Re: Does this animal exist?

From: desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)

Date: Thu, 07 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

G Benage <gbenage@aol.com> writes:
> 1)  Unless it is a tremendously detailed simulation, a grand-strategic
> wargame HAS to include some random elements in order to simulate the
> factors that have been abstracted out of the combat mechanics.

1) Nevertheless, some people might not like such games.  Maybe Bob
doesn't care if it simulates anything, he just wants it to be fun to
play.  He is therefore perfectly entitled not to like it for this
reason, regardless of whether it "must" be that way in your opinion.
There are plenty of PBM games which do use purely deterministic combat.
Maybe they are not wargames, in your opinion.  Again, Bob never said
that he was judging the game on the quality of its simulation, just on
whether he found it fun to play.  Personally I do not care at all
whether a game is a good simulation or a terrible one; therefore, why
should all "reviews" be forced to be on that basis.

2) The fundamental problem, in any case, is not the randomness but the
lack of information.  Bob is willing to play again: clearly he doesn't
irrevocably reject games which contain random combat.  The problem---
and this came across clearly in his short commentary---was that he could
not tell at all how the combat system was working.  He had no way to
know, for example, whether the particular results he saw were "typical"
or "atypical," except by playing enough games to accumulate that
information through experience.  In my experience this will cause _many_
players to dislike and even reject a game system, including myself,
regardless of whether the fundamental system is sound and would be
acceptable or even enjoyable with better exposition.

David desJardins
--
Copyright 1995 David desJardins.  Unlimited permission is granted to quote
from this posting for non-commercial use as long as attribution is given.

References

Re: Does this animal exist?
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Wed, 06 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Does this animal exist?
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Wed, 06 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000