I see Dominions and similar games as hobby gaming.

[BigJMoney]

When I ask myself why I paid $55 for a game that largely doesn't have the same kind of updates and modifications one has come to expect from mainstream video games, I sometimes have a hard time coming up with a good argument. Yet, I have absolutely no problem with it. In fact, I bought Dominions 3 for $55 instead of saving up for the new Half Life 2 episode (with TF2!) that is coming out soon, for around $20-$25. I know I would enjoy that video game immensely. It has cowed to Dominions.

I then thought about my friends who play Warhammer 40k. When a new edition comes out - not unlike the amount of time that passed between the Doms versions - they go out and purchase a large and expensive rulebook. Then, they spend as much as they can afford to buy new units for their wargame. Occasionaly I even hear one of them say, "I can't use this unit because he isn't allowed any more." This is rare, but the point is that they continually put a lot of money into their tabletop gaming hobby, and technologically, tabletop gaming isn't going to change much. While Dominions doesn't require us to glue models together, paint them and build scenery, it very much feels like a hobby. We get together and arrange email games that can take up to several months to complete. Or, we will spend a weekend playing a game online. And there is so much friggin content in Dominions, it's like having an entire table top game all for just one, low price. It's a low cost, low effort hobby.

The truth is, I'm just not interested in comparing Dominions to other video games; hemming and hawing about what I expect from it. I know that I love the game, and I will buy the new edition when it comes out. This new edition is certainly the best one yet. I'll continue to make suggestions I think would improve the game and hope a little that some of them make it in, but overall I know that the next edition will regardless be better. Years from now, I know I will have long lost track of the $55 I spent on this version, and will be ready to put money down for the new one with no complaints. If I want to compare Dominions to another game out there, you want to know what I'd compare? Everquest. There is a game that is similar due the vast amounts of content. Even when the game first released, there was enough stuff there to keep people in for years; and it did. Regularly added expansions only kept people around for more. When Everquest 2 came out, they found that changing the system too much simply didn't work. Everquest is a hobby game, and a shiny new GFX engine and voice acting just really weren't what was needed to keep their hobbyists in the series. So, EQ turned out to retain more players than EQ2 attracted, and development for EQ continues to this day. The truth is, by the time Dominions 3 came out, I had not come close to exhausting the content in Dominions II (and I think most people will not) so the game remains new to me, and the updated version is worthwhile. I probably will never get burned out on this game long-term, because there is too much for me to try, and I like to try out every little permutation I possibly can; even the hopeless and arcane. I guess that's because I'm a hobby gamer. In fact, I've just recently begun to become aware that D&D has rubbed me the wrong way for the last several years primarily because I have been expecting a role playing game, but experiencing a hobby strategy game. Now I can enjoy it more when I realize that's what it is designed to be.

I could sit here and list a host of reasons why Dominions makes such a great hobby game, even compared to the tabletop gaming scene, but I'm sure other people can do that on their own. Suffice it to say that Dominions makes an excellent, low cost hobby for any strategy gamer. I only wish I had the proper method of billing it to my local hobby shop as something they should carry and support.

=$= Big J Money =$=