Call for Opinions on Play-By-Computer Games

From: bof@cs.uq.oz.au (Mark Bofinger)

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 06:44:35 +0000

I'm looking for people's views on games that have been or could be
transplanted onto or designed for a computer. More specifically, what are
the features of the above sorts of games that made them succeed, fail or
interesting to implement? What are the main differences between them and
their non-automated counterparts?

This question is mainly oriented towards games that are not hand-eye
coordination exercises.

What I am not looking for is discussions of little-known rules in
little-known games, rather the general features. Also, even though this
posting is made to a number of groups, I would request all communication
be kept to either rec.games.design or mail to me personally.

Some points to consider:

- How involved are the record-keeping and rules evaluation (is a
computer necessary for this alone);

- How subjective are the descriptions of the rules and records (can
they be easily made into an algorithm);

- What are the game requirements of the computer (hardware and
software for players and/or organisers);

- What are the game requirements of the players and/or organisers
(intermittent playing, continuous monitoring, large knowledge of rules);

- Who were or might be the usual winners of the game (rules daemon,
20-hour per day typing freak, strategist or tactician);

- How much is the success of the game dependent upon the players
(is the cooperation of all or nearly all the players required or are
inactive players no hinderance);

- How much do real-world events control the game-mechanics, players
and computers (what effect does geographic and time-zone location have,
how much are tactics based upon real-world timing rather than game-timing);

- How much do pre-game arrangements between players count for (can
alliances and information be effectively swapped between players);

- Can one or more players be effectively replaced by the computer (can
a multi-player game be played with only one human player without ruining the
game);

Thanks in advance for contributions.

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bof@cs.uq.oz.au