Elizabeth Duran's review of Ticket to Ride
Date last edited: 12-06-2024 at 10:07PMClick here to view trailer
Rating: Everyone
Review:Title: Ticket to Ride
Developer: Marmalade Game Studio
Genre: Casual; Strategy
ESRB Rating: E
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Primary Audience: Young Adults/Adults
Year of Release: 2008
Platform: Windows, Mac, Xbox, Playstation, Android, iOS
Ticket to Ride is an online video game based on the board game by the same name. The video game, since its release, has gone through some changes and transitions, leaving many people to believe it has gotten a downgrade through the years. By comparing and contrasting the old format with the new one, there is opportunity to better understand the game and how it connects to the seven media keys.
The First Media Key: Balance
Balance is the first media key because it opens up space for the rest of the media keys and it helps us to look inward, because balance in media begins with ourselves. “In essence, balance is about us. It’s about our attitude towards media, our approach to technology.” (Gan, pg.21) Balance can be hard to find, but it is even harder to maintain; that’s why it is important to understand what balance is in every piece of media we consume.
Balance can be difficult to find in the world of video games, as it can look different for each model, level, and version. Ticket to Ride, in its board game design, provides balance to each player by allowing equal opportunities during each turn. The Ticket to Ride video game is not very different, and even with the addition of a bot who players can build against, each turn still maintains its fairness. Ticket to Ride does not offer cards that will make the game harder, easier, or cause a player to miss a turn; the game is simple and its goal is to make it to each destination, it is a balance of strategy and wit.
The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
Attitude awareness is something that we must identify in ourselves, but it is also important for it to be reflected in the media we use. Our attitude can either enhance our experience with media for the better, or it can completely destroy our outlook. “We experience the reality of the world, in all its beauty and tragedy, through our senses.” (Gan, pg.38)
When it comes to attitude awareness, this game only has so much to offer, due to the simplicity of its functions. Ticket to Ride challenges players to both think outside the box and within the rails of the game layout. Ticket to Ride focuses on making it to destinations and finishing what one has already started in terms of building and exploring. Attitude Awareness also comes from the people who play the game, and by the game being considerably tame compared to most other video games, it cultivates a healthy playground.
The Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person
Media, whether we acknowledge it or not, has a lot to do with how we see and treat the people around us, and when media has a negative outlook on people, we tend to have a negative outlook on each other. “Media should help us understand our dignity and the dignity of others.” (Gan, pg.53) Negative outlooks on people come in the form of sexualization, violence, verbal abuse, and other themes that we know are bad for us. Media should not portray that, and it would be beneficial for the media to contradict those themes.
It may not be easy to identify what Ticket to Ride has that can enhance our knowledge about the human person, but it is easy to identify what Ticket to Ride does not have that represents the dignity of the human person. Ticket to Ride is not inherently violent or graphic, and there are not even any characters present that could be distorted or used for anything inappropriate, aside from the faces on the cover image of the game. Ticket to Ride does not have disturbing details within the layout; there is not even a card to signify derailment or accident. By sticking to the image of the board game, the Ticket to Ride video game dignifies the human person by what it does not do.
The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled
Truth is sometimes undermined by the media, and sometimes it is made to look like something that is not good for us. But it is good for us, and there is a reason why it is. “Truth does exist. It’s real, and it’s eternal.” (Gan, pg.69) Truth, within the media that we consume, should be something that is understood as essential; without truthfulness we are left in the dark about everything.
Ticket to Ride is not overwhelmingly truthful. Although the cities on the map exist in reality, and trains were a common and reliable source of transportation during the era that the game is set in, there is not much else to find truth in. However, because Ticket to Ride is a strategy-based game, there is a valuable lesson for players to learn about chances and opportunities. Oftentimes, railways are taken quickly and the colored cards used to delegate trains are also collected by other players on a first-come first-serve basis. Here, players can learn the importance of understanding loss and success, the difference between greed and need, and how to seize the right moment for what and when.
The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
We need inspiration for many things, and we should be able to find inspiration in many of the things we see, do, and are a part of. Media is something that we will draw inspiration from, whatever that kind of inspiration may be. “We also need to rely on it to direct us away from media that inspires us towards the false, the evil, and the ugly.” (Gan, pg.86)
Inspiration, at least for Ticket to Ride, will probably have less to do with the actual strategy of the game, and more with the relationships and moments that happen when playing the game. Within the game itself, there is inspiration to achieve the most finished routes, but there is also the desire to play again and again. The older version of the video game allowed for players to play against each other online, as long as they were invited to the server. The new version requires players to buy an extra package, or else users can only play against a bot. This was not received well among fans, as a large part of how fun the game is, is due to the interactions with friends and family.
The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
Skillfully developed media is important since it will determine how we are satisfied with what we are absorbing through media. “Because skillfully developed media is what matters most to the media industry, this key is, in some ways, the easiest for us to understand.” (Gan, pg.100) Although it may be easy to identify skillfully developed media, it is not always easy to understand why it is so skillfully made.
Ticket to Ride is skillfully created and developed, however, the earlier version of the game gave players access to more features that allowed for more online interactions among friends invited via email, as well as leaderboards for how well certain players have done on the game for that week. While the older version gave users a better experience, the new version is also made well. Some users argue that the company has been infected with greed, and this may be correct. The components that made Ticket to Ride so good are still there, but it has subsequently been downgraded.
The Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience
Good media is relatable and should leave us in a state where we can find ourselves in it. “It should reflect our experience of the human condition.” (Gan, pg.116) Unfortunately, a lot of media fails to recognize this and consumers are left feeling like they are not part of whatever was advertised in the media. This is why media should strive to be relevant.
Ticket to Ride is not necessarily motivated by and relevant to experience because it is a fictional game based on a board game, it has no attachments to reality and there are no links to real people. However, the gameplay setup is arranged in a way that is easy to understand and fun to play; the video game designers made good decisions when it came to what the average player would look for in an online version of Ticket to Ride.
Overall, Ticket to Ride is a good game with a simple but challenging goal, and it allows for memorable moments made when played among friends. The video game version has room for improvement to include some aspects congruent with the original board game, but it is still a good game to play for recreation and to unwind. Like every form of media we have studied so far, this video game is good in moderation; there is a time and place to play this game but it can be a good thing, and just like other media, it can be a bad thing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, even when it comes to media.
Seven Keys:Balanced:
Attitude:
Personal:
Truth-filled:
Inspired:
Skillfully Made:
Experienced:
Overall Rating:
29/35
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