Weekend Update
Aug. 10th, 2004 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
woodwardiocom-Friday, Games Night at Bey's/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
buxom_bey's. Saw Bey, Kris, Tom, Annie, Chad, Kat, Carlos, and assorted other folks. Kicked some ass at Pente, did okay at Ice Towers, and participated in a 4-player Munchkin game which left us begging for a quick death.
-For some games, the length of the game is fixed, regardless of the number of players; t=1. For others, it's proportional; t=n. For a precious few, the time commitment goes down as you add more players; t=1/n. I think Munchkin is in the category where t=n^2. Without inter-player interference, each player would on average need x turns to make 10th level. Thus, (without interference) the game's length would be proportional to the number of players. Four players, 4x turns. However, every player has incentive to interfere with every other player. In a 4-player game, you have three times as many people trying to stop you as in a 2-player game. (Granted, they have three times as many targets, but not everyone is about to hit 10th level at once.) Ergo, a 4-player game does not take twice as long as a 2-player game; it takes significantly longer than that.
-Which is the long way of saying that I think the optimum size for Munchkin is 3 players.
-Saturday morning, went to the FF, of which more elsewhere. Saturday afternoon and evening, Jen/anotherjen, her daughter Ilana, and I drove up to Beverly to see Jen's father and stepmother. They're good people. Had a nice dinner, then we went to the Willows in Salem. Sort of an entry-level amusement park. Fun, and got to be there for Ilana's first boat ride. Ilana was overall usually cute and precocious, and occasionally frustrating, but what do I expect from a 3-year old, ne?
-Sunday, D&D. My ranger was off training, so I played the NPC, Vilgar. Is fun, to play Teutonic fighter, ja! Had to bail a little early, as the processor cycles I had available for dealing with people were running out after a rough week, but no hu-hu.
-Monday night, dinner with Lori/weegoddess, who is a delight. (We're platonic, for those hanging on my every gossip.) Learned more about her than I had in the year+ since I met her, and we ended the night with three topics stacked up that we hadn't gotten to.
-Tonight, I actually get an evening alone at home to relax. [wipes forehead] Phew. (Except that my BlueBlood.net column is way overdue...)
buxom_bey's. Saw Bey, Kris, Tom, Annie, Chad, Kat, Carlos, and assorted other folks. Kicked some ass at Pente, did okay at Ice Towers, and participated in a 4-player Munchkin game which left us begging for a quick death.-For some games, the length of the game is fixed, regardless of the number of players; t=1. For others, it's proportional; t=n. For a precious few, the time commitment goes down as you add more players; t=1/n. I think Munchkin is in the category where t=n^2. Without inter-player interference, each player would on average need x turns to make 10th level. Thus, (without interference) the game's length would be proportional to the number of players. Four players, 4x turns. However, every player has incentive to interfere with every other player. In a 4-player game, you have three times as many people trying to stop you as in a 2-player game. (Granted, they have three times as many targets, but not everyone is about to hit 10th level at once.) Ergo, a 4-player game does not take twice as long as a 2-player game; it takes significantly longer than that.
-Which is the long way of saying that I think the optimum size for Munchkin is 3 players.
-Saturday morning, went to the FF, of which more elsewhere. Saturday afternoon and evening, Jen/
anotherjen, her daughter Ilana, and I drove up to Beverly to see Jen's father and stepmother. They're good people. Had a nice dinner, then we went to the Willows in Salem. Sort of an entry-level amusement park. Fun, and got to be there for Ilana's first boat ride. Ilana was overall usually cute and precocious, and occasionally frustrating, but what do I expect from a 3-year old, ne? -Sunday, D&D. My ranger was off training, so I played the NPC, Vilgar. Is fun, to play Teutonic fighter, ja! Had to bail a little early, as the processor cycles I had available for dealing with people were running out after a rough week, but no hu-hu.
-Monday night, dinner with Lori/
weegoddess, who is a delight. (We're platonic, for those hanging on my every gossip.) Learned more about her than I had in the year+ since I met her, and we ended the night with three topics stacked up that we hadn't gotten to.-Tonight, I actually get an evening alone at home to relax. [wipes forehead] Phew. (Except that my BlueBlood.net column is way overdue...)
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Date: 2004-08-10 11:26 pm (UTC)agenda tete-a-tete?