Reply To: [unofficial weekender] It’s all fun and games

[jeffersonpowers 659xp 3]

Pledge: Finish all my current projects before starting any new ones (not very likely).

Question: it depends on what you mean by “balanced gameplay.” If you mean meta-chasing and optimizing army lists to win at any cost, then of course fun wins out — I would much rather lose at something that’s thematic and/or narrative than win at something that is not. I appreciate that to many gamers winning is the most important thing, and that’s what makes it fun for them, but that’s not why I play games.

However, even if you’re playing for fun, games still need to be balanced. Rules need to make sense and be consistent, and all the players need to feel like they have agency and can make meaningful decisions during the game. Games that turn on arbitrary dice rolls, or where one side is hopelessly outclassed by the other, aren’t very fun (at least, not in my experience).

Short answer: both, as long as the balance is contributing to the fun rather than detracting from it.

Music: apologies if I’ve posted this before, it’s one of my favorites and I tend to post it a lot.