Random Access Design - Time and effort

Sadly, summer is over - but as I went reviewing my past articles, I realized that I didn't really touch some interesting topics which can be extremely important in the design of games and gamification systems alike, the first one being random number generation.

There's quite a bit to say about it, and one post won't be enough; here comes another series, which just happens  o start on one lazy evening, in a room where a strategy board game match is going on.

This may be the final turn. After an excruciatingly long game your grand plan is finally paying off: with the conquest the last territory, the victory will finally be yours. You move your armies, declare the attack and take the dice in your hands, the whole room silently waiting for the roll in anticipation.

If you are somewhat familiar with board games or role-playing games, you will know how much tension something as simple as a dice roll can build, and how many glorious or devastating moments have followed a crucial one.

The other side of the coin is that chance takes away from agency.

You roll the dice to conquer that last territory, you outnumber the enemy armies three to one... and you still lose because of a bad streak of rolls, and incredible luck on your opponent's side. You missed your shot, another player will go on and take the victory a couple turns later, in spite of your flawless planning and strategy. What a shame. 

Always keep in mind that strong emotions often come in pairs. For any enthusiastic winner because tables got turned by a stochastic event you'll probably have a sore loser, resented towards your game systems - at least until the next favorable set of outcomes. Does this mean that you shouldn't include randomness at all? 

Of course not.

Aleatory elements are widely present in all kinds of games - exciting moments, replayability, and a lot of other good things can sprout from a conscious use of uncertainty. Just keep in mind that everything comes with a cost, and such things make no exception.

To get a better idea of what you're doing, try to focus on what you're playing with. In a role playing game, you hit with your weapon, a dice roll decides how much damage you will do - not a big deal, you didn't invest much in it, hitting with a weapon is a common event, and will even out in time even if it goes badly once.

On the other hand, in the example I made before, you see an entire evening wane away on a bad set of rolls, after you invested multiple hours to reach that point.

You have two main indicators to follow: the stake of the single random events, and their impact on victory conditions as a whole.

When those elements are too small, the outcomes will be almost inconsequential, not adding much to the game - much like the weapon hits. Make them too big, and you'll end up fostering a good deal of bad feelings toward your systems, which isn't great either.

You should struggle to find a place where random events can both have a distinctive influence over the course of the game and still feel fair, and this is possible only if you are careful enough to respect and value the time and effort your players will spend on your game.