Comments for MetaGame

Comment on 4 Tips for Live Action Game Design by admin

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:18:46 +0000

^ This.

Comment on 4 Tips for Live Action Game Design by Dolsen

Dolsen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:42:30 +0000

Railroading is always a tricky one. Sure, in an ideal world it doesn’t happen, but I think tabletop is really the only format you can really accomplish it. Even in a LARP, you need to have some structure in order plan out props ahead of time and keep everyone more or less on the same page. And a little bit of railroading does provide stronger narrative, which is a plus in my book, though I recognize your mileage may vary, especially among explorer types of players. A good GM does it with a light touch or creates the illusion of player agency through enough properly placed incentives, but I feel a balance must be struck. It’s not good for a single player to hijack a game and ruin other people’s fun either, but hopefully the problem is solved during the writing process by asking enough hypotheticals, e.g. what if a PC intentionally doesn’t complete the widget? There should be an alternative plan for that.

Comment on 4 Tips for Live Action Game Design by Blue

Blue — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:04:03 +0000

The only one of these I don’t agree with is information scarcity. Let me instead propose that information shared will invariably be either

A) Lost forever – as you described
B) Shared with everyone

You will notice A more when it’s important and you want everyone to know. You will noticed B more when it’s supposed to be an in-game secret. My belief is that they are about equal but A happens when people think they have something everyone knows because it’s SO HUGE AND IMPORTANT they don’t bother with it, in which case, yes, triple seed.
B happens when you want it to remain a secret because people want to show off to all of their friends that “I know something others don’t” and invariably just wind up telling them anyway.

It’s perfectly natural when you think about it.

To avoid A… what you said holds. To avoid B… well, just pick your audience carefully and consider telling the player in question to please not share OOG so you can make it more fun.

Comment on Women In Games by admin

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:37:12 +0000

I’m not making an argument, just stating my opinion. You’re entitled to yours and I’m entitled to mine. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with sexualization in fantasy. Sex is a powerful part of life and it absolutely adds depth to a character, be they male or female.
Case in point: Ezio Auditore from the Assassin’s Creed series. Absolutely a sexualized character, much to the enrichment of the series and pleasure of pervy Ezio fanciers like me everywhere.

Comment on Women In Games by Lora

Lora — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:17:51 +0000

Ah, that’s right. An unavoidable overcurrent of sexualization and bikini armor is empowerment, and the effect of the male gaze on the player serves to strengthen the female character and enrich her as a character.

Sounds like you’re neck deep in system justification to me. Your arguments consist of, “why u jealous?”, “male character designers aren’t sexist,” and “I like it and a few of my friends do too, so it’s OK.”

Comment on Cheating vs. Gaming by admin

admin — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:34:23 +0000

Absolutely. I think that the difference between playing and cheating is an internal, psychological difference. If you don’t feel you are cheating, then you likely are not. It gets down to a question of ethics and decision making.
Games that have loopholes for people to exploit are asking for exploitation, but the truth is in the intent.
For example, I played Fable 3 recently and I used the “cheat” where you leave the controller plugged in and just wait to get enough gold to get the good ending and make all the good choices. I didn’t feel like I cheated because I didn’t feel like I got any value from doing it the “right” way.

Comment on Cheating vs. Gaming by Thomas Grové

Thomas Grové — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:28:11 +0000

“My point here is this: playing a game makes you better, cheating makes you worse.”

In Street Fighter II, there were arcades where you could into trouble for “throwing” in the game. Some people claimed that “throwing is cheap”. Ignoring or avoiding “cheap” tactics that are allowed by the game rules means that you’re not going to grow as fully as someone who explores the entire possibility space, someone who is “playing to win”. This is an important and oftentimes misunderstood concept in competitive gaming. I’d highly suggest that you read David Sirlin’s e-book on the topic available here: http://www.sirlin.net/ptw

If, as a game developer, you find someone exploiting the rules in a way you did not intend, you need to fix the bug and issue a new version of the product. Maybe they’ll have better luck next year writing rules that cover edge cases a bit better.

Anyways, congrats on getting up the courage to rant!!! That’s awesome!

Comment on Cheating vs. Gaming by admin

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:44:35 +0000

Ben’s twitter has a pretty good acct right now of the story, appropo RT’s and all: http://twitter.com/BenKuchera

Comment on Cheating vs. Gaming by Avatrix

Avatrix — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:29:17 +0000

Sounds like a you-had-to-be-there situation. Even with what I know about what was supposed to happen at the panel, and trying to follow twitter conversations, I’m not sure what happened or why people are upset.