Re: PBM design: give away the formulas?

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1993 15:51:53 +0000

Rich Skrenta <skrenta@rt.com> writes:
> But at the same time, I won't be "giving away all the formulae".
> The workings of unlearned magic spells will be a mystery.  Who knows
> what the Staff of Calyx really does?  What happens if I try to harvest
> wood in a sacred grove?  Mwah ha ha.

I think this is OK in a certain type of game.  The main disadvantage is
that you are giving yourself virtually zero replay or late-entry value.
As Barry Eynon said, such games can be fun if you get in early and are a
knowledge leader.  They aren't much fun if you try to join late once a
bunch of other players know this stuff.

Sooner or later, someone is going to discover what happens when you try
to harvest wood in a sacred grove (say, an enormous demon appears three
squares northeast and eats anyone there).  After that, if you are just
getting started against a player who knows that when you don't, you
might as well forget about doing well in the game.  (Or don't happen to
be near the sacred woods on the wrong turn!)

I think this is inherent in such a design.  Knowing these facts must be
of significant value---because otherwise it would do no harm to publish
them.  Therefore the players who discover them will have a substantial
edge.

So this just means that the game has a certain lifetime, after which the
things that started out as secrets become known, and the game is no
longer what you wanted it to be.  Personally I tend to prefer games with
a lot of replay value.  Where you can know exactly how they work, and
still enjoy playing them.  That's why I play rogue, for example.  (I
still think that is a great example of a game of discovery which is
interesting even though everything is known.)  But I certainly
understand that other people can have other preferences.

[Interestingly, I'm told that in large part the reason the rogue source
was never published, was to promote the kind of secrecy that you are
describing!  I find this very surprising, because it is such a great
full-information game.  But it just goes to show how different people
view things differently.]

David desJardins

References

PBM design: give away the formulas?
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Sat, 19 Jun 1993 18:12:59 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas?
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Fri, 25 Jun 1993 13:00:52 +0000

Referenced By

PBM design: give away the formulas?
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Sat, 19 Jun 1993 18:12:59 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas?
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Fri, 25 Jun 1993 13:00:52 +0000