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From: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu (Michael Kinyon)
Subject: Playtesting of small games (was: Magic Toyshop)
Message-ID: <DDB67E.7xM@sun2.iusb.indiana.edu>
Sender: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.edu (Michael Kinyon)
Nntp-Posting-Host: peabody.iusb.edu
Organization: Indiana Unixversity South Bend
References: <403b31$1hn@nic.lth.se> <DCwstu.BBH@sun2.iusb.indiana.edu> <40mu6h$k0j@nic.lth.se>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 16:09:14 GMT
Lines: 57

In article <40mu6h$k0j@nic.lth.se>, Magnus Olsson <mol@marvin.df.lth.se> wrote:
>In article <DCwstu.BBH@sun2.iusb.indiana.edu>,
>Michael Kinyon <mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu> wrote:
>>In article <403b31$1hn@nic.lth.se>, Magnus Olsson <mol@marvin.df.lth.se> 
>>wrote:
>>>Could someone please help me with the very first puzzle in "Magic Toyshop"?
>>[snip]
>>>Hasn't the game been playtested?
>>
>>Ahem!
>
>Sorry, since I posted my message I've noticed that the game actually
>mentions you as a playtester. 

*** takes bow ***

>Maybe I should say that when posting I was pretty frustrated, not only
>by a difficult puzzle but also by a lack of vocabulary- the game would
>give nonsensical answers to commands that "should" make sense, and so
>on.  This kind of warts are usually the sign of a game that hasn't
>been sufficiently play tested, hence my comment. 

I think I can comment on this without speaking about this particular game,
and thus without violating the ethics of the competition.  This is not the
only competition game that I have tested, so my remarks apply to all of
them.

I understand the desire that any reasonable vocabulary should make sense,
but the scope of the word "reasonable" is far smaller for games of this sort
than for full-length games.  Yes, while testing any of these games, I could
have accumulated a list of such possibilities as long as you please
(e.g., "It would be nice if the response to 'ask Fred about the rhinoceros'
were something other than the canned response"), but a good playtester has 
a responsibility to keep suggestions within the spirit of the game (in 
contrast to actual bugs or inconsistencies, which a playtester has a
responsibility to report dutifully).  In the case of the games I have been 
testing for the last month or so, there is an additional responsibility to 
keep suggestions within the spirit of the competition.  In particular, one
of the cardinal principles of the competition is that the game should be
finishable by a reasonably experienced player in about two hours.  Now I
will be the first to admit that very few of the competition entries are
going to satisfy this criterion, which will (I predict) cause some problems
when voting time comes.  Nevertheless, I still have to keep suggestions in
line with this criterion.  To me, customizing all the responses introduces
enough distraction that the idea of "small competition game" is compromised.

I realize that you were not attacking me personally in either your initial
plea for help nor your follow-up.  Even though I left out smileys (a habit
I seem to have picked up from Graham Nelson), my "Ahem!" was meant with
good humor.

Thus endeth my defense.
-- 
Michael Kinyon                  | email: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.edu
Dept of Mathematics & Comp. Sci.| phone: (219)-237-4240
Indiana University South Bend   | fax:   (219)-237-4538
South Bend, IN 46634 USA        | "The quote in my .sig is false." - M. Kinyon
