Video games and board games have kind of the same dilemma--the medium has matured to the point that further sophistication isn't necessarily an improvement. A

Video games and board games have kind of the same dilemma--the medium has matured to the point that further sophistication isn't necessarily an improvement. A good computer game might be an indie game that looks like it could have been made 20 years ago, because the assumption that more tech equals better games doesn't hold anymore. The board-game world is lagging a little behind that; right now the big trend is "legacy games", where you play through a campaign one time and you're done. I think it's a similar idea, though--the art for the sake of art designers in both cases can do their thing, and the big money is in "Sequel II: Let's Do It All Again, Again".