06-11-2011, 08:13 AM
Hi,
Funny how a casual remark will sometimes get the synapses firing.
A game can be simple or complex in many manners. For instance, chess is a pretty simple game in terms of number of pieces, their properties, their movements, and overall rules. The rule book for (non-tournament) chess is about two pages long. Compared to Monopoly, chess is a very simple game to learn. And yet, compared to Monopoly, chess is a very hard game to master.
Now, there are people who like simplicity overall. There are people who enjoy simplicity in rules that results in a complex structure (mathematicians, physicists, chess, go, backgammon players fall into this category). And there are people who take great pleasure in mastering complexity (chemist, biologists, D&D players, lawyers and most medical doctors).
It is a matter of preference, and no one profession, system, game is better than any other on this basis.
My preference is for simple systems that have the potential for great complexity. Physics. Mathematics. Go (at which I suck). And D1. As the rule book gets bigger, I find I enjoy it less. I feel that more and more depends on memorizing what is given and less on figuring out how to do from just a handful of rules or moves (one of the reasons I love fencing -- there are only about a dozen basic "things" that give rise to a huge number of possibilities).
As WoW gets (from what I read) more complex in what it contains, my desire to return to it decreases. And at the same time, I await D3 with great expectation, though I suspect I'll be disappointed.
Funny how a simple, throw away comment can lead to a better understanding of what we like and why we like it.
--Pete
(06-11-2011, 06:03 AM)LavCat Wrote: I can't even keep track of how many characters I have, let alone how to play them or to find their stuff.
Funny how a casual remark will sometimes get the synapses firing.
A game can be simple or complex in many manners. For instance, chess is a pretty simple game in terms of number of pieces, their properties, their movements, and overall rules. The rule book for (non-tournament) chess is about two pages long. Compared to Monopoly, chess is a very simple game to learn. And yet, compared to Monopoly, chess is a very hard game to master.
Now, there are people who like simplicity overall. There are people who enjoy simplicity in rules that results in a complex structure (mathematicians, physicists, chess, go, backgammon players fall into this category). And there are people who take great pleasure in mastering complexity (chemist, biologists, D&D players, lawyers and most medical doctors).
It is a matter of preference, and no one profession, system, game is better than any other on this basis.
My preference is for simple systems that have the potential for great complexity. Physics. Mathematics. Go (at which I suck). And D1. As the rule book gets bigger, I find I enjoy it less. I feel that more and more depends on memorizing what is given and less on figuring out how to do from just a handful of rules or moves (one of the reasons I love fencing -- there are only about a dozen basic "things" that give rise to a huge number of possibilities).
As WoW gets (from what I read) more complex in what it contains, my desire to return to it decreases. And at the same time, I await D3 with great expectation, though I suspect I'll be disappointed.
Funny how a simple, throw away comment can lead to a better understanding of what we like and why we like it.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?