lmm comments on Rationality Quotes January 2014 - Less Wrong
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His games might bring more joy at family events. I like games which are designed to be fun when everyone is trying to win, not just when the winners are also having to subtlely contort their decisions to avoid ruining anyone's fun. I'm not familiar with Sirlin's games, but I do recall reading a similar point in reviews of the "German-style" games which have revitalized board gaming: since these games' mechanics try to make them enjoyable to lose, not just to win, it's easier for people to both try to have fun with other players and try to win without one goal compromising the other.
Ironically enough Sirlin's games are virtually impossible to play to win (or to lose). He's a big believer in having all your options being of equal value, so the "game" is in figuring out what your opponent will do and playing the appropriate counter to that. But the result is that playing randomly is just as good as playing strategically.
No. There are good and bad players at, say, Kongai. Whether I would win or lose depended very strongly on how focused I was and how well my team was organized.
It's the difference between Rock-Paper-Scissors as usually played and RPS if you get 4 points for winning with scissors, 2 for winning with rock, and 1 for winning with paper.
Those are totally different games.
Doesn't that make the game uninteresting?
Does to me. But I was never a fan of the two-player fighting games that Sirlin seems to hold in such high regard; I can imagine that people who like those (and there are many such people) might like Sirlin's games.