I’ve been thinking a bit about resolution mechanics over the last few days… random, I know — but that’s what kind of crazy crap comes into my head when I’m not working.
By “resolution mechanic” I’m referring to the behind-the-scenes method by which a game resolves its core gameplay mechanic.
The three I’ve been thinking about lately (there could be more, but I’ve only really been pondering the three) are twitch (resolution through a player’s skill with the interface), fortune (resolution by luck), and karma (resolution by value / stats / strategy). Examples of games based on each of the three mechanics are Whack-a-Mole, Chutes and Ladders, and Chess, respectively.
(Note: For interesting reading, check out Ron Edwards’ article on RPG theory — link goes to the section where he coins the terms Fortune and Karma — http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/5/)
The reason I’ve been thinking about it lately is that I’ve been trying to find my favorite combination of the three. Not many games really use any one exclusively, so I’m just been trying to figure out which I prefer.
When playing a pen-and-paper RPG or board game, I think I prefer a game that was a lot of Karma with a bit of fortune rolled in. A game that was entirely karma-based might simply have you compare two values together and the highest person wins. Such a game might involve a bit of karmic strategy as well — where you can use certain set abilities to buff your values by a static amount or to debuff your opponent similarly. I prefer, usually, if there is an additional bit of randomness that “makes things interesting.” Kind of like Magic: The Gathering — where players can use strategy in every aspect of the game, except for the inherent randomness of the shuffle and first draw.
If I were playing a video game, I think I’d prefer a mixture of all three — maybe in the following order: Twitch, Randomness, Karma. My favorite games tend to be those that are twitchy enough to make me enjoy using the control mechanism, but which are random enough to throw surprises at me. Adding an element of karma to it might add a bit of depth, strategy, or replay. A good example of this would be a game like Deus Ex (the first one). The game was an FPS, first and foremost, but threw in a bit of fortune with the aiming. You had abilities and upgradable tech trees that allowed you to take some of the randomness off and added a layer of strategy on top of the experience. Thief was similar, though less random, in my opinion.
If you’ve got em, post YOUR favorite combination of resolution mechanics in the comments or in the forums. Or post more mechanics if they don’t fit into the three I mentioned. I’m interested in seeing what other people think about their favorite types of games when they break it down that way.
“Is this meaning some aspect of the game is based on interaction between the players that the game has no influence over?”
Yeah, that sounds about right. John might have a better example, but I’m imagining a and RPG type where a conflict is resolved by two players role-playing their characters, and resolving the conflict based on the outcome of that roleplaying.
As far as video games, I’m talking about trash talking being an element of a drama mechanic. More specifically, I’m talking about deliberate usage of language or “psych-outs” to throw someone off their game. My favorite example is “Wow, you’re doing really well! Your health bar is really full!” Delivering that baby almost never fails to get someone to look up at their health bar obsessively and not at the screen, throwing them off their game.
It’s tough because I’m not an expert on the issue. What I can do is repeat the examples that I’ve read about. (so I know that these are definitely what’s meant by “drama” as a system resolution mechanic, but I don’t know if it might also include trash talking)
Here’s an example of D&D play: Player A says “My character opens the door” this action is then resolved by the GM, who says “The door is locked, so you don’t open it” or “The door creaks open loudly, waking the sleeping dragon behind it. Roll initiative.” Notice that the GM didn’t check if the character was strong enough to open the door, or roll any dice to see if the dragon woke. He just said it and everyone agreed with him (implicitly).
There are a lot of other pen and paper examples I could give, of varying complexity. I don’t know if it translates to digital games though. You could argue that the DKP system that a given guild uses is similar. Perhaps something more tied to the code, like the guild rank and privileges system. In Diplomacy (the game) drama is what decides when the next turn starts, since there’s no actual game mechanic that defines it and the players must agree as a group. I’m pretty sure that holds up. Whether trash talking or mentioning the health bar is a [i]resolution mechanic[/i] or not is another question. I say that it’s more of a strategy.
Of course, human interaction and it’s place in games is another perfectly good topic of conversation. 🙂
Oh, I just noticed that you got [i]really[/i] close to the definition Div, “some aspect of the game is based on interaction between the players that the game has no influence over”. I’d say that the game can have some influence.
For example: in D&D the book says that the Game Master is the final arbiter of all disputes, but in My Life with Master (and many other fancy and esoteric games) state that the group as a whole must decide, with no special GM authority. You could set out rules for arbitrating disagreements (I’ve seen board games where the rules state that the game owner gets to make all the rules decisions) or – as you said – leave the game with no influence over it. Regardless, you were on the right track.
The way I see that work (but here I’m out on a limb) is like guild mechanics in MMOs. You might put in code where there’s always a guild leader, but at any time the guild can hold a vote and oust him. So those powers that the guild leader has are only wielded with the authority of the guild at large. But then again, you could just call this a karma based mechanic, since the game is handling everything in a static way and the players are choosing strategies….
Like I said, I can tell you what Ron Edwards was talking about with regards to drama mechanics, but beyond that I’m making shit up as I go. 😉
@12
Whether trash talking or mentioning the health bar is a [i]resolution mechanic[/i] or not is another question. I say that it’s more of a strategy.
Yeah, I was more thinking about how it was a factor AT ALL in video games at the moment.
I can think of things that the computer can do TO YOU to make the resolution of a conflict drama-oriented, but I can’t think of anythign you can do to a computer.
Not yet, at least.
ACK! Help me! I don’t know how to make italics! :'(
Anyways, I figured that’s what you were talking about, which is why I wasn’t going to get all huffy about it. I just wanted to clear up for Div what I was originally referring to. 🙂
In summary, my dragging the concept of drama resolution mechanics into the discussion only muddied the water. That is unless Div goes on to design the Great American Roleplaying game, some time after playing his first. 😛
P.S. Notice that in the above paragraph I managed to assume 1) that Div is male, 2) that he is American, and 3) that everyone knows that term RPG rightly refers to the original kind, not these new fangled electronic ones. 🙂
I was in a guild that used the God loot system for awhile. I liked it, but many others didn’t, and eventually the guild disbanded.
For the most part, though, I think the Drama type would frustrate people. Probably a lot of dealing with other people’s opinions and such. It takes the helplessness part of fortune without the fairness of fortune. Fortune is nice because it applies to everyone, but in a drama-based resolution mechanic, everyone has their own motivation and such. Seems like it would really suck for people who actually want to use the rat flail. I guess that’s the point, but I guess like any RPG, it’s probably only for a certain kind of player.
For italics use istead of [].
it made my disappear. That’s for italics without the asterisks.
What the fuck? Seriously. Apparently you cant type angle brackets ever in here or it thinks it’s a tag, and of course there’s no editing either. Less than, I, greater than. Hooray.
You rock! Thanks for the explanation, 🙂