For the last decade I’ve kept a list of games on IFDB based on their genre or vibe or length. I have 40 as of this post:
Some of them have gotten unwieldly, so for instance from Sci Fi I split off time travel, space games, etc. and from Fantasy I split of Zorkian fantasy, religious, etc.
I maintain them every now and then but it can be hard. Here’s my question. Do you use these lists?
I have used one of these lists before to find games to play.
I have not used one of these lists before to find games to play.
0voters
If people have been using them, I’ll update them. I do ask that you don’t recommend more games to be on the list, since it can make people feel bad. Right now if I leave a game off the list, the author can say ‘maybe he forgot’, but if someone says, ‘Why aren’t you adding Shovel Simulator Deluxe Edition?’ and I don’t add it then the author knows I just don’t like it.
The lists I’ve used most often are your playtime estimates, when I’m looking for long parsers to get lost in for a week, or conversely, something I can play in an afternoon.
Your finegrained genre lists (“time-travel”, “religious”,…) have also been of help to me more than a few times. Actually, I’ve been contemplating rearranging the tags for my played games on IFDB to resemble the structure of your dedicated lists. Not necessarily the exact same categories, but a clearer overview divided into groups that feel intuitive to me.
So yes, they’re helpful to me, and I would very much appreciate any effort on your part to maintain them.
“Great games in a mostly realistic setting” helped me find Hana Feels, which is a poignant game I’ve held onto in memory long after playing it. The starter pack one has been handy for suggesting games to new players.
Mostly I get a lot of mileage out of lists that indicate the overall feeling / mood / ambiance to a piece, as if I’m open to playing a new game, I am typically more open on genre and more interested in finding a game that matches my mood.
IMO, good lists are hard to discover on IFDB because we don’t support voting for helpful lists. If we did that, useful lists would be easier to discover.
I’ve learnt of some favourites through these lists. For example, Tangaroa Deep. I’m pretty sure I found that one through one of your lists. And Bogeyman too, if I’m not mistaken. They’re actually really cool with helping me find something to play!
