In the balance
April 26th 2011 00:51
The first question most people ask is: how will any character be a challenge against Superman? Our story mode is going to fully explain the details, but the quick answer is that Superman actually does have two weaknesses: kryptonite and magic.
-- Ed Boon, creator of Mortal Kombat
August 5th, 2008
By now, pretty much everyone in the world has read Tom LaPille’s article about Jace from the other week. While an article that sets us up for a six-week wait is kind of a tease, and he doesn’t attempt to answer the burning question of why so many people who claim they hate Standard so much keep playing it, I’m more interested today in talking about game design philosophies. LaPille states that “fun is more important than balance,” and while I understand what he is getting at, an absolute statement of this type is not really beneficial.
To my mind, a truly enlightened game design philosophy recognizes that there is no inherent conflict here. A game that is not perfectly balanced can be fun, but fun can equally arise from a balanced game that offers a number of viable options. A close game is more attention-grabbing and engaging than a blowout, for the same reason that movie directors end scenes on cliffhangers. Video games have recognized this for a long time – if striving for balance wasn’t as important as striving for fun, Midway's last release before it went bankrupt would have been Batman and Superman Waste a Bunch of Characters from Some 90s Video Game. And it would have been horribly boring.
I recognize that balancing a video game is a different problem than balancing a trading card game. But such a blanket assertion that balance is not as important as fun conflicts with other of Wizards of the Coast’s stated aims, and with what their aims should be. It means that many people are going to find that, in effect, they can’t play with all the cards they own, as some are made mechanically obsolete by others. And to some, it’s going to sound like a de facto green light to keep printing ridiculously overpowered cards as long as said cards drive people to open more boosters. Goodwill has been recognized as an asset, and they can’t really afford to waste it in economic times like these.
-- Ed Boon, creator of Mortal Kombat
August 5th, 2008
By now, pretty much everyone in the world has read Tom LaPille’s article about Jace from the other week. While an article that sets us up for a six-week wait is kind of a tease, and he doesn’t attempt to answer the burning question of why so many people who claim they hate Standard so much keep playing it, I’m more interested today in talking about game design philosophies. LaPille states that “fun is more important than balance,” and while I understand what he is getting at, an absolute statement of this type is not really beneficial.
To my mind, a truly enlightened game design philosophy recognizes that there is no inherent conflict here. A game that is not perfectly balanced can be fun, but fun can equally arise from a balanced game that offers a number of viable options. A close game is more attention-grabbing and engaging than a blowout, for the same reason that movie directors end scenes on cliffhangers. Video games have recognized this for a long time – if striving for balance wasn’t as important as striving for fun, Midway's last release before it went bankrupt would have been Batman and Superman Waste a Bunch of Characters from Some 90s Video Game. And it would have been horribly boring.
I recognize that balancing a video game is a different problem than balancing a trading card game. But such a blanket assertion that balance is not as important as fun conflicts with other of Wizards of the Coast’s stated aims, and with what their aims should be. It means that many people are going to find that, in effect, they can’t play with all the cards they own, as some are made mechanically obsolete by others. And to some, it’s going to sound like a de facto green light to keep printing ridiculously overpowered cards as long as said cards drive people to open more boosters. Goodwill has been recognized as an asset, and they can’t really afford to waste it in economic times like these.
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