that would tap into the realm of games like that of his late days of school. Many dark secrets were sought in this time and places were trodden that should never have been sought before. Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity, and What Do You Meme? were played in a search for meaning amongst the wild world of mediocre games. While a few bright spots were found with The Game of Things and Betrayal at House on the Hill, still yet more despair was found within games like The Oregon Trail Card Game and Exploding Kittens.

The young man began to worry that the heights that he had found in his school days would never be found again. While he had found many who wished to deepen his knowledge of games, many came with false promises and even falser diversions that would lead further into the black realm of party games. While that realm represented paradise for many, the young man saw only drought and pain in that despicable place. While the fruit of a party game was sweet at first, it quickly became sour after a time as others were required to join in the realm and despite his best intentions, many would choose other diversions than passing the time with games.

His love of games had become deadened by the lack of engagement from those who were around him. While there was availability to play incredible experiences, many chose instead to pursue their own interests and our agent of chaos found himself alone in a wide world of potential without any person to engage with. What had once been a robust and vibrant land of games, turned into a wasteland of potential plays that had been missed and our hero found himself despairing at finding anyone who would be willing to engage in delving into the deep, unexplored territories of the unknown.

A Beacon of Life in a Sea of Despair

It was in this dark hour that our hero found himself wallowing in a realm of naught but anger and hatred at this world of potential that yet lay untapped. Fate however, sought our hero in the most unlikely of places. After years of stagnation and disappointment, our hero found a friend, a beacon of light in an otherwise dark realm of indifference, who also sought out the new experiences that could be brought by the wild realm of board games. He sought to teach our hero of Scythe and the new reality of modern games that had been created in the time in which our hero languished alone.

This sparked a revolution for our hero and while he found that he did not care initially for the game in which had been brought to his attention, but through much exploration, found that there was far more to games than initially realized. 7 Wonders and Wingspan were brought to the table and presented with their bounty, our hero found that his love for games had been reinvigorated. So much more was now available to play and purchase and our hero threw himself headlong into the reawakened world of board games. He purchased both Ticket to Ride and Azul in an effort to reinvigorate the idea of playing games with his beloved, and even went so far as to also purchase a copy of Splendor.

Alas, all of this renewed vigor was to be quickly shut down due to a global catastrophe that would remove any and all capability of playing games with people in person for a long time. While our hero continued to purchase and play games with his beloved, the newly found friend that he had managed to connect with was relegated to long periods of silence, punctuated with brief periods of communication, to which both parties would lament what was lost. Several aborted attempts were made to reconnect, but with the inclusion of a third party in our hero's life, time became even more of a precious commodity.

Even more attempts were made to connect with others of a like mind who also enjoyed delving into the realm of creativity and exploration that board games entailed, but all would be found with the same deafening silence of loneliness that came from the worldwide destruction caused by the virulent horror. While the realm of chaos and knowledge known as Board Game Geek was known to our hero, he had not yet fully dived into all that the features of what was available on the website.

Our hero was once again introduced to a friend who would open up new possibilities within the board game realm, providing exploration into realms of building chaotic castles in Castles of Mad King Ludwig, exploring divisive combat between angels and demons in Deliverance, and pushing your luck with card games such as Dead Man's Draw. Once again, the fires of exploration and excitement had again been kindled in our hero and he plunged headlong into the wild world of board games.

Descent Into Numbers

Credit to https://www.timjeanes.com/bggstats/ for the image.

It was here that the forbidden realm of Board Game Geek opened up to our hero and his descent into the madness that comes from tracking games that have been played. For the new acquaintance would soon develop into a deep friendship revolving around board games, the likes of which had not been seen before. But with this newfound kinship, came the introduction of further knowledge of what was available to access on BGG. Not only was there a chance to find new games, which satiated our agent of chaos for a time, but with further diving into all that was accessible, the chance to track plays became evident to our hero.

A glimpse into what could be became apparent to this child of yesteryear and the knowledge that statistics could be gained and shared was like a blast of fire to the veins. He immediately began delving into tracking his games, becoming more and more obsessive with how many games that he would play. The numbers could not lie and he must play more and more, adding new games to his collection, all while attempting to push the number of plays up that were listed on the page that bore his name. It became an obsession and as the end of the year came and went, those around him began to see a change in the man.

He no longer cared what he played, only that he had a number that could be added to push the sum total of his deeds further and further. With a way to quantify the success (or failure) of his deeds, the man sunk into the chaotic realm of numbers and sought only the approval of seeing his beloved play count increase. Where once was a man, now only sat a monster who was obsessed with seeing the statistics improve day by day. His mind became warped with the knowledge of addition and he was fully obsessed with seeking new ways to improve what that number stated day by day.

