by kronik
crazylegs wrote:
This made me wonder. I've heard a lot of times after a new game someone comment on whether or not they are 'making decisions' as one of the first bases for judging it. It's interesting, because my equivalent question is 'did I have fun?' I know the two aren't mutually exclusive and perhaps the former = the latter in others' cases, but it's interesting to think about what drives people when they play games and what shapes their opinions of them.
None are wrong of course, I'm just fascinated by it. Probably for another list/post...
I agree that both play a part. I think that maybe you can bundle them under "tension", or that tension is a part of both. I find that games like King of Tokyo have few decisions, but it's fun because of the tension created by the randomness. Other games are tense because you need to make an optimal decision.
Tokaido lacks tension, because it doesn't force you to make any hard decisions (it hardly forces you to make ANY decisions), and there's no tension in the form of randomness either, because nearly every spot will net you 2-3 points on average.
Yes, it's zen. Yes it's laid back. But I don't need a game to do that.