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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 6473873" data-attributes="member: 1879">The answer is "It depends on what kind of game you want to make, and why you want it to dicourage min-maxing."For example what genre is the game, and what tech level?A more modern game encourages more rounded characters for the simple reason that it's obvious to a modern player why their character might want to be able to drive and use a computer as well as shoot a gun. It is less obvious to the majority of gamers why a medieval character might want to be able to spin twine into rope as well as swing a sword. Likewise for far future games it may be hard to grasp why a knowledge of crystal holography and poly-linguistic logic is more important that aiming a blaster.The intended problems that the characters are intended to face and how they are expected to solve them will also play a role. For example if you were to sell a campagin as modern day monster hunting you would need to make it very, very clear to most players that they were not expected to deal with the monsters directly. Even if it's movie class dracula they are going to try packing a Barrett with silver ammo before they try to out wit their foe.OTOH if the game is sold from the outset as being one of intrigue, trade and diplomacy then they will find it easier to grasp why a well rounded character is to their advantage.Lastly sometimes a player will min-max not because it's mechanically optimal but because sometimes it's fun to play Jayne from Firefly. A socially crippled psychopath with no usefull skills aside from a propensity for violence. In fact when entering a new system or world it's often a standard strategy to make a mono-dimensional character simply because it's both easy and does not require the player to effectively employ a bunch of knowledge about the world which he hasn't had time to learn yet. Jayne doesn't need to know the history of conflict between the Temperence Guild and the Feathered Union and why it's a bad idea to mention tea at a meeting of them, he just stands in the back of the room looking baffled and punches things when a fight breaks out.</blockquote>

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