Category talk:Abstract

I'm not sure that I know what makes an Icehouse game abstract. Chess is abstract battle, but so is rugby, if you want to look at it that way. Go is even more abstract. But what Icehouse game is not abstract?

What are you looking for, when you seek Category:Abstract? Can we figure out something that it means for a game to be on this list? -- Rootbeer 19:54, 25 May 2005 (GMT)

I've always thought of an abstract game as one where the theme doesn't play an important part in the game experience. Go is clearly abstract. Clue is not. I think all Icehouse games that I've played are abstract. So more discussion would be nice. I was thinking about Homeworlds. The theme is nice, but is it important to the game? I don't think so. It just gives a nice way to name things. When I get home, I'll see if Abstract Games Magazine has a definition that we could work from. -JEEP 20:43, 25 May 2005 (GMT)

When I first started labelling Icehouse games as abstract (in the info boxes, I didn't create the category), I was thinking of whether they had any theme at all, since I was putting Abstract in the theme place if they had no theme. While it's true that most Icehouse games would be considered abstract by the standards of the boardgaming community, there are variations in how much theme each game has. For example, Homeworlds has a fairly strong space conquest theme, and Armada has a naval battle theme, even though they both could be played abstractly, or even with their themes swapped. The thing is, the themes do help you remember how the game works; when you think of red in Homeworlds, you think "attack", and then remember how attacking works. I would say the fact that they do have a theme means that I wouldn't consider them abstract. Here are how I might categorize some of the game. Some abstract icehouse games: IceTowers, Undercut, Tic Tac Doh!. Some non-abstract games: Homeworlds, RAMbots, Zagami. Some that might be abstract or not: Zendo (has a theme, but it's so loose that I don't think it would really keep it from being abstract), Icehouse (does the Icehouse Mystique count as a theme?), Gnostica/Zarcana (does the implied mystical/magical theme count, since I don't think there is any explicit mention of the theme). — Lambda 21:03, 25 May 2005 (GMT)

As I have stated for a few other categories, this category may be too broad to be useful. Does anyone else see a necessity for this category? Should there be a category for thematic games? I think that stating 'abstract' or 'thematic' on the game's page alone is sufficient. - Cerulean