Guillermo H. Nuñez

Its been a while since my first game: Dungeon of Terror. I consider it more a testing for the possibilities I am starting to complete nowadays.

Here are some random thoughts that might help you understand who I am:

I think board game design is a work of love above everything. That is the reason why every geek wants to create their own game when they have collected a pile of them! We all want to create something fun or unique or a better version of whats out there (better always in our own personal perspective) to express ourselves through our creation.

Also it is a work of art that will endure even beyond the designer s life... an expresion of the times we live in or the ones we live within, the creation of worlds that only existed in our imagination until we seal their presence within this existence inside a box of wonders.

Board game design is a way of becoming part of something bigger. Board games unite families, friends and complete strangers into one single moment of experience. They reveal the most inner person like nothing else can do. When somebody plays a game sooner or later they show all their faces: the nice ones and the ugly ones. You can meet somebody as he/she really IS through gaming. Sometimes you can even surprise yourself at how little you knew your best friend or lover before you played a game with him/her and gain a better understanding of the nature in all of us.

Gaming is a part of every human being... A way of passing and gaining knowledge... A way of preventing diseases of the mind... and creation is the very existance of every human being.

Yeah, I might sound a little weirdo by putting so much emphasis on this hobby but the last time I saw the oldest boardgame found has 10.000 years old. It might have even helped the evolution of human kind as the brain gets better and better when it learns. A pity we often confuse life for something more than a big game... THE BIG GAME. We play to be lovers, friends, father and daughters... employees, rich men and poor men... the game becomes so real that we forget we are creating the world around us with the narrative of our actions and ideas.

Some wise men say that Man is a story teller... a creator of myths.. a homo ludens... and maybe those wise men are describing the core of the society itself.

"As you play.. you are"

Some people say that you have to win to become better, but I think you have to LOSE in order to grow. Losing gives you humility. Losing gives you calm. It gives you a chance to learn. A bad loser will always be a bad winner until he masters his own desires and expectations. It wont be a fun companion on the games and probably he wont be a good companion in life. A man that desires only to win, desires a brief moment of isolation, but the one that desires to enjoy the experience (wheter he wins or not) strives to share with others a moment of communion. What is better for you its up to you to decide. My way is my way only and it is based on my own experiences.

I am not saying that you have to be pityfull with others when you play. Pity and Compassion are two different things. As it is humility and false humility.

I think there are 3 type of games: Competitive, Cooperative and Solitary. You cannot play a Competitive game to lose because you are defeating the purpose of the game, but the difference resides in that a good hearted man plays to become a better thinker as a good martialist fights other martialists to gain a better understanding of his own capabilities and how to master them.

I enjoy a lot losing games because it means I can be better. And I enjoy a lot winning games because I know my competitor will learn new ways of defeating me and that will help me in return to become better. That is the good way of a gamer. To grow and to help others to grow.

"To teach in victory and learn in defeat."

...But there needs to be a cycle. Like the yin and yang. That is why I think a good man will not stay only with that in which he is the best. He will try to do that which is difficult for him in order to grow. The same way a good gamer will play not only those games in which he is undefeated but also those that are very difficult for him. And will always search new challenges where to lose in order to grow.

I think there is a big difference between a man that plays to grow and the one that doesnt care to win. You will see the difference in the excitement of his behaviour during the game and in the calm of his character when the game is over. He will be a good winner and great loser that will always give you the hand when he is defeated and that will never mock you when he wins. He will know that everything is a lesson that can be transported to all the aspects of his being... of his life. He will have a code (even withough knowing it) of honor and wonder. A mix of a samurai and a child. And above everything he will always smile compassionately.

A good man will always know that it is better to light a candle than to curse darkness.

I just hope I am not too late to become that kind of man before my creator calls my name and this game is over.