[MUD-Dev] DGN: Why give the players all the numbers?

[Russ Whiteman]

From: "Ben Chambers" <gtg983q at mail.gatech.edu>
> From: Russ Whiteman

>> You simply cannot hide the mechanics from determined players,
>> unless said mechanics have -no- visible effect on the performance
>> of a given task, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the
>> mechanism in the first place.  ;-)

> But these people are going to find out either way.  But isn't the
> knowledge they gain a form of rewarding their efforts?  By hiding
> the formula's you add another level of difficulty to the game.
> Those who choose can determine the numbers.  But this raises the
> question would this behavior be considered meta-gaming?  If so
> there are two solutions, either prohibit it which would be
> ineffective or provide the information to all players.  I would
> suggest, then, not providing these numbers to the players, but
> providing documentation of how these numbers are derived.  This
> would allow them to understand how things would work, but will not
> tell them exactly who is better.

Oh, I don't -really- care if the numbers are hidden or not...  But I
believe that hiding them, while it won't keep them from figuring
them out themselves, still sends a message (or if you prefer, sets
an atmosphere) that immersion is more the goal than "gaming the
system".  Personally, I -do- like to min-max my own characters, but
I wouldn't go through the trouble to work out the hidden mechanics
myself...and I'd be more than happy to play in a game where
roleplaying was more important than tweaking numbers for mechanical
advantage.  ;)
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