thread: 2006-03-06 : Unpopular Idea #2: Punish the Loser
On 2006-03-06, Vincent wrote:
Roger: for example?
Here's how I figure it: rewards and punishments are relative to some baseline created by the resolution rules. Is there any in principle difference between giving the loser -2, giving the loser -1 and the winner +1, and giving the winner +2? Not really, especially not when you presume that the loser and the winner are going to keep fighting just one another.
Is there any difference in feel? Of course there is.
But would I go on to say that the best-designed games favor rewarding the winner, and that favoring punishing the loser is poor design? Nope. Instead I'd say that most games are poorly designed, so if most games favor punishing the loser, that doesn't teach us anything worth learning. If most well-designed games favor punishing the loser, now that would be worth noticing.
