Well, started my own blog . . . in it I hope to do two things:
1. Talk about games . . . maybe my games, but certainly others.
2. Discuss - politely, civilly, but opinonatedly, issues of the day. I find Life fascinating, and discussing it is part of The Fun.
I;m new to this, so I'll/well learn as we go along . . . my typing is often haphazard, but i do feel that language is one of the great arts. Use it as such . . .
rhb
A matter that I pay much attention to in game design is what players often call Luck. Many - if not most - players treat Luck as A BadThing. Given that most of my games are historical "simulations", I view Luck as what it truly rewpresents; Chaos; the fact that you cannot predict everything that will happen, and, in any event or undertaking, things happen that are out of your control that often have major effect on what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, viewing dierolls as Luck is somewhat misinformed, as d=the range of numbers in any diceroll usually rewpfresent the range of possible outcomes in any confrontation (with a variety of "targets").
But there is actual "luck" in some mechanics, such as games that use cards randomly dealt out. The cards you do get are, in that sense, a matter of luck (although, in my mind as designer, it not only represents the randomness of Life, but also makes every game different . . . in that you do not deal with the same factors each time you play.)
Balancing all of this ideas is what makes game design a challenge . . .and fun.
However, it is often difficult to gauge how much "Chaos" and Randomness players like . . .and will accept.
Some gamers dislike ANY element of luck; if you want to get psychological, you might consider them Control Freaks. To look at it positively, these eople view gaming as a pleasant way of avoiding the inefficiency of Reality.
I am interested to read/hear what some of you think about all of this . . .especially if you have examples of games/game mechanics that you feel go too far . ..
Thanx
rhb