If you've made it this far, I'm going to guess that you've played some games on BSW.  If you haven't.  Stop right now, do not pass go, and go back and play some games.  Once you've had a feel for the game play on BSW, come back and read this.  The reason for that is the MetaGame is a secondary aspect of BSW.  First and foremost, BSW is a place to play boardgames.

Before I get into the details, please remember the Meta-Game is 100% optional.  You don't need to be involved in this at all to play any of the games on BSW.

The Meta-Game is a system set up by the BSW administrators to help foster a sense of community as well as to help distinguish the different experience levels of users on BSW.  This part of the meta-game is unavoidable.  As long as you are registered, you will have a BSW rank.  You don't need to do anything with it, but your rank will follow you wherever you go and increase as your experience increases.

 

Have you ever noticed that people's names are often followed by a W or K notation? 

 

For example, if you look at my name in the info box, you'll see: yudp (K5).  That K notation shows that I'm a level 5 Klerical user.  The higher the number, the more experience that person has. 

 

The ranks of BSW users are set up with a medieval motif.  But there are two different tracks you can be on.  The more common is the W track, the less common is the K track.  The main difference between the two is what proportion of solo games are played by that user.  You need to have at least 30% of your experience points gained from solo player games in order to have a K ranking. 

 

 

The main way to get experience points is to play games.  Each game has a set experience point value.  Each time you play that game, you get a specific number of experience points.  In addition, you get at 10% bonus if you win the game. 

 

MultiUser (MU) games garner more points, right now between 3 and 25 per game.  The value of a game is generally proportional to the amount of time it takes to play an average game, though some games may have a higher value if the game is new or the BSW administrators are trying to get more people to play a particular game.  SingleUser (SU) games give points at a much lower rate, usually 1 or 2 points per game.

 

You can also get game lotteries which will be explained later in the guilds section.

 

When you first register on BSW (registration is required for the MetaGame) you become a citizen of ARMfeld.  Think of ARMfeld as the countryside.  ARMfelders wander from town to town playing board games.  They don't belong to any town, they don't pay taxes, they aren't required to do any work.  Life is good as an ARMfelder.

So why would you want to leave?  Well first there are over 20,000 ARMfelder's and they mostly speak german, so you might find it harder to find opponents. You also can't build an estate or join a guild if you're an ARMfelder.

In addition to ARMfeld, BSW has many cities (at the time of this writing there were 86). Some of these towns are large, some are small.  Some support a specific group of people.  There is French town (Carcassonne-plage) there are English speaking towns (EnglishTown, Emerald City and Burgundy Ridge), and a Vienna based town (Dornbach).  Which town you decide to join will most likely be determined by the people that you want play with.

Does that mean I can only play with people in my town?

NO, of course not, you can still play with anyone, anywhere.

 

So, what are the benefits of joining a town?

You get several. First is the ability to open a chat window and talk to all the people in your town.  You've probably seen the ARMfeld chat window, well every town has a chat window.  Remember ARMfeld has 20,000 people that's why you get that chat in the ARMfeld chat window so often. You also get a chance to build a house when you reach W12.  But mostly you get a chance to become part of a community within BSW.  You'll also be able to have a voice in the way the town in run.  Such as what games that town has.

 

Can I join any town I want?

No, the town's mayor must allow you.  Towns must pay taxes to Armfeld for all of its citizens, so many towns will have conditions on who they let in.  But don't worry, mostly they just want people that will play a reasonable amount of games.  Mostly town will want you to play at least 4-6 hours per month (as this is the estimated amount of time it should take you to generate enough gaming points to pay your way).  It's all about a town being able to pay its way.

The business side of the MetaGame.

Every game played earned both talers(BSW's version of cash) and resources. The resources are Wood, Stone, Ore, Wool and Food, Cloth and Tools.  It's not important to understand exactly how much each game earns just yet, I'll cover that later.  So, for now, lets just say that when you play you generate income for your town. 

Towns have costs.  They must pay BSW food and cloth at the end of the month to cover the people in the town.  So if you don't play enough, the town  will not have food and cloth necessary for you. 

What happens if the town doesn't have enough cloth and food?

There are penalties for the town not having enough cloth and food.  If the town doesn't have enough cloth, the town can't build any game rooms the following month.  This is known as a building stop.  Food is a more serious issue.  If the town doesn't have the required amount of food.  All citizens of the town, lose 5% of their personal points, and town council members lose 10%.  Don't worry, no town will ever let a food shortage occur.  Building stops do occur from time to time.

Ok, but what about Wood, Stone, Ore and Tools?

Town need both resources and talers to build new game rooms.  The more resources the town has, the more game rooms it can build.  Different types of buildings require different amount of resources. 

In additon there is a BSW commodity exchange, where towns can buy, sell and trade resources.  This is why a food shortage will never occur.  A town will sell resources to buy food. 

The Town Council

Every town has a Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Treasurer and Chief of Security.

The Mayor is elected each month by the town.  The Mayor appoints the other council members.  In theory the treasurer must approve any expenditure of the town, but since the mayor appoints the treasurer, it's really the mayor's decision.  Most town's however are run by consensus.  The town council will ask for input from the citizens on major building issues, such as what game rooms to build.

Can anyone vote?

Any citizen of the town can vote each month for mayor, they can even vote for themselves if they wish.  The person receiving the most votes is elected. 

 

Are there ever hotly contested campaigns?

Yes, in a few towns.  It is rare, but it does happen from time to time.

When do I get to build a house?

When you reach level W12 or K12, you are allowed to build a house in yout town. You town's mayor will assign you a building location and you are allowed to build anywhere in that location.  Furthmore, you can landscape you're land as you see fit. However, you pay the landscaping costs from your personal points.

 

More coming later!

 

W1