Welcome to the site! Welcome enfranchised gamers, party gamers, family gamers, and non-gamers alike!

As the Q1 2022 Kickstarter game launch approaches, I will be repeating the inclusive mantra that I believe to its core:

Everyone is a good gamer, even if they haven't found the right game yet.

(I'll also be repeating this mantra: "Sign up for our mailing list!" You've been warned.)

I'm readying to launch my very first game and become a game publisher for the first time, and it is overwhelming to say the least. It's been exhilarating too, but the incredible intricacies, depths, and nuances to the field have kept me up late into the night, and not just because that's when China is awake.

This blog is my attempt to stave off insomnia—ironically by adding more work to my docket. We'll see how my average hours/night goes from here.

Though the future blogs will be about I Feel Attacked!'s mechanics, about me and my history, about trials, tribulations and lessons, I wanted the inaugural entry to be broader.

Why I Love Games

I worked for Magic: The Gathering as a contractor for over a decade. Often non-Magic players (or "muggles," a term I single-handedly invented and popularized) wanted to talk with me about the game. The conversations were always interesting, but there was one common trope that still sticks to my bones.

The person would say something like, "Oh yeah, I played that game in like 5th grade..." Inevitably there was a short pause before they'd launch into a speech like, "It was a Red and Black zombie deck! And I used Breeding Pit to sacrifice creatures to my Lord of the Pit, then I'd ..." and on and on from there. The details would change, but the sentiment was the exact same. These pieces of cheap ink on cardboard had imprinted emotions that had lasted over 20 years, and were still just as deep and resonating!

Unlike many other forms of passive entertainment, the active components to games and the sociability that they elicit creates a different type of bond to your memories. I am one of the biggest movie lovers you'll meet, but the reverent memories I have of, say, being the only one in a theater to see Zodiac, are wholly different from when my friend made a gauntlet of decks from discarded Magic cards for me to battle against as part of an ongoing murder-mystery storyline.

Games are one of the best and most fun ways we have to learn about the people around you, and yourself as well. Dixit is one of the surest ways to deduce how you and your friends' brains engage with abstract visuals; Pandemic pushes your limits of teamwork, logical thinking, and group problem solving; Tokaido shows how engaged people need to be to remain actively involved in an activity; and Hanabi proves just how OK you are with scolding your friends for being "dumb." (Which is actually why I only play Hanabi with certain types of people...)

The best games are the ones that are constantly revealing things to you about who you are and who others are around you. It's talking without needing to talk. Or maybe talking adds to it! Often the best game experiences are ones that take you away from the game for some random side discussion that you didn't expect.

I learned a long time ago that I'd never be a "professional" Magic: the Gathering player. I'd never get to the necessary skill level, because I just didn't care about winning that much. The outcome of the game was always less important than the journey getting there. But I became even more entrenched in the culture after that realization, as I discovered that the vast majority of the community feel the same.

Most people don't play games to win. They play to feel and learn. And I really like feeling, and I really like learning.

Why I Love I Feel Attacked!

I designed I Feel Attacked! (sign up for our mailing list!) to engage those specific emotions, and to the broadest potential demographic. You could have never played a game before in your life, and you will be playing your first game within three minutes of opening up the box.

On the surface of the game you will see funny quips about silly behaviors we all have. There are cards like "People who bring Tupperware on planes" and "People who never hold the door for you," that invite you to lean in to your innate social biases about people who have those behaviors or characteristics. There are also some judgy cards that you can pair them with to make value statements. In I Feel Attacked! you'll be able to say, if you want, that people who never hold the door for you are also people who have disappointed parents. (Which I happen to believe is likely true, but that's besides the point.)

But below the surface, I want the players to do more than just laugh a whole lot and swap stories about ridiculous people. I want them to examine their biases about other people and why they hold them; and further, whether or not their friends have similar or different biases.

I'm not going to lie, when I created the card "People who own white BMWs," I intended there to be negative connotations to it. Maybe players would pair it with "People who don't use turn signals" or "People who are on cocaine." But playtesting quickly taught me that not all people share the same connotation that I did, and were interacting with it with different cards and based on different biases. A game I developed was teaching me about myself and others, and that was after my 200th or whatever playtest game.

This game encourages you to interact with the most people possible, and to all grow together—even if that means you're growing together by jointly mocking someone else. Because don't worry, that someone else will be mocking you in a few minutes, and you'll be the one saying, "I Feel Attacked!"

Games have been central to my life, my friends, and my growth for as long as I can remember. My own marker for how to determine a great game for the most possible people requires to ask two questions:

(1) How long from first opening the box can you be playing the game?

(2) Are you engaging on a deeper/better level the 15th time you play than the first?

I truly believe I Feel Attacked! answers both those questions in a way that makes me even more excited to release it to the world, and spend the next ten years of my life playing it every day. I hope you all agree—gamers of all stripes and non-gamers alike. Everyone is a good gamer, even if they haven't found the right game yet.

Thanks for reading, and sign up for our mailing list.

Write me with any questions you have, or anything you'd want me to write about in the future. Though it will be game-centric, I'm not above writing about, say, my time at the WWE as well.

-Marc Calderaro-
[email protected]