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| "Man Writing" by Oliver Ray |
All games use some mixture of chance and choice to resolve the uncertain outcome inherent in them.All games have what experts call 'uncertain outcome'- you don't know who will win when the game begins. If you do- if the outcome is a 100% foregone conclusion- why play?
Players resolve a game's uncertain outcome by some combination of chance and choice.
- Chance is something outside a player's control. Common examples include rolling die, drawing a card from a shuffled deck, or even the actions of other players in the contest. You do not know, and cannot predict, how a specific event will go during the contest until it occurs.
- Choice is something the player controls. Common examples are choosing which piece to move in chess, deciding which card to play in Magic, or where to place a tile in Carcassonne. To be a true choice, it must be meaningful. This means two things:
1) it must make a difference in the game's outcome (choosing what color to be at game's start has no bearing on who wins)
2) it must be one of several viable options positioning the player win the game. If one choice is always, and clearly, the best way to go, the player has no real choice- they take that path or lose.
Chance and choice are not an 'either/or'- a game can have much chance and much choice, all chance and no choice, or all choice and very little chance.* Some examples; these are games with:
-much choice and little chance: Chess, Barony
-much chance and little choice: Chutes & Ladders, Sorry!
-lots of both: Magic, Isle of Skye
Note that high chance/low choice games are often (but not always) children's games.
I used to think minimizing chance was the goal of a game designer; I've since come to see the value of chance elements. As noted in Characteristic of Games, chance increases the player pool (because it gives less experienced players a shot to win otherwise gained only by mastery), increases variety (you don't know what will happen), and increases suspense. Of course, it's a balance; if there's too much chance and too little choice, what's the point of the game, and how can the winner claim achievement? If there's too much choice and too little chance, will you find players willing to invest the time necessary to master the game? This is a key area for the game designer- find the right balance.
Personally, I want to make a game heavy on both chance and choice. Meaningful choices are so important, but I want chance, too. Why?
- Because life is like that. You can make all the smart choices you like; you're still subject to the same 'chance' elements we all are, and learning how to react to life's surprises is a necessary skill to grow. I want to capture that in a game, and the way to do it is through chance elements. Star Wars Miniatures is a good example of this- you maximize your probability of a successful attack through smart character placement, but executing the attack requires rolling a d20. The rules are such that any attack always has a 5% chance of success (that ewok will occasionally hurt Darth Vader), and 5% chance of failure (Vader won't always hit). And related to this,
- Chance injects suspense and fun. I recall many gaming sessions where it came down to a high-probability strike going awry; though exasperating, it's also exhilarating. Games with little chance often lack the same waves of emotion.
- Chance elements help keep the game relevant for all players until the end. Even if you're behind early on, some 'good luck' can keep you in the mix.
How about you- do you like chance or choice?
*all games have some chance, as I've defined it. Player B's actions, from player A's perspective, are an element of chance, as they cannot be predicted.
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