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Decisions Do's and Don'ts

Matthew Rodgers post made me think of Matt Leacock's video about what went into creating Pandemic. If you have 50 minutes its definitely worth a watch. For those that don't have the time, reproduced here are the =Decision= do's and don'ts.

Each entry has a little cryptic entry followed by a game as an example.

Decisions TODO

  • Resource Trades When to trade what to whom? Think Catan.
  • Risk vs Reward Safe vs danger to get small or larger reward. Like in Risk maybe?
  • Choice of Actions Want to do many things but cannot do them all. Agricola.
  • Short Term vs Long Term Nice now or better later? I struck a blank. Can anyone think of a game with this in?
  • Social information Dishonesty vs honesty. This one seems a bit meta-gamey to me but still valid. Diplomacy.
  • Dilemmas Give up one of multiple things you really want. Battlestar Galactica.
  • Emotional Decisions I add this here since I rather enjoy having some players battle with taking what is might be a good move, mechanically speaking, but which is has some negative emotional connotation. e.g. leaving a buddy behind in favor of better resources. Though this doesn't always work because some people just have no feelings. Game suggestion anyone?

Each entry has a little cryptic entry followed by how to fix it if you find it in your game.

Decisions DO NOT DO

  • Meaningless Decisions "False Distinctions". This is a choice of two things that are actually the same. These should be removed.
  • Obvious Decisions "Strict Domination". There is only one "right" answer or "best" strategy. These decisions should be automated.
  • Blind Decisions There is no information to make a decision. These decisions should be randomized instead. There are probably the hardest to identify as some seemingly blind decisions actually have valid strategies available through the metagame e.g. rock/paper/scissors

Do you have any decision do's and don'ts to share?

Until next time

-H

Comments

Long Term vs. Short Term

A buddy and I brainstormed for a bit, and we came up with Colisseum (do you go for a series of small but perfect shows or do you dial it in for a couple of turnes try for a really big one in round 3?) and The Game of Life, where you have to make a choice between going to college or getting a head start by getting into the workforce directly.

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blog | by Dr. Radut