Games

The use of maps in games, no matter the kind, has always been helpful to gamers. I want to look at four types of games; geography based board games, geography based computer games, regular board games, and regular computer games. I want to make the distinction between these different classes because of the way they implement special variability.

Geography based computer games. These can be very interesting and fun games. They usually are geo-trivia sorts of games like find the state on a map, or find the country. However there are a few games which enhance a broader set of geographic ideas, such as: this does a very good job at being geo-trivia and at enhancing special ideals at the same time. However, most people find most geo-computer games to be boring.

Geography based board or card games are common as well. National Geographic has a few out; most of these again are geo-trivia. Such as name the capitol, or find the state. These are well implemented in many classroom activities, but may not be as interesting for the lay person. Some of these games do also promote more than just geo-trivia; they also try and inform the gamer on matters of scale, and why places are where and whatnot.

Regular computer based games are usually quite fun and exciting for many people. If you think about it, most all of these games require a map, a place, or at least a reference to where things are within it. A game like Age of Empires, a popular real time strategy game, has a different map almost every game. Maps are very important to these types of games and the more familiar a gamer is with the games maps or mapping systems, the more successful the gamer will be.

The last category I want to look at is board games. I will split this in half as well; first I will look at board games which utilize maps and then the games which do not. There are many games that use real world maps to instigate play, such as, Risk, Axis and Allies game series, Take Off, and many others. These games make use of the real world to play the game, this does more than just provide an interesting experience for participants, and it also makes the players subconsciously learn something about their world. Certain games such as Axis and Allies will also teach participants about world history, and if the participants know some world history, they will benefit in the strategy of the game. The other types of games are none map based games; such as Chess, Checkers, Stratego, and others. These games may not have a map element to them, but people do have to learn and analyze space to be successful. Chess for example, if a player does not see many possible different moves in different directions and different pieces, they will certainly fail. If the same player can see the whole board as well as the spaces of each piece, success will be much more imminent.

I believe that a person who can see more than one space at a time will succeed more readily in any type of game he or she does pursue. Maps are integral in many types of games and many of those games could not exist without the use and help of maps. This is just another notch on the importance of maps in society today. They benefit our entertainment purposes.

You can see the use of maps in other issues of modern day entertainment. The use of place names to identify a sports team, movies use places to help tell the story… and in all of these they are displayed via the use of maps.