How to Get More from Your Gaming (Video and Tabletop)

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It always pays to try to get more from your gaming to play and understand them better. When you do this, you can get a good sense of what the designers are trying to express overall. 

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Search for Companion Apps

Like everything else, including gaming, there's an app for that. Whether it's GTA Online's iFruit app for making changes in-game. Or this awesome Magic the Gathering app that lets you browse all cards related to the game. Apps are an amazing way to get a deeper understanding. The convenience and availability of apps across multiple platforms often mean you have access to a lot of information at the tips of your fingers without having to Google it all the time.

Buy Official Strategy Guides

Some people love to take what they know about games to the next level. This is a great way to use official strategy guides. Most of the information in an official strategy guide, like the ones written by Brady Games, comes from the game's creators. And they can be very important when you are trying to get trophies or finish a big game 100%. This includes games like The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, and Horizon: Forbidden West, all of which have huge open worlds.

Get More from Your Gaming with Art Books

Along with official strategy guides, real gamers and collectors love to have official art books. As a niche market, it's not unusual for game development studios to release an art book these days. Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Gotham Knights are some examples. But there are also official art books for tabletop games, like the stunning digital version of Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York Art book, which is available on the Steam Store.

Join Official and Unofficial Forums

Even for the most obscure games, there is always a group who are really into them. You can find people who like the same games as you, from modern indie classics like Cloudpunk to AAA behemoths like Destiny 2. And the same is true for tabletop RPGs, which are the basis for many video games. Forums for gamers like RPG PUB, RPGCodex, and even Reddit are all good places to meet other gamers. Official video game forums are a good place to start.

Play, Learn, and Have Fun

At the end of the day, games, whether they are video games or board games, are meant to be fun and bring people together. But because some of these games are so complicated, it can take a long time to figure out how to play them. For instance, you could play an online game like Star Trek Online for years before you really understood how space battles work. And it's not unusual for people who play games like Warhammer to keep playing for many years.

Summary

You can take your play to another level if you look for ways to get more out of your gaming. These include using companion apps, strategy guides, and art books and playing with others.