Last Friday I had the opportunity to co-host the "Final Thoughts" segment on "Rahdo Runs Through" with Richard Ham. It was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Richard about board games and other related stuff (much of our conversation -- i.e. before and after the "Final Thoughts" -- is not in the YouTube video). Watching this video now it's interesting to note how little I have to say. In hindsight I wonder if this is because I am so accustom to conducting ethnographic research/interviews where my objective is really to prompt others to talk about things. I'm not sure this is the case in this video — Richard is really a ball of energy and it's doesn't take much to get him talking about game stuff.
On a related note I feel compelled to comment on what a great community board game people are (be they designers, publishers, reviewers, etc). Having been involved the way that I have been for the last 3 years it still amazes me. I have reached out to people that I only thought I could dream of talking with and almost without exception they have been open and enthusiastic to talk with me. This has made me feel welcome and has allowed to me interview dozens and dozens of designers, publishers and other people in the board game community from all over the world. The list of people I've been able to talk with constantly amazes me. It may come as no surprise that these people are some of the smartest and most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure of associating with. And Richard has been no exception. I actually interviewed him a couple of years ago (though he didn't remember it) and when I contacted him he was more than happy to take time out of his busy schedule to and chat with me. I am a bit anti-social, a bit of an introvert. So, having my subjects of research be so welcoming has been an enormous blessing.
No comments:
Post a Comment