No worries. I *do* agree with you that certain people take the fun out of games.
For me, the ruining factor is the people and not the game.
Black box games have their place. I loved all of the old Infocom text adventures (Zork, Planetfall, etc) and Sierra's series of adventure games (King's Quest, Space Quest, etc). These are games that only work as black boxes because the whole point is figuring out how something works.
However, I see a difference between a game whose whole point is to be a black box, and games that shoehorn themselves into being a black box for some largely false premise that gamers want less UI.
IMO, most gamers want a UI that makes sense and allows you to perform tasks efficiently. However, some games are simply complex enough that making a good UI is very hard. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms comes to mind)
I personally think that cutting out the UI in the name of simplicity is intellectually lazy. Creating a good, useful UI that ends up being simple is a long, involved design process.
Believe me, I have the same frustration with munchkin gamers as you do. However, you can't solve a people problem with game design.
Hell, if you could solve people problems with arbitrary rules, politicians all over the world would actually have a useful job. But that's another rant entirely. ;-)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 09:03 pm (UTC)For me, the ruining factor is the people and not the game.
Black box games have their place. I loved all of the old Infocom text adventures (Zork, Planetfall, etc) and Sierra's series of adventure games (King's Quest, Space Quest, etc). These are games that only work as black boxes because the whole point is figuring out how something works.
However, I see a difference between a game whose whole point is to be a black box, and games that shoehorn themselves into being a black box for some largely false premise that gamers want less UI.
IMO, most gamers want a UI that makes sense and allows you to perform tasks efficiently. However, some games are simply complex enough that making a good UI is very hard. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms comes to mind)
I personally think that cutting out the UI in the name of simplicity is intellectually lazy. Creating a good, useful UI that ends up being simple is a long, involved design process.
Believe me, I have the same frustration with munchkin gamers as you do. However, you can't solve a people problem with game design.
Hell, if you could solve people problems with arbitrary rules, politicians all over the world would actually have a useful job. But that's another rant entirely. ;-)