Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start

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

Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1993 23:28:47 +0000

Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner <srt@aero.org> writes:
> (2) Other people play Simulation Game X as a simulation of X,
> suspending their disbelief, and getting their enjoyment out of the
> ersatz X experience.  That's what the majority of the Oly players
> wanted, and if they were disappointed with Oly it was because Oly
> didn't have enough *fidelity* in simulating X.

I think this is a good point.  I have tried to be careful to use the
words "strategy game" to describe what I am talking about.  I don't
consider what you describe in number (2) to be a _strategy_ game,
because the goal is some sort of social interaction, rather than finding
a good strategy.  (Indeed, I personally would not use the word "game" at
all, because "game" == "competition" in my mind.  But there are several
alternative definitions for the word.)

In case it was not clear: I agree that Scott's distinction exists, and I
am not at all interested in type (2), and so I can't comment on it.  I
do want to make one further point though:

> The important point to me is that both camps can enjoy a game with the
> formula hidden, while only camp (1) can enjoy a game with the formula
> revealed.

I don't think that this is correct.  I don't quite understand why type
(2) needs the formulas to be hidden---can't they just not look at them?
---but as I said I am going to leave that to them.

However, I can confidently state as a member of type (1) that what I
have been saying all along is that I don't generally enjoy games in
which the formulas are hidden, and I usually avoid playing them.  I
think that most players who play for the challenge of formulating good
strategy will feel the same way.  It is just frustrating to try to come
up with a strategy when you have much less information than your
opponents do.

The only exception would be if I could at least be sure to play from the
very beginning, and so not enter at an information disadvantage.  (In
that case, I can discover the underlying formulas just as quickly as
everyone else, and therefore formulate strategy on an equal basis.)

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

Referenced By

Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 16:38:59 +0000