Thinking about the ‘losing is fun’ nature of some games. The slogan was originally popularized by Dwarf Fortress, but IMO the game that did it best was They Are Billions (basically, an asymmetrical RTS game where if the zombies break thru, they grow exponentially and so will probably wipe you out in moments). You would lose a run, know why you lost, and then maybe figure out the policy that meant you wouldn’t lose the next time.
Another game I’ve been playing recently is Terra Invicta, a long game (technically a pausable RTS but much more like a TBS?) with a challenging UI (in large part because it has a ton of info to convey) where… I don’t think I ever actually lost, but I would consistently reach a point where I said “oh, I didn’t realize how to do X, and now that I know how, by missing out on it I think I’m behind enough that I should start over.”
Similarly, in Factorio/Satisfactory/Dyson Sphere Program, I think I often reach a point where I say “oh, I’ve laid things out terribly / sequenced them wrong, I should start over and do it right this time.”
But… this is sort of crazy, and I don’t quite understand what’s up with that part of my psychology. For a game like Satisfactory, I’m nearly strictly better off deconstructing everything and laying it out again than starting over (and often better off just moving to a new start location and leaving the old factory in place). Even for Terra Invicta, I’m probably better off using the various compensatory mechanisms (“you were too slow building moonbases, and so other people got the good spots? This is how you take over bases with a commando team”) than restarting.
It’s more like… wanting to practice a performance, or experience the “everything goes well” trajectory rather than figuring out how to recover from many different positions. Why am I into that slice of what games can be?
Thinking about the ‘losing is fun’ nature of some games. The slogan was originally popularized by Dwarf Fortress, but IMO the game that did it best was They Are Billions (basically, an asymmetrical RTS game where if the zombies break thru, they grow exponentially and so will probably wipe you out in moments). You would lose a run, know why you lost, and then maybe figure out the policy that meant you wouldn’t lose the next time.
Another game I’ve been playing recently is Terra Invicta, a long game (technically a pausable RTS but much more like a TBS?) with a challenging UI (in large part because it has a ton of info to convey) where… I don’t think I ever actually lost, but I would consistently reach a point where I said “oh, I didn’t realize how to do X, and now that I know how, by missing out on it I think I’m behind enough that I should start over.”
Similarly, in Factorio/Satisfactory/Dyson Sphere Program, I think I often reach a point where I say “oh, I’ve laid things out terribly / sequenced them wrong, I should start over and do it right this time.”
But… this is sort of crazy, and I don’t quite understand what’s up with that part of my psychology. For a game like Satisfactory, I’m nearly strictly better off deconstructing everything and laying it out again than starting over (and often better off just moving to a new start location and leaving the old factory in place). Even for Terra Invicta, I’m probably better off using the various compensatory mechanisms (“you were too slow building moonbases, and so other people got the good spots? This is how you take over bases with a commando team”) than restarting.
It’s more like… wanting to practice a performance, or experience the “everything goes well” trajectory rather than figuring out how to recover from many different positions. Why am I into that slice of what games can be?