Never Have I Ever has some important differences with the game that my team and I designed, but it is very similar in the kinds of fun it promises its players and the dynamics it generates between them.
Fellowship is definitely the most important type of fun offered by this game, as in our own drinking game. It allows people to get to know each other better, whether it is allowing close friends to be more vulnerable with each other or breaking the ice between a group of strangers or acquaintances.
The mechanics of the game are also similar, but in this case, instead of answering whether they would or wouldn’t do something in a hypothetical scenario, players must say whether they have done something in a real situation in the past. This is something we considered including in our game, and seeing whether revealing real information makes the game more exciting and personal to players or if it makes them uncomfortable and gets rid of the imaginative component of the game could help us make a decision about whether or not including “have you’s” in addition to “would you’s” would be a good idea or not.
Instead of offering the option of choosing different levels of questions that vary in the degree of controversy and how personal the information revealed could be (our game), the online version of Never Have I Ever includes different categories that allow the game to be played in different situations and by different age groups.
In the party category, we see a combination of situations that include dirty humor, alcohol, and sex. In the sexy and dirty, there is an even bigger focus on sex and the explicitness of the questions.
On the other hand, in the teens’ category, the questions are less explicit and include situations related to school that a younger audience can relate to:
In this way, the game is able to offer many different themes, which allows it to reach different groups and different social situations. I personally have played Never Have I Ever with friends, with strangers, at school when I was 12, and at parties and close gatherings more recently. The variety of themes also keeps the game interesting even after playing it many times, as you can play with different types of questions and people.
In a way, the different categories are also a way to handle abuse as it allows the players to decide what type of questions they are comfortable with answering. However, I think this could not be enough, as some of the questions in a category might still make someone uncomfortable. Including a way to pass on answering these questions would definitely improve this game!
