Finding a good group is hard. Too many board gamers don’t realise that these are _games_.
Politics has a habit of infecting everything. If you are determined enough to win, even games like Monopoly or Catan with relativelt modest political elements degenerate towards Diplomacy (or Nash's "So long sucker"). That's why in modern game design, designers try to limit the scope for politics to the absolute minimum, so that any game can be enjoyed in isolation without a metagame of grudges and off-table alliances.
My core group will backstab each other gleefully and when the game is over, that’s it. We’re done. Because none of this is real. We wouldn’t even help each other if we played with other people. We’re all trying to win.
Although I suppose you’re right. If I played with two people, and the role of one of them is simply to help the others game, I’d never play with them.
He really wasn't like that IRL.
Couples/brothers murdering each other is a common theme though.
Also, I remember I used to care way too much about nerd stuff like this. Nowadays I can't find the headspace, real life just kept creeping in.
I think that's only true if your goal is to win. I play board games to have fun with friends and family, and winning every time - especially because someone else hands you a win - is no fun at all.
But when you play a game and it turns out you don’t like it, you need to do your best not to bring it down for everyone. I don’t even mean you can’t criticise the game. Go for it. But find ways to have fun. I like thinking up outlandish strategies and trying to make it work.
No one needs 2 plus hours of their lives ruined because someone threw a hissy fit over a game which has no real life consequences. It’s probably not healthy if you can’t distinguish fact from fiction either.
These are the best kinds of games. Super entertaining and stuff you can walk away from.
Unlike for example, office politics.