Addiction, behavioral change, a waste of time and money — these tend to make up the vitriol spewed by critics and the media to attack computer games, missing the point of the growing creative industry in the region.

And we’re not talking about the local talents and game developers and publishers — there are legions of them — who reap fortunes from commissions for creating part of a game owned by a foreign company.

There are dormant potencies in a game not directly related to how lucrative the business is, according to game designer Eko Nugroho, the founder of Kummara Creative Studio.

“When it’s well-designed, a game can be used as an effective promotional tool for everything about Indonesia. And the most effective games, the kind that can contain the most information, are board games.”

Board games, categorized, alongside cards, as a table-top game, are defined as any game played on a board by two or more players and that involves the movement of pieces — or tokens — around the board, many of them involving the use of dice and “definition” cards.

There are different levels of difficulties depending on the game mechanism. The more complex the rules, the longer the game takes.

Indonesian’s gaming culture, said Eko, recognized board games such as chess, Halma, Ludo and snakes and ladders, as well as the more complicated Monopoly.

“Those are the games usually played at family gatherings. They are fun, cheat-proof and initiate social interactions even among strangers.”

The last point resounds particularly strongly for Eko. During his first year studying game design in Germany, he was invited by a classmate to the family’s “game day”.

Binus University students take part in the Play Unplugged event on June 4 in Jakarta.(Courtesy of Arcanum)

“There was no language barrier even though my friend’s parents didn’t speak English. I was touched because we could laugh together and at the end of the game the father hugged me. All after just one game. It’s an experience I can’t find at home.”

When he returned to Bandung, West Java, he opened Kummara cafe in 2010, offering a range of board games for costumers to play.

The café soon became a popular hangout and brought in hordes of new fans of the local-themed games designed by Eko, some of which, such as Punakawan (King’s Aides) and Simpang Dago (Dago Cross) are now known as urban legend — you know they once existed but you never see them anymore.

Despite its success, Eko closed the café after deciding to develop table-top games into more than just a play thing.

He established Kummara Creative Studio and sister company Manikmaya Game Publishing, taking some of his cafe regulars to work with him as game designers.

Among them are Brendan Satria, 25, who created card game Mat Goceng, and Rio Fredericco, father of the popular board game Mahardika.

“I created the game in 2010 as part of my thesis on communication media,” said the graduate in design and visual communication from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Rio Fredericco poses with his creation, the Mahardika board game.(JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak)

The board, which was designed to have basic artificial intelligence, is among the few games that require the players to cooperate to defeat the board.

“It is necessary for the players to discuss their next strategy. There is no single winner in this game, but after playing it you feel you’ve known your fellow players for long time,” said Rio.

Manikmaya business manager Andre Muslim Dubari pointed out that games could be a learning tool, especially for teenagers.

“If parents complain about their teens spending all their time on their smartphones and lacking social interaction, don’t you think we already have a solution right here?”

Besides publishing games, Kummara and Manikmaya also hold the Indonesia Bermain (Play Indonesia) event in Bandung and monthly play dates for communities.

“Indonesia Bermain is our idea to bring families out simply to play together. We have been surprised at the enthusiasm of the public; we’ve seen grandparents bringing their grandchildren and introduce them to board games,” said Isa Rachmad Akbar, Manikmaya marketing executive.

In the past couple of years, Kummara has been involved in human resource training programs at multinational corporations using the games they designed.

Last year, Eko and his team helped the Singapore Mental Health Institute create a children’s game that could be used for the early detection of ADHD.

“Now there is impetus to develop our game industry and to be the leader in the region. We already have the content — the rich Indonesian culture — and the talents.

“What we need to achieve it is for game developers to come aboard in creating games with Indonesia-themed content,” said Eko.

Binus University students take part in the Play Unplugged event on June 4 in Jakarta.(Courtesy of Arcanum)<)