I claimed way back when I started this blog that it wasn’t all about roleplaying theory, but look at all these posts about roleplaying theory! Time to make good on my claims.
Don’t get me wrong, today’s post does apply to certain types of roleplaying, but it applies to more than that too. Today’s post is on games that include solo sub-games. The most common example is the CCG.
I love CCGs, and other games that include this dynamic. I can spend hours by myself pondering card choices, and combos, and balancing various factors for deck construction. This same dynamic draws me into miniatures gaming of all stripes.
But the optimization game is a bit odd. It’s designed to be played alone, with multiple players taking on a sort of workshop atmosphere. Further, it’s a sort of anticipatory game. It’s not much fun at all on its own. Designing stuff that you have no intention to play is rarely fun. However, designing stuff that you intend to play can be fun even if you never play it. At least up to a point.
You see this sort of thing in roleplaying in complex character generation. I can spend hours tweaking a Burning Wheel character, for instance.
The optimization game is an odd beast though. It’s not really collaborative or competative. In fact, the optimization game isn’t all that social. Since we gather to play for at least partially social reasons, people rarely spend much time playing the optimization game in groups.
What this means, at least in part, for design is that you can design games that have an ongoing fun-factor when the game breaks up. People can continue to play the game (or a part of the game) on their own time between sessions. Since the optimization game is about setting up to play, so this also builds anticipation.
If you want to encourage a sense of rising anticipation in your players, and provide something related to the game “to tide them over” between sessions, developing some sort of optimization game is a great way to do that. However, it’s important to note that the optimization game isn’t always a good thing to add to your game.
Some people are better (or worse) at the optimization game. If you put one in your game then you are giving advantages to people who are better at the optimization game and to people who are willing and able to spend more time on it. The guy who spends twenty hours meticulously designing his deck is going to have an advantage over the guy who just throws together some things that seem cool in ten minutes.
The other big risk that you run is building anticipation and then failing to fulfill it. If I spend two or three hours designing a deck, and then it turns out that no one will play with me I will feel disappointed. The real risk here is that repeated disappointment will rob me of anticipation, which defeats one of the primary purposes of the optimization game.
So, should you have an optimization game in your design? Well, I like them a lot, but it’s not all hugs and kisses…