Question: if you make a board game that involves "everybody winning" do you not belive in healthy competition?

Steven Brown answered on 13 Jun 2017:

Far from it! I am very competitive, as are many of my friends, but not everyone is. When we have people round to play games there’s always someone who does not want to take part, as they don’t like that competitive environment – and I dont want to make people feel uncomfortable.

I also go to this twice-weekly event in Glasgow where dozens of people come and share board games. It’s very cool, and you get to play games from different countries that you would never find out about. I noticed a trend recently for so-called ‘co-operative games’ and was thinking they might be popular exactly because of some of the people I know who don’t like that intense competitive vibe. In fact, my favourite game Port Royale (GET IT) even just released an expansion pack recently that includes an entirely new co-operative model.

The plan with my game is to make one that everyone can feel comfortable playing. Only one player wins big, but everyone can enjoy the ride. So though it will be more appealing to those who do not like competitive games, I hope it is still enjoyable for competitive types too.

Healthy competititon is a part of daily life and we sort of rely on it. It’s interesting to look at atheletes, whose best times for running (for example) is always in competition, with crowds cheering, cameras clicking away. We perform better when we are surrounded by others, when we are doing something we are good at. We also perform poorer when we are surrounded by others when we are doing something we are not so good at. We are social creatures.