What is "fairness" in a Gaming Context

[Virtuoso]

Have you ever spiked a controller with the exclamation, "this game is so cheap"? Strange Horizons (http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20090309/newheiser-a.shtml) has an interesting in depth look at what constitutes "fairness" in relation to a variety of gaming concepts.

Unlike the "games" people play in real life to compete for wealth, power, and fame, recreational games are a world where most people expect to find "fairness." Unless they bet large sums of money on the outcome of every game they participate in, most people will probably end up playing video games and tabletop games just to have fun. Since there's no end goal in mind other than the game itself, a person's willingness to play a game depends on whether it's enjoyable for them. Regardless of their background, skill level, or choice of how to play the game, they need to be able to get something out of it.

Its an interesting read, and talks about a subject not usually talked about in such a formal context.

[CaptMediocre]

While a good read, it didn't take into account that dev teams are extreme lucky to get enough pre-production time to thoroughly design the game. Once the game is released to market very few publishers support updates to games because there is no additional money in it for them. They have to pay the dev to work on it, as nobody will work for free. In the rare case you get a dev team that is/was well funded and they care enough like the Blizzard guys did, they do gratis. Board games are different as these tend to need return business to sustain. Take Warhammer for example. The game has been around for more than 20 years and has 4 or 5 revisions tot he rules. It is far simpler and economical for them as they release a new rules book that not only adds to the game but also can slip in adjustments to balance the rules. Until VG publishers follow the example of Movie studios when it comes to pre-production, we will most likely always have this problem with games. Some VG studios have started taking this approach, but it is only a few.

[Syl]

I really wish more games would have a "hard" mode available from the first time you turned the game on.