by DaviddesJ
skipsizemore wrote:
You may disagree, but most gamers, I think, think of complexity by itself as a negative quality. If I can keep the good qualities of a game constant while reducing complexity, then I improve the game.
Well, of course that's true. You could require that each player solve a quadratic equation before each turn of The Settlers of Catan, that wouldn't improve the game in anyone's view. But that begs the question of whether any individual game "suffers" from complexity, or "benefits" from it, because the question is what its effects are.
Don illustrates this when he gives examples of games where he thinks the complexity actually adds to the game. So the usage of language like "suffers from" is not really appropriate.
Does a 787 suffer from the complexity of assembling carbon fiber components? Or does it benefit from that complexity? If the plane performed exactly the same, you'd say you would rather have it be easier to assemble. But, if it were easier to assemble, it wouldn't perform exactly the same.