Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)

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

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 20:28:27 +0000

}} In article <20a9nc$5q2@growler.ccr-p.ida.org> desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:
}}
}} Doesn't this disprove your own point?  The Oly formulas exist, but they
}} are constructed so that different choices have different advantages.  So
}} how does this support your argument that the formulas should be secret?

There are three possible opinions:  formulae should be secret,
formulae should be exposed, and those of us in the middle who don't
care.

I was disputing the "formulae are required" point-of-view.  I lean
towards the "don't show the formulae" stance, but it's not a religion
for me.  I believe that I have sufficiently supported my argument that
formulae are not necessary.

Now, to answer a related question, "How can you say formulae
exposition is unnecessary when Oly has formulae with different
advantages and disadvantages?" I answer: I love to do deep analysis on
data to find an optimal strategy.  I also love to role-play.  If I
have an approximation to the formulae (through textual descriptions),
I can optimize if I want to.  I probably won't hit on the optimal
combination in ignorance of the formulae, but I'll be close, and I can
do as well as the next guy.  I am also free to ignore the formula, and
role-play my idiom (as Eric Idle would say), trusting in the
well-designed mechanism to ensure game balance.  I might not do quite
as well in battle as the optimizer, but we're both having fun. He's
optimizing, and I'm role-playing.

Actually, this entire argument is pointless.  It's all personal
preference, and you can't quantify that.  Informal surveys of ex-Oly
players indicate that the majority prefer well-designed, hidden
formulae (probably because that's what Oly tried to offer).  I'm sure
that a survey of Atlantis players would come out the other way,
because that's what Atlantis offers.  Different strokes for different
folks...

sjc@cs.purdue.edu                 Steve Chapin                 ...!purdue!sjc
                            Aye, I like her eyes!

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

References

Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
srt@aero.org (Scott 'Dr. Pain' Turner)
Wed, 23 Jun 1993 17:09:10 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III)
Wed, 23 Jun 1993 18:19:45 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
sjc@cs.purdue.edu (Steve Chapin)
Wed, 23 Jun 1993 18:49:06 +0000
Re: PBM design: give away the formulas? (*FORMULAE !)
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Wed, 23 Jun 1993 19:08:28 +0000