CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
The YouTube channel Extra Credits posted an interesting video yesterday, on our perception of probability and reward in games. The episode speaks to game developers, particularly video games, but uses the critical hit mechanic of tabletop roleplaying games to illustrate an interesting point: critical hits really aren't as mathematically amazing as you think they are.
The episode spends a lot of time discussing the mechanics of the famous "Monty Hall" puzzle and how it works, and then at around the 3:50 mark asks "So why does this matter when we are designing games?" The answer given is "Well, because humans are both great, and terrible, at probability." To expand on this, Extra Credits talks at length about the critical hit mechanic, and how both the mechanics of probability and the perception of probability are very different. In conclusion, it posits that the critical hit mechanic only exists to make you feel awesome and powerful, even though that is almost never the case numbers-wise.
With critical hits in D&D gaining traction in certain discussions, I'm curious what other folks might think. What are your thoughts?
The episode spends a lot of time discussing the mechanics of the famous "Monty Hall" puzzle and how it works, and then at around the 3:50 mark asks "So why does this matter when we are designing games?" The answer given is "Well, because humans are both great, and terrible, at probability." To expand on this, Extra Credits talks at length about the critical hit mechanic, and how both the mechanics of probability and the perception of probability are very different. In conclusion, it posits that the critical hit mechanic only exists to make you feel awesome and powerful, even though that is almost never the case numbers-wise.
With critical hits in D&D gaining traction in certain discussions, I'm curious what other folks might think. What are your thoughts?
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