The Case for Complexity
The Case for
Complexity
I'm getting
older. I shouldn’t complain, the previous sentence applies to everyone that is
still breathing. Looking in the mirror, however, can be a weird trip. Although I
still feel twenty-four, my reflection says otherwise. On the plus side, I'm healthy
as a horse and not in bad shape, so I don't worry about my physical health, but
the mental side of things is a different story. Nah, I'm not going to
axe-murder the UPS guy, but I do worry that I'll forget what UPS stands for,
and that’s where gaming helps.
I look at
games as preventive medicine. Exercising my brain now increases the probability
that I'll have it to use ten years down the line. Until recently, my mental exercise
preferred simple games, and I still believe that most clever designs find a way
to make the complex simple. It takes little skill to slather on rules. The
trick is often to capture a feeling, simulate a battle, with minimal rules.
Hence, I’ve always been a fan of simple games.
But I’m
changing. Sometimes you need a bit more complexity to capture subtle nuances,
provide interesting challenges, and even teach. I don’t specialize in
historical war games, but I do enjoy playing them, and after I return to
simulation to its box, I want to feel that I have an insight into the battle.
So, the
point is that I've reached a point in my life where I'm willing to try
something more. It's like the bench press. If you've been lifting 300 for
several years, it might be time to try 320, exercise that brain, get it ready
for the next ten years.
This year
I've decided to go for 320. Over the next ten months I intend to learn some tougher
games, the more complex simulations, stretch my mind a bit, because if I don't stretch it now, I might not have it to stretch later. Am I right?
I’ll let you
know how it goes.
Mark H. Walker is the owner of Flying Pig Games and happy as hell about it. He is the designer of Night of Man, Lock 'n Load, World at War, Nations at War, and a bunch of other stuff. He served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver, and lives and games in Virginia.
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