In Ye Olden Days, I used to rant on this blog. I complained about indie games and game boxes, about colors and player numbers. I whined about people whining and respectfully stated why I didn’t respect highly respected games. At some point it faded away — which is too bad because I at least enjoyed those pieces. So, today I’m going to return to that old style of writing and rant about something that’s been bugging me.

The topic is player aggression, by which I mean the ability to wantonly and freely attack another player, to crush their hopes of victory, to see their resources driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women (or men). For a long time, eurogames were afraid to approach the topic at all, but as eurogames have spread beyond Germany — in particular as they’ve mingled and reproduced with American games — aggression has slowly come into the field.

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