It's amazing that we are still seeing conversations about randomness

I logged into BGG for my annual look to see if any games I want are being Geeklist Auctioned and right on the front page (which is getting way too busy for me) was this old chestnut:

boardgamegeek.com/thread/3189617/defense-randomness

I thought we had all kind of had enough of these kinds of discussions as a society but here we are. Barnes kind of dotted the I's on this 20 years ago...but here we are discussing it still. At least it's civil now!

It's kind of refreshing to see the greatest hits again. Now it seems that most of the dialogue around games on BGG is:

- complaining about the lack of solo mode

- complaining that inserts won't fit sleeved cards

- complaining that some other people getting an exclusive expansion is a LITERAL KICK IN THE CROTCH and how dare publishers LITERALLY SPIT IN THE FACE of the fans that made them a success.

Randomness is kind of a whatever discussion that is 100% resolved: play games that have the amount and kind of randomness you like, and ignore ones that don't. Along with the general strategy of not paying attention to anything said by People With Big Opinions on BGG.

Also, hey Pete!

You forgot non US customers complaining that companies don't offer cheaper shipping options, as if they have control over shipping costs .

I don't condone complaining about shipping either, although I picked up a fun fact from a ToS discussion about ordering the Cave Evil reissue to Belgium: evidently, it would be cheaper to send a copy of the game into low earth orbit (with a remote-controlled weather balloon) than to ship via traditional channels. The user posted a Christian Science Monitor article about how to do it.

Virabhadra wrote: evidently, it would be cheaper to send a copy of the game into low earth orbit (with a remote-controlled weather balloon) than to ship via traditional channels. The user posted a Christian Science Monitor article about how to do it.

1. That's amazing.
2. Agree with dysjunct: Hey, Pete!
3. Yeah, whatevs on the whole "randomness" thing. My favorites are always the people who disdain things like dice and then wax rhapsodic about stuff like Dominion as the pinnacle of game design. I'm all: "You realize that drawing from a face down deck of cards is inherently random, no?" "Well, but... I mean... But it's LESS RANDOM!" Sure, it is. Tell it to the nearest poker player and they'll be happy to tell you about their fifty most recent bad beats when they had the nuts. (You always remember the bad beats.)

I say again (for probably the somewhere-in-triple-digits time): Random elements of games are something you learn to hedge against and often make you a better gamer, overall, because you learn how to be prepared for events that you can't predict (Kinda like life!) Everyone who bitches and moans about stuff like Games Workshop's oeuvre being "too random" is implicitly suggesting that people who are good at those games are somehow the luckiest people on the planet. The reality is that they just know how to play those games to shield themselves against said randomness.

Same old, same old.

Msample wrote: You forgot non US customers complaining that companies don't offer cheaper shipping options, as if they have control over shipping costs .

That's my friends right here :v However since I handle imports and have reference on worldwide shipping cost, I can always compare... not number vs number, but more to the fluctuations & trends.

On dice vs cards: absolutely, they're both random. But cards have a memory, you're not drawing another 2 of clubs until the next reshuffle. But try telling the dice gods that you just rolled snake eyes and could you please not get any more for a while please please, and watch them harvest and savour your salty, salty tears.

Anyway, preaching to the converted here...

Virabhadra wrote: It would be cheaper to send a copy of the game into low earth orbit (with a remote-controlled weather balloon) than to ship via traditional channels. The user posted a Christian Science Monitor article about how to do it.

Not to be That Guy, but it’s not physically possible to use a remote-controlled weather balloon to enter low Earth orbit. Physics doesn’t work that way. If the Christian Science Monitor article really said that, yet another reason ….