Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.

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

Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1993 18:45:18 +0000

Brian Jones <bjones@concannon.llnl.gov> writes:
> I've been watching this thread for a long time, and I wonder:
> Does anybody out there agree with my feeling, that the experienced gamer
> should be able to wipe the floor with the newbies? After all, he/she has
> put in a hell of a lot of time and effort gaining that experience, it
> ought to be worth something.

No.  I don't agree with your feeling.  The only reason I can see why
players would _want_ their experience to allow them to beat up novices
is that they are afraid of competing on a fair and equal basis.  I
consider that cowardly and unsportsmanlike.

I play games for the enjoyment of the competition, not in order to amass
knowledge whereby I can "prove" something by beating up novices.  I very
much prefer games which don't have a steep learning curve.  Games in
which experience is crucial are not very "social", in that players can
only compete with other players at very nearly the same ability level.

Obviously there are a lot of games in the world which reward long
experience and study.  Chess and go come to mind.  There's nothing wrong
with such games, but most PBM games are designed quite differently, so
that they can be played decently with only a basic grasp of strategy,
rather than heavily rewarding experience.  I think that is an awfully
good thing, and also necessary if one hopes to attract a large audience.

David desJardins

References

Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.
bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III)
Thu, 08 Jul 1993 15:01:42 +0000
Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Thu, 08 Jul 1993 15:45:36 +0000
Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.
bjones@concannon.llnl.gov (Brian Jones)
Thu, 08 Jul 1993 17:58:01 +0000