Re: open ended games

From: David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>

Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 00:00:00 +0000

grenadeboy@yahoo.com writes:
> I'm working on an open-ended fantasy wargame. One of the problems I'm
> faced with is how to enable new players to survive in what could be a
> very hostile world. I'd appreciate hearing some ideas/opinions on what
> I can do to make life easier for the newbies.

The easy solution is to create a game where no one can ever really be
harmed.  The problem is that you aren't left with much of a "wargame".
But if you just want the players to walk around roleplaying, and don't
mind that they can never really accomplish much, that works pretty well.

An alternative is to create teams or factions, either explicitly
(certain positions are automatically allied) or implicitly (construct
incentives for players to form into coalitions of roughly comparable
strength).  In that case you end up with both weaker and stronger
players on different sides, so no one is more of a victim.

Other than that, I'm not sure it's really possible to make conflict
between players interesting, and also ensure that the game isn't more
difficult for players who play badly or who enter late.  (If you
increase the strength of the players who start late to make them just as
strong as the leading players who have been playing the whole time, then
you simply create incentives for players who are doing badly to quit and
restart.)

David desJardins

References

open ended games
grenadeboy@yahoo.com
Thu, 17 Aug 2000 01:38:46 +0000