Building a better megagamer
A Watch The Skies map. Credit: Greg Evans
Written by Greg Evans. Greg joined the megagame community in 2019 and recently started a blog called The Casual Area to bring more of a player perspective to the megagame space.
When you start getting involved in the megagaming hobby, just being active in the event is enough. It’s going to be a lot just knowing the rules and who to talk to over the course of the day. Once you get acclimated though, here are three things you can do to level up your experience and the experience of those around you.
Dream Big
The memorable moments in megagames usually come from the brains of the players. Once you have a feeling of how a megagame works; dream up a grand scheme and work with Control to see how you can make it work. As you scheme, see how you can include other players and bring them into the dream.
One of the biggest events from my first play-thru of Watch the Skies came from the science minigame. The Brazilian scientist had an idea to leave the planet and head to the stars with all the scientists of the world. The plan checked all the boxes; it was a huge dream, it involved other players and they worked with Control to figure out how to accomplish their goal.
They banded together, worked in secret, gathered a ton of supplies and ended the game by launching a ship into space to escape Earth. At any moment, their plan could have been found out and everything ruined. It was a giant dream and there were a lot of hurdles they had to jump over but the payoff was huge.
Now you may be asking, how do I come up with this dream idea?
You have to read your briefing, you have to read the background material and you have to think creatively within the game you’re playing. I'll dive deeper into finding your dream scheme another day.
Player devised cards from Den of Wolves. Credit: Greg Evans
Trust Control
This one is a big deal as a player. When you present an idea to Control, you have to trust that they are acting in your best interest and the best interests of the game. Sometimes, we as players come up with a crazy idea that will break the game. For the interests of everyone involved, they can’t let that happen. However, they will usually work with you to form a compromise so that some form of your scheme can happen.
Control experience games in a different way to players and these plans often become some of their highlights of the event. We players trusting that their actions are well intentioned will ensure that they also come away from the event with excellent memories.
Additionally, if Control rules against you or presents you with information that throws a wrench in your plans, trust that it isn’t done to ruin your day. Many of the things they present are from other players and they are simply the messengers.
Embrace Failure
Much like in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, failure can be the best catalyst for some great moments. You may have spent four turns trying to set up a coup of a rival syndicate only to see one of your fellow schemers fail in their task, causing the entire plan to come crashing down in flames. Now what? How do you respond to that failure?
Failure is simply a new scheme waiting to happen!
You could say YOU were framed in the attempt or that someone else was the real mastermind and they dragged you into it. Find the next open door and go through it.
I know, it can be hard seeing all that work come tumbling down. It's up to you to keep up your positive attitude and attack the next challenge head on. Yes, your grand plan may not have materialized in the way you imagined but your actions added so much to the day of those around you.
In the end, that's part of the magic of megagames. It's the way the plans of those around you impact your schemes and the often explosive moments that occur when all those different actions collide.
The rules and the Control team give us a sandbox to play in. It's up to us, the players, to decide what mischief we get up to and what memories we create when it's our turn to play.
Thanks to Greg for writing this article! Greg writes megagame player-focused posts over on his blog called The Casual Area - check them out for more tips and tricks.
If you’d like to see your thoughts on our pages, let us know as we’re always happy to publish what community members are thinking about megagames.