On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 8:08 AM, ais523<callforjudgem...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > I am starting to get very, very annoyed at the moment, about Cards.
I think the basic problem with cards in an online nomic is that they add a totally unnecessary level of abstraction. Cards are simply a mechanism for pseudo-randomly distributing various abilities and assets to players. That's not a terribly complicated thing to do. But because we call them Cards, there's a curious insistence that they work exactly like physical playing cards, which means that the officer in charge has to go to ridiculous lengths to manage decks and hands in a realistic manner. Do we really need a finite deck? No. Do we really need hand limits? No, although there's nothing wrong with the occasional automatic reduction to prevent a player's resources from spiraling out of control. Do we really need a confusing variety of resources to prevent the game from feeling repetitive? No. But for some reason, if we don't have those things, then they just aren't cards. I was going to write a thesis about this a while back, but I no longer have the time or inclination. If anybody else wants to steal it, feel free. -root
