Why is chance and skill important components in games and what tools does the designer have at their disposal to deploy these elements?

Notes from: Brenda Braithwaite & Ian Schreiber (2008) Challenges For Games Designers


Chance
Chance is very important in Games Design, designers always use it when developing games and you can find it almost anywhere. Chance is a random event, something as simple as a dice roll or picking a card. These random events create new levels of aesthetics to the game which the user must overcome to win. It gives a feeling of mystery to the game as the next steps are unknown and generally livens up the game. 


Chance adds a random element to the game, something which can not be learnt meaning that the game is a lot less solvable, this generally makes games more interesting as the user may not fully know their next step. Chance gives a much higher probability of a less experienced player winning because of the random events which a more experienced player cannot learn.


Games without chance normally begin the same each round, this ends up being very repetitive and boring because the user can learn the game and play the same each time, for example Tic Tac Toe and the fact it's almost impossible to lose. Adding in chance means that a user must constantly change their strategy to advance in the game, this then adds drama to the game and decisions will become very tense. It all effects the aesthetics of the game itself.


Mechancics of Chance
Dice:

• Many different types of dice with many amounts of numbers on them.
• Multiple dice mean the probability of higher and lower numbers are less common.
• No matter how many times you roll, future rolls will not be effected.

Cards:

• Can easily be shuffled to be randomized.
• Can be played privately so you hide your cards from other players.
• They can represent resources.

Pseudo-Random Number generator:

• Not actually random but generally works for most games.
• Must be careful when creating a game with one, must ensure not bias.

Skill

Strategic skills is very important for games. it enhances decisions and gives the player opportunity to master and develop strategies of the game. This isn't an accidental features the strategy development is something the designer intended. A good skill game will involve an interesting series of tough decisions which will cause the player to use and develop their skills frequently to discover more of the game and earn a big reward. When a player is constantly making these decisions, they enter a state that psychologists called "flow" which is described as an optimal play state which designers work hard to achieve.

Types of decisions

Obvious Decisions

• Can usually be made automatic by the design if it is obvious enough.
• Also, using an obvious decision but adding in time pressure, this changes it from a strategic decision to a test of dexterity

Meaningless Decision

• These are usually more frustrating and annoying than an obvious decisions.
• These decisions have absolutely no effect on the games outcome.

Blind Decisions

• For example, in Roulette, the user has a real decision of what number to bet on. 
• Decisions aren't obvious because players can't see ahead of time.
• More strategic games include these decisions as well.
• By adding more or less information, blind decisions can be changed into other decisions.

Trade-Offs

• Trade-offs occur when a user has depleted their resources and cannot complete their goal.
• None of the choices are clearly right or wrong

Dilemmas

• A dilemma is very similar to a trade-off but only occurs when all available choices will harm the player.
• A special case is the Prisoners Dilemma.

Overall this reading has really helped me understand and develop my ideas about chance and skill and how with a balanced mix you could create a really great working game.