Halfway through my Arkham game, I found myself losing track of turn order and forgetting to move investigators. The silence when you play solo is almost deafening and it makes it harder to focus, at least for me. So at that point, I decided I just wasn't in the mood for solo play. I think the best part of playing Arkham Horror is player interaction. Having another person there makes all the difference in the world as far as enjoyment goes. You get to share in each other's successes, share in the horror of a monster surge, and feel like you accomplished something together. When I don't play games solo, I play with my fiance or with her family. Our favorite game is Dominion (base game).
I completely get what you mean about that "deafening silence." It happens to solo gamers as well as creative types who are engaged in quiet work with visually-stimulating materials. Specifically: "Multiple stimuli present in the visual field compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity" (Princeton Neuroscience dudes). In other words, without another distraction (like other players) canceling out our random thoughts, we get lost in ourselves. My solution is to play opera in a language I don't understand while I'm playing solo. I don't know much about opera, and I have no idea what anyone is singing. So, my random thoughts get pushed back by a distraction that is unintelligible to me, allowing me to concentrate more easily and enjoy a solo game!
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I like your suggestion. I will try playing classical music in the background while I play my next solo game. However, I love listening to random classical pieces I don't know the names of, so my mind might stray to wondering which instrument is playing. I'll let you know how that turns out. I've played Arkham Horror 3 times (not solo) since I abandoned my AH solo game. I love the game and how you really never know how long the game will last. My last game, it felt as if there were monster surges every other turn. I guess it's really just the luck of the draw of mythos cards.
DeleteBtw, I adore your solo nexus blog. :)
Wow, thought I was the only one bothered by the "silence of solo playing"! Apparently not! ;) Sometimes I find me talking to myself, not by purpose really, it just happens. Especially when it is too silent, and to not lose track of game play. But playing music in an unknown language is a really good advice. Need to try that next time I'm playing solo.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I talk to myself (i.e. "Okay, you go to the woods and you better not encounter any gates or monsters.") I almost catch myself feeling silly. But then I recite it again just to remind myself which action I am going to take (along with my absolute wishful thinking that no monster will appear). I haven't had music playing yet to distract me, as I haven't attempted another solo play since. I wish I could squeeze in a game of Elder Signs before work, but sadly, I am short for time.
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