Difference between revisions of "Luck"

Revision as of 10:08, 23 September 2011

The feeling that random effects are not random but favorable or unfavorable to a player.

This pattern is still a stub.

Many events in games are impossible for players to control in a predictable and repeatable fashion. However, when players feel that they can affect this event anyway, either through how they perform the action or what they wish for when the effect of the action is being determined, they may feel that they have Luck.

Examples

Example: Letting players roll dice in any game is motivated primarily by letting players experience the possibility of Luck; the main other reason is that nobody else should have to perform the physical actions for the players' game action.

Example: The high level of Luck in gambling games lets most people start playing the games easily and feel that they are competent players, even though Game Mastery might be very difficult to achieve.

Poker

Roulette

Warhammer 40K

Axis & Allies

Dungeons & Dragons

GURPS

Multiplayer Games

Using the pattern

Luck is hard to explicitly design players to experience unless the game system cheats. This can be instantiated by Game Masters to provide maximum Tension but is a Risk/Reward choice, because if players notice the cheating, they will lose all Illusion of Influence.

Designing for the possibility for players to feel lucky is much easier, most often simply some form of Randomness is sufficient. Typical ways of letting players feel Luck are through letting them roll Dice, giving them hidden Card Hands, or letting Near Miss Indicators show them how close they were to being affected by dangers. For Betting, actions based around Skills, or Overcome goals that are determined by Randomness, players may base their Risk/Reward choices upon how much Luck they feel that they have.

Parts of Polyathlons that appear to depend on Luck add elements not depending on player skills and that may have less Predictable Consequences.

Movement and Location-Fixed Abilities (example for randomesss), Skills

another

Can Be Instantiated By

Critical Hits, Delayed Effects, Drawing Stacks, Feigned Die Rolls, Game Masters, Randomness

Narrative Aspects

Consequences

Feeling Luck gives players an Exaggerated Perception of Influence in games, and this can be enough to create interesting games with No Direct Player Influence. However, Luck can also create Tension when perceived in actions with Delayed Effects since players may not be sure about their Luck.

Games, which rely heavily on Randomness, or at least lack Predictable Consequences, often make it possible for players to feel that the outcome depends on Luck, and thereby give these games deceptive Smooth Learning Curves. Games depending totally on Randomness can be said to depend solely on Luck and have no Game Mastery, but many games with high levels of Randomness can have Game Mastery through Bluffing or Strategic Knowledge about probabilities, although Meta Games and Tournaments or other forms of playing many game sessions may be required to notice the Game Mastery.

Potentially Conflicting With

Extra Chances, Fixed Distributions, Goal Achievements, Strategic Knowledge

Relations

Can Instantiate

Exaggerated Perception of Influence

with Delayed Effects

Tension

with Exaggerated Perception of Influence

No Direct Player Influence

Can Modulate

-

Can Be Instantiated By

Critical Hits, Delayed Effects, Drawing Stacks, Feigned Die Rolls, Game Masters, Multiplayer Games, Randomness

Can Be Modulated By

-

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

Extra Chances, Fixed Distributions, Goal Achievements, Strategic Knowledge

History

A rewrite version of the pattern Luck that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design^[1].

References

1. ↑ Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.