Editing Category:Game Mechanic

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Category:Categories]]
+
I think you hit a bullseye there fealls!
A <i>Game Mechanic</i> is a rule that provides some degree of objectivity in determining the course of events in a game.  In the often-referenced game of Cops-and-Robbers, there are no game mechanics and thus resolution to all actions must be determined by negotiation between the players.  This produces the famous debate “I shot you!”  “No, you didn’t!”.  A game mechanic allows this situation to be resolved largely without recourse to debate.
 
 
 
The vast majority of role-playing games (RPGS’s) use some type of [[dice]] mechanic.  The roll of the dice represents luck, chance, fate, or something else on that order.  At its most basic, the dice result is then computed through the dice mechanic to determine if the action succeeded or failed and/or the quality of success or failure.  Less frequently, cards are used instead of dice and at least one game uses a roulette wheel.  There are also several games, usually called <i>diceless</i> which have no randomizer, and which rely on resource allocation mechanics. Some hold that a further type of mechanic exists, called a <i>Drama</i> mechanic, in which it is agreed that dramatically appropriate events occur and inappropriate events do not; this is, however, extremely close, conceptually, the negotiation resolution discussed above.
 
 
 
 
 
The relationship between a Game Mechanic and a Game System is contentious.  One definition would have a Game System being the sum of its component mechanics.  Another definition would have a Game System as a coherent unity with which one could, with little effort, play the game; while game mechanics are more like tools with which the players must assemble a playable game.
 

Please note that all contributions to RPGnet may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see RPGnet:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

Cancel Editing help (opens in new window)