Day 98: FotLC through the 113 lenses from The Art of Game Design

Day 98 - Lens 5: The Lens of Fun
Fun is desirable in nearly every game, though sometimes fun defies analysis. To maximize your game's fun, ask yourself these questions:

What parts of my game are fun?
Challenges are very fun now. The moving and taking bases is engaging, taking someone else's base is fun, particularly if they are not expecting it. I think that the social aspects in general are strong. The fast pace makes the game engaging and the mechanical play allows strategy, but most of the fun comes from the social parts. Though the fun of executing a strategy and hoping others don't see what you are doing can be strong when it happens.

What parts need to be more fun?
The end game could be more fun.  Oooh! I rephrase that to 'Winning needs to be more fun.' I still haven't found the balance between it taking too long, and being over before it's begun. And between it not being important and it deciding the game every time.

It's interesting to see the times when players find one part of the game fun vs. another. It has depended on both the types of players and on the way a particular game is played. Players that like pure strategy tend to find those aspects of the game fun, and players that like social games, or just being social like those aspects of the game. Interestingly everyone is happy with the strategy aspects even if they don't love strategy.  In terms of specific games the social aspect really shines when there is at least one performative player playing up the social aspects.