Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary

From: 11jkessler@gallua.gallaudet.edu (Jeffrey Kessler)

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1993 00:42:15 +0000

In article <C9ID94.6H5@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes:
> In article <gym.741525309@dcs.ed.ac.uk> gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews) writes:
>
>>Moreover you[*] have missed the most important thing, namely that you
>>might be able to guess an approximate formula, but not the exact
>>one. Why is this important. It means that the people without the
>>maths degrees or the CS programming skills are going to be able
>>to compete on the same terms as those with those skills.
>
> [*] == someone else, not me.
>
> A _well_ designed game, of which there are few, does not suffer from
> this problem of revealing formulae aiding only a privledged few.
> Atlantis, for example, reveals the formulae, yet does not present much
> opportunity for statistical wizardry. I'm sure at least one frequent
> poster to this newsgroup will disagree with me, but I assure you that
> there is no significant advantage to be gained through simulations in
> Atlantis -- the important factors are pretty obvious.
>
> I also agree (write the date down to use against me later) with David
> desJ that players skilled at analyzing games (which doesn't
> necessarily mean a degree in anything particular) will be able to
> figure out any flaws (read: nifty optimizations possible) in the
> system, no matter whether or not the formulae are published. By
> publishing them, you invite analysis of the game by lots of people,
> and listening to their feedback can often improve the game.

I have to agree with this also.  Anytime formulas are used in a game people
whow analyze the game or simply just play it long enough are going to have
a better understanding of the game.  When formula are published, anyone who
wants to read the formulas has a better understanding of the game.

If I'm a new player and the formulae are not published, then I have to
either find an experienced player to teach me the formulas (and many will)
or spend a lot of my money to figure them out.  Not figuring them out is
much too dangerous, because the experienced players have the information
and I'll lose.  (As long as power is about equal.)  If I'm spending my
money on something, I want to have a chance to win, now.  I'd rather not
have to pay a lot of money to get that chance later.

Jeffrey Kessler

References

Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)
Tue, 29 Jun 1993 11:55:07 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)
Wed, 30 Jun 1993 10:33:28 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Wed, 30 Jun 1993 20:13:49 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)
Thu, 01 Jul 1993 11:15:09 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a summary
gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Thu, 01 Jul 1993 23:00:39 +0000