Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.

From: bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III)

Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1993 19:20:36 +0000

From article <21hn79$2jb@lll-winken.llnl.gov>, by bjones@concannon.llnl.gov (Brian Jones):
]
] 	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.

I don't agree with this.

]
] 	As for games where having started earlier is an advantage. Is
] this not a metaphor for real life, The young upstarts struggling against
] the powers that be? Often the only way that the upstarts can win is by
] banding together like wolves to take down the lion. If the game is so
] constucted where not even this is possible, then it is a badly designed
] game. (though if the lion is crafty, and the wolves are not, then there
] is no reason for the lion not to win)

Though forcing death of positions is one solution I don't think it is a good
one. Generally in an ongoing game we probably don't want to have positions
weaken with age. If positions stop growing people will probably lose interest.
I don't think people find postponing decay as fun as growing more powerfull.

However I believe there still should be risks involved with some activities,
so that there is a difference between the results of good play and bad play
and that it is possible to trade expected gain for safety.

]
] 	On the subject of large empires, perhaps a game might include
] orders for subversion and revolution, which might occur spontaneously,
] or at the instigation of other players. Such events should become more
] likely the larger the empire, with economic and political conditions
] also playing factors.
]
] 	As a final thought, it has always been my feeling that in any
] game with more than two players, diplomacy is more important than
] strategy. (of course, some might argue that grand stategy encompasses
] diplomacy.)
] --

For an ongoing game to work there have to be continual challanges for long
time players. What you want to do is make new players a resource to be used
(in a positive way, not kill them for gold) by the long time players. Such
that they may even bid for the services of the new players.

References

Re: Ongoing Strategy Games.
bjones@concannon.llnl.gov (Brian Jones)
Thu, 08 Jul 1993 17:58:01 +0000