Within the short span of a few months, the madness had consumed him. He ignored all others around him, focusing only on the numbers that seemed to permeate his very being and provided the validation of inevitable increase. His thoughts were only of more and nothing could dissuade our fallen hero from seeking out the everchanging goal of increasing that play count. It first was simple: to play a game a day. However, this soon was not enough and he sought higher numbers, first seeking two, then three plays per day. It all could be tracked, quantified, and visualized and he sought more and more plays until the obsession was all consuming.

It was on a dark, snowy night that our fallen protagonist's journey encountered what many might consider the end, and yet it is impossible to tell. For that night the man had discovered that he had completed the 500th play of a game that was logged here on BGG. A wild storm raged in the air that night, similar to when he had first found himself on this earth. Almost as if the man's destiny had come to pass, the earth itself seemed to sit on an irregular axis, and once again, many who were out that night paused as if they heard a cry just beyond the pitch of mortal hearing.

None are quite certain what occurred that fateful evening, but many believe that the deep knowledge that came with that 500th play resulted in our hero's demise. For that next morning, our hero could not be found anywhere upon this mortal coil. Wild variations could be found in instrumentation from that night. A spike on the radar could be seen and had been recorded without any weather beyond the norm occurring. Pilots and those with radios swore that they heard an unearthly wail that evening, yet none were certain where it came from. And for a brief moment, time seemed to have stood still for almost a minute in a town in the northern part of the United States.

Some believed that our hero had descended into immortality after seeing and comprehending something beyond the knowledge of man that night. Still others believed that something evil had been awoken and that the man had been spirited away into some nether realm of horrors untold. Even more would claim that they saw a gibbering man who had run naked into the night calling out about "uncomprehendable formulas and having seen the face of God." No true explanation can be found for what occurred that night, but all who experienced the phenomena know that it will never occur again, for the man who had caused it was now gone from time and memory.

It remains yet to be seen if our fallen hero has truly descended into madness or has obtained some knowledge that brought him to another plane of existence. Some say that his writings still appear here on Board Game Geek thrice a week, but those that find those writings soon often find themselves questioning if their mind is playing tricks on them. For the words that are written, while initially seem to make sense, tend to warp and change the longer they are observed, almost as if they have a life of their own.

It is with this final statement I end my story: Beware the pull of knowledge, for it may be a glimpse into something far beyond what the mortal mind can handle. There are doors that stand unopened since the beginning of time that must remain so, lest they release both horror and beauty upon this land.

On What Prompted This Story

So today was a bit different than my other posts. I'm a storyteller through and through and love a good Lovecraftian dive into forbidden knowledge that yields chaos and madness. I had wanted to originally provide an account on what led me to tracking my plays here on BGG, but upon further reflection, I thought it would be fun to make it into a pulpy Lovecraft-esque story about a man who discovered the true nature of tracking stats and how it drove him into madness.

Obviously, I haven't gone nuts with tracking my stats (although the part about me having ever changing goals with my logged plays is true), but there's an element to the story that could be entirely true. I love statistics and being able to track my plays here on BGG is very dangerous to me. I often get into the "Haha number go brrrr" mentality of just pushing that number of plays up and don't sit back to let myself enjoy the games that I'm playing because I'm too obsessed with what the next play will be.

There's absolutely a dopamine hit of seeing the average daily plays get closer and closer to 2 plays a day, but I also have to remind myself that part of playing board games is to enjoy the time that I spend with others playing them. While tracking my games is an excellent way for me to keep an idea of what I've played and whom I've played the games with, it also presents a double-edged sword for me as I'm always looking to push the number up. Every once in a while, it's good for me to take a step back and really enjoy the journey rather than seek to reach the ever-changing destination.

On the flip side, I do appreciate being able to track what I have played as it allows me to have a real-time representation of what isn't hitting the table as much. I'm able to go through my collection and pare down what hasn't hit the table as often to ensure that I'm keeping the games that I want to play and getting rid of games that really don't see too much play. I know that there are quite a few games that I have that I wanted desperately, yet when I obtained them, they just don't hit the table too often. Tracking my plays allows me to see what is worth keeping and what is destined to be sold off.

I also like that it allows me to participate in challenges here on BGG and track what I've done with those challenges. I have a 10x10 Challenge List for 2024 and tracking allows me to keep track of what progress I've made for that challenge. This is (currently) the only challenge I'm partaking in this year, yet if I choose to partake in another, I have my logged plays that will give me a leg up should I choose to participate in another (I'm thinking the 365 Play Challenge or the A-Z Challenge next). Plus there's the added benefit of getting cool visualizations like the one I linked above.

Give me your thoughts: What are your thoughts on tracking and logging your plays? Do you find it beneficial to keep track of what you're playing and how it impacts what you keep in your collection? Are there other locations that you prefer to track your plays on or do you find that BGG is the easiest place to do so?

As always, thanks for your continued support for this blog. I know that today was a bit odd, but I like to let my creativity monster out once in a while or he gets upset and starts wrecking things. I appreciate each of your comments and hope that you have a wonderful rest of your week.

Have fun with your plays!

~Josiah (LinkToDarkness)

*originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 27/3/2024*