Dirt Behind the Daydream

“Don’t rely on the logic of your design, but balance for the player’s understanding, however illogical.”

- Sid Meier, GDC Keynote March 12, 2010.

I am no game designer. Nor do I ever want to be one. I just like writing about games. Examining them. What works, and what doesn’t. Why I enjoy them, and why I hate them. Simple stuff, really.

Games are mostly systems of rules. And they are based on reality - with some flexibility added in to make them interesting, naturally. So to say that a game’s “logic” should come from this mythical average person who is “illogical”, what does that say about what designers should expect from their players? That they are to act illogically on purpose? Why would they do that? What kind of game would you be making?

He talked a lot today about strategy games - his expertise, of course - and about the player’s expectations about winning. If I am attacking an opponent with 2:1 odds, why should I assume I’m going to win? It doesn’t make any sense; this is basic probability.

His talk wasn’t condescending. This is someone who is bitter because no one is playing his games “right”, giving up, and suggesting that other game designers should follow suit in making their games stimulate the player’s self-esteem. This is the same line of thinking that brought us the “No Child Left Behind” policy in the education system that creates a generation of self-important, entitled lackwits.

This is your impact on humanity, game industry.

(Many thanks to Brian Creeden (@judicialfiat) for the transcript: http://bit.ly/cLdWMa.)