Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start

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

Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1993 17:54:03 +0000

Andrew Richard Conway <arc@leland.Stanford.EDU> writes:
> I agree with David that the first time is not particularly fun,
> but I don't generally consider it a problem because most games
> are relatively easy to become an "expert" in.

Well, first of all we have to discuss what we mean by "most."  Most
games have all of their rules and formulas published, after all.  I've
certainly come across lots of games (a large number of commercial PBM
games, for example) where one can only become an "expert" by investing a
large amount of time and money in the game.  And without that one
generally can't compete at all.  I always wrote that off in the past as
a deliberate ploy by the moderators to ensure their income, but this
discussion is making me realize that there actually are people who like
things to be that way.

The second point is that just the ease of becoming an expert doesn't
solve the problem.  What happens once you become an "expert" and are
playing against non-experts?  In my experience, it often isn't much fun.
It's no challenge to crush someone if they don't even know what kinds of
ships to build.  And presumably most of us play games in order to
interact with others on equal terms.

So there are two reasons that I am generally in favor of giving out
information: (1) it means that I can play the game well immediately,
rather than having to sit through a tedious "learning process"; (2) it
means that after that process, most of my opponents will have the same
information that I do, making the game more interesting and balanced.

David desJardins

References

Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 16:38:59 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 23:28:47 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
arc@leland.Stanford.EDU (Andrew Richard Conway)
Mon, 05 Jul 1993 17:24:50 +0000