Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering and a ton of other great games, discusses how to use luck and skill effectively in game design.
Richard belongs on the game design Mount Rushmore and has awesome insight and advice.
10 comments on “Luck vs Skill with Richard Garfield”
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I’m sorry, you lose all credibility when you claim there is luck in chess. You might be lucky with your game designs, but there is no luck in Chess. An opponent making a sub optimal move, or blunder doesn’t mean you were lucky. At that point in time you were more skillful than they were.
Arguing mistakes are bad luck, but winning is skill is utterly ridiculous.
Claiming that one of the greatest designers of all time loses all credibility after one statement is a bit of a reach.
Every game has a certain amount of luck, especially based on Richard’s definition. I mean, chess has luck from the very beginning as the first player has a distinct advantage and wins more often. So, getting to go first can easily be seen as a lucky break.
No, White having an advantage is a lack of game balance, not luck.
of course there’s a bit of luck involved in chess. everything that happens in the universe if governed by the bounds of probability. it’s why players will continue playing in a position that is obviously inferior. there’s a chance your opponent will make a mistake.
on the other hand, there’s no simulated luck in chess (no random elements or hidden information)
but to deny that luck has a role to play in chess is a bit close minded
The luck in any game, even chess,can be your opponent had a bad day and was distracted and played poorly just against you.
The argument of luck is ridiculous, having a bad game, is having a bad game. Bad does not translate to luck. Making a mental mistake is a mistake, a blunder,
Getting tailgated by someone who then rear-ends you before you have time to change lanes or react, that is bad luck.
Having an excuse such as a distraction or making a bad play does not mean bad luck, sorry!
Loved this interview!! It introduced a lot of very interesting ideas to me, such as the luck factor being present in chess. If you do not know the final outcome of a sequence of moves, then there is a shred of luck involved. If you do not know for certain that the path you are taking in a game will lead to a win, then there is luck involved. It is verrrry tiny, but I can see how it’s there. The only luck involved in playing a solvable game such as in tic tac toe or connect 4 is how it is determined who is the first player.
Thanks for listening!
One of my favorite quotes regarding luck is one I read in a book on backgammon (a game known to have a pretty good balance of skill and luck, especially when playing matches to 7 with the doubling cube rather than just a single game). A good player makes luck look like skill, a great player makes skill look like luck.
Thanks for the interesting topic and great interview!
Gabe,
As always, an excellent interview. While I admire the talent behind Magic: The Gathering as a game designer, I found that I have absolutely no interest in the game whatsoever. It’s clever, but for my card-play fix, I’ll stick to Dominion. Anyway, wonderful conversation on luck vs. skill and as there are clearly detractors, as evidenced by those who commented before me, I found it a very interesting exchange.
Cheers,
Joe