Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start

From: sjc@cs.purdue.edu (Steve Chapin)

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1993 20:34:22 +0000

}} In article <214hvu$4j5@snook.ccr-p.ida.org> desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:
}}
}} I still don't understand _for whom_ it is supposed to destroy the feel
}} of the game.  It doesn't destroy the feel of the game for me, because I
}} want to know the formulas, and if they matter significantly then I am
}} probably going to figure them out anyway.  It doesn't destroy the feel
}} of the game for you, because you are not forced to read or use them.

Just because you or I would not be put off by formula publication does
not mean that those people don't exist.  It destroys the feel for
those who don't want to know that there's all this underlying
mechanism.

These are the same people who don't want to know that their Nintendo
is a computer.  Who play cards for the social aspects, not to play
well.  Who prefer Macs to Unix.

People like my wife's friends.  She's a teacher, and by my standards,
she's a computer neophyte.  But compared to her co-workers, she's a
goddess at the keyboard.  They don't want to think about underlying
mechanism; they want to know about the high-level abstraction only.
If you even start to talk to them about it, their eyes roll wildly as
they search for exits.  These are the kind of people who don't want to
even see the hint of a formula.

One of the chief players in T'Nyc (the distant precursor and
inspiration for Olympia) was Will Kepper, aka Twilkip Thimark the
Dark.  He was an actor in New York City, and didn't know, or want to
know, anything about computers or minimaxing, but he loved to roleplay
his character.  We plotted strategy and made plans via phone, not
email.  He roleplayed, I roleplayed and minimaxed on the basis of
partial information (no formulae).  He was the most powerful character
in one area of the world, I in another.  We both had a blast, without
a formula in sight.  A sincere thanks to Stephen Tihor for many hours
of fun.

}} I find it a little weird when you agree with me on every point, and I
}} agree with you on every point, and we come to fundamentally different
}} conclusions.

If formulae are published, it alienates group A and satisfies group B.
If formulae are hidden, it alienates group B and satisifies group A.

Therefore, either action has the same relative merit, and people stick
to their personal preference.  My preference is to let the intent of
the game dictate formula publication.

sjc@cs.purdue.edu                 Steve Chapin                 ...!purdue!sjc
    loose == set free; lose == misplace, or fail to win, gain, or obtain
         their is possessive; there is a place; they're == they are

"But Doctor...I *am* Pagliacci..." (The Comedian, in "Watchmen")

References

Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 16:20:03 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
sjc@cs.purdue.edu (Steve Chapin)
Sat, 03 Jul 1993 09:08:27 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Sat, 03 Jul 1993 18:09:02 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
saschreu@cs.vu.nl (Schreuder SA)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 14:04:09 +0000