Re: Big PBMs

From: "Enno Rehling" <enno@despammed.com>

Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 18:23:09 +0000

> >>Anyone can make a PBM that requires a 1 Gig database or 1000 differnt
orders,
> but I consider both a sign of trouble, not excellence :-)  <<
>
> While I consider that comment silly.  Sure, it would be poor if the 1 GiG
> database was just because of bad data structures and needlessly repeated data,
> and 1000 orders would be rubbish if they were all needed to move you one
square
> North.
>
> But equally, if those 1000 orders represented unprecedented depth and
> imagination, and if that 1 Gig was chock-full of well designed detail, then
> that wouldn't be a "sign of trouble" at all. It would be a sign of the sort of
> hard work sadly missing in some areas of PBEM these days.

I think that one of the problems with many game designs I've seen is that people
don't understand that complicated does not mean deep (or complex), and
complexity does not require complication. I've heard this a lot from game
designers - but "Quality through Quantity" is never going to work. Well, most
people know that, but somehow they don't seem to act on it.

Also, making a game that has 1000 commands will make that game pretty much
unplayable for any sane person. Too much detail can overwhelm the players - I
remember with horror some aspects two games I've played: Earthdawn and
Roelmaster. In the former, every profession has their own special abilities,
which are nice, but require the game master to know pretty much all of them to
be able to run a decent campaign. They add flavour, yes, but they also make for
hours spent looking up rules that noone can ever fully remember. And
Rolemaster - well, it was nice to know that I had just hit the orc so fiercely
that he would have a blister on his left middle toe for the next 7.5 days, but
did that really matter? We ended up letting the computer roll battles for us,
and then quickly abandoned the game.

Enno.

References

Re: Big PBMs
"Enno Rehling" <enno@despammed.com>
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 13:56:29 +0000
Re: Big PBMs
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Thu, 14 Mar 2002 17:53:11 +0000