‘Winging’ Over the Haters; Wingspan and the Psychology of Hype and Intolerance

At the end of February, The Dice Tower premiered a new type of video on their channel: The Dice Tower Re-Roll.  In these videos, they have a small panel, and revisit a game that may deserve a re-evaluation or a in depth look back.  Fittingly, the first game they chose was Wingspan.  Wingspan is a medium-light engine and tableau building game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games.  It’s also not hard to say that this game was the game of the year in 2019. Between the short supply, the beautifully crafted and striking art, and the general known quality of Stonemaier games in general, it’s no surprise that that was the case.  I can’t think of a better game from The Dice Tower to start this new video series with, as Wingspan has created great coverage within and outside the board game community, and there are new people being introduced to the game all the time. 

And yet for some, they had no interest in the game, even hatred for it.  A sampling of some of the lowest rated reviews on Board Game Geek include:

“When will the madness with this latest craze end and we get back to good design?”

 “Another boring euro engine building game. Just mechanics for the sake of mechanics. The pasted-on bird theme is the highlight, though has nothing to do with anything.”

“Hype machine in overdrive.”

“A very basic engine builder with pretty birds. Overhyped fluff.”

“There is too much hype around this game, let's see where it is with some time.”

                One thing that struck me about these reviews is the presence of the word hype. What is the most common phrase you can think of the contains that word?  For at least a few of you, (I’m guessing even a majority) I bet that phrase is “don’t believe/buy into the hype” (I know, I cheated by putting two in there). Hype is routinely looked down upon in our popular culture. Some people have innate need to not be ‘one of the crowd’ or to strike out a position that only they have.  This is doubly so here in the United States, where a sense of rugged individuality has been ingrained in our culture since the early days.

                In my case, I bought into the hype.  Elizabeth Hargrave lives nearby, so I’ve had the chance to play with her a few times, and it has been great.  Wingspan, in my opinion, has a great balance of engine building and hand/resource management.  It allows you to have a quicker engine builder than Terraforming Mars, and the art upgrade is nothing to sneeze at.  The art and graphic design alone is enough reason to have the game in my collection. In addition, it’s a game that many people in my group have enjoyed playing. 

                But, just as I have ‘bought the hype’ many people have not.  The comments above are just a small fraction of the negative reviews that you can find on BGG.  And not just about Wingspan, but your favorite game as well.  Now, I’m not going to sit here and type that you can’t have an opinion, but why do so many opinions have to be so disparaging?  Some might say that it is just the way the world is now; the anonymity of the internet has made us all into the worst sides of ourselves.  And it’s not hard to see that.  The board game community certainly has not been immune to it, as millions of different comments across various platforms show.  This can make people who are fans of games doubt their enjoyment of certain games, or even result in trying to take on the people who have the negative opinions. (Not an approach endorsed by me by the way)

And yet, we shouldn’t be discouraged if our favorite game has haters.  A podcast I listen too, Judge John Hodgeman, has many phrases that have become part of the lexicon of the show.  One of them is “don’t yuck my yum”.  This is a great phrase to use when you are faced with negativity regarding things that you like, be they board games, movies, books, or anything. Try saying it the next time you are confronted with an opinion you don’t agree with, or if you’re going to give an opinion on something. If you take that extra second before you react to something, you could help people come around to your way of thinking.  Thinking about the way you present yourself on the internet can help the way you present yourself IRL, and if we all do that a little bit, we can help the world be a bit better, and help foster our relationships around the gaming table.