I keep coming back to the idea that campaign games are the ultimate form of Pirates CSG. One of the best gaming experiences that can be had 😁
There’s something magical about a game that doesn’t just end on the same day or session that it starts. It’s more like life, where things go on and on with no end in sight. An ongoing thing like health, net worth, relationships, etc.
On a related note, there’s something neat about not having a winner/loser very frequently at all. In regular games you might get disappointed or knocked out of the game quickly. A campaign game allows you to milk the game for all its worth, and have things hang in a balance for long periods of time. Not knowing (and sometimes not caring) who will win, and just enjoying the story as the gameplay-driven “plot” goes along.
It’s like “how to make the fun never end” 🥳 🙂
Not to mention the role of diplomacy and player/faction interaction that drives the story. Games that end in one session don’t usually have as much of that, because there’s less need to make allies, and less incentive to form a group to take down the leading player (game will end soon anyway, so why bother).
CGs also make the game more like history. Shifting alliances, huge fleets, long term strategy and thinking, wars that last for months or years instead of a few minutes, etc.