Media Watch: Randomness: Blight or Bane?

From Greg Costikyan’s presentation at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in Austin, Texas:

Our sense of fiero or accomplishment at winning a game depends on the feeling that we have, in some sense, mastered it, and either that we out-played our opponents, or at least, in a soloplay game, overcame the challenges it posed by dint of hard work and skill. If, instead, we feel that we just got lucky – or, worse, that someone else won even though we were obviously the smarter player, because they just got lucky – we’re likely to think less of the game.

But clearly many, many games have some random elements, and some are highly luck-dependent, and yet people continue to play them. What really is the role of randomness in games, and how can designers work to harness it to beneficial effect?

Follow to link to read his presentation. The summarized version: It depends.

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