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From: Frank Prince <prince_f@ch.hp.com>
Subject: Re: WFAQ: Equations and the Random Factor (etc, long) 
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Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 18:15:05 GMT
To: jorn@mcs.com
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Jorn-

In article <4f6obq$sgm@Venus.mcs.com>, <jorn@MCS.COM> writes:
> From: jorn@MCS.COM (Jorn Barger)
> Subject: WFAQ: Equations and the Random Factor (etc, long)
> Date: 5 Feb 1996 23:18:50 -0600
> 
While there are certainly counter examples, the scale of game 
simulations has tended to be "global". The  manipulation of 
the controlling equation parameters is usually at the level 
of setting sliders or numeric values. In the context of your 
discussion, this has the flavor of stage setting - the 
background against which the more human interactions take place.

It seems to me a natural intersection is for game interactions 
to change the simulation parameters. That in turn changes the 
background against which the game takes place.

Example: if you win the funding battles with your opponent you 
get to put more money into off-shore oil drilling and that has 
impact by changing simulation energy costs and increasing pollution.
That makes the economy accelerate but causes medical costs to
go up. In the next election the environmentalists get more
money. Your opponents are strengthened or weakened accordingly.

This would only add fun if the feedback was fast enough. A decision 
that impacted your grand-children wouldn't (IMHO) enhance game play.
On the positive side, the double game-play impacts of watching the 
funding vote come up as various legislators signed in and then being 
able to allocate the money seems good for folks who have a bent for 
that kind of action. The potential for strategic legislation to weaken
your opponents might have appeal for some audiences.

All that being said, I'm not sure simulation through simultaneous
equations is appropriate for the political kind of game you describe. 
The question of the player's reason for playing seems key here. A
simulation player might like the grand scope of managing the future
without getting his hands dirty. The in-fighter might want to see
the realization of failure on the face of his enemy. A single
game trying to satisfy both of them might just remind them of the
things in the real world they like least.

-Frank

