1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,470
The following content is
provided under a Creative

2
00:00:02,470 --> 00:00:03,880
Commons license.

3
00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,920
Your support will help MIT
OpenCourseWare continue to

4
00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,570
offer high quality educational
resources for free.

5
00:00:10,570 --> 00:00:13,470
To make a donation or view
additional materials from

6
00:00:13,470 --> 00:00:16,430
hundreds of MIT courses, visit
MIT OpenCourseWare at

7
00:00:16,430 --> 00:00:17,680
ocw.MIT.edu.

8
00:00:20,660 --> 00:00:25,140
PROFESSOR: OK, let's see, some
administrative stuff, first of

9
00:00:25,140 --> 00:00:27,590
all, Wednesday's
our play test.

10
00:00:27,590 --> 00:00:29,660
So it's an internal play test.

11
00:00:29,660 --> 00:00:32,689
You're going to be playing with
each other games which

12
00:00:32,689 --> 00:00:34,630
means chances are you are going
to get barely enough

13
00:00:34,630 --> 00:00:38,750
time to play one person's game,
and enough time for that

14
00:00:38,750 --> 00:00:40,710
group to play your game.

15
00:00:40,710 --> 00:00:45,194
So I'm just going to just,
basically, pair up teams.

16
00:00:45,194 --> 00:00:47,940
Hopefully, I think we
have four teams.

17
00:00:47,940 --> 00:00:50,670
So I think that works
out just right.

18
00:00:50,670 --> 00:00:54,050
One thing I will certainly
recommend before going on to

19
00:00:54,050 --> 00:00:57,360
Wednesday's class is making sure
that you had a chance to

20
00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:58,970
play test with, at
least, someone

21
00:00:58,970 --> 00:01:00,530
who's not in your group.

22
00:01:00,530 --> 00:01:02,432
And the reason for this, what
you want to be keeping an eye

23
00:01:02,432 --> 00:01:06,110
out for, are rules that you've
already agreed on in your

24
00:01:06,110 --> 00:01:09,630
team, but might have to learn
it to write down somewhere.

25
00:01:09,630 --> 00:01:11,440
I want the rules written down.

26
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,920
They don't necessarily
need to look great.

27
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,940
Typed is awesome because they're
easy to read, and

28
00:01:18,940 --> 00:01:21,475
they're easy to revise later.

29
00:01:21,475 --> 00:01:22,710
It's not actually
a requirement.

30
00:01:22,710 --> 00:01:24,050
But you've got to have
them written down.

31
00:01:24,050 --> 00:01:26,440
You should be able to just put
it in front of a person.

32
00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,520
I will suggest that you bring
a copy to the office.

33
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:33,800
If you want to come in early
on Wednesday, or I could,

34
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,690
maybe, grab the Xerox if you
just bring a couple of copies

35
00:01:36,690 --> 00:01:39,835
so that the entire group of
four people is going to be

36
00:01:39,835 --> 00:01:41,563
testing your game, which means,
all users at the same

37
00:01:41,563 --> 00:01:43,040
time while you're explaining
it to them.

38
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,020
If you're in a situation where
you already have rules that

39
00:01:49,020 --> 00:01:53,630
you think could be understood
without explaining, I would

40
00:01:53,630 --> 00:01:55,290
suggest not explaining at all.

41
00:01:55,290 --> 00:01:58,240
Just give them the rules and
see what they make of it.

42
00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,700
It's going to be very
informative that way.

43
00:02:00,700 --> 00:02:02,420
Not every single team may
be in that situation.

44
00:02:02,420 --> 00:02:03,954
They may not have that much
confidence in their

45
00:02:03,954 --> 00:02:05,810
ability right now.

46
00:02:05,810 --> 00:02:10,380
If you think you've gotten all
the rules written down but you

47
00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:15,187
just kind of feel not quite so
confident that everything is

48
00:02:15,187 --> 00:02:17,325
in there, do it anyway.

49
00:02:17,325 --> 00:02:18,580
Just don't explain it.

50
00:02:18,580 --> 00:02:19,260
Give it to them.

51
00:02:19,260 --> 00:02:21,315
See what they're having problems
with and then you can

52
00:02:21,315 --> 00:02:22,690
explain it.

53
00:02:22,690 --> 00:02:23,910
It will still be informative.

54
00:02:23,910 --> 00:02:26,240
You'll still be able to get that
data point of what should

55
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,820
we have written down as a
clarification, as a complete

56
00:02:30,820 --> 00:02:35,010
omission, what needs to
be reworded before

57
00:02:35,010 --> 00:02:37,450
the game ever starts.

58
00:02:37,450 --> 00:02:42,580
But I do fully recognize that
there may be certain teams

59
00:02:42,580 --> 00:02:46,940
that do not have a set of rules
that comprehensive yet.

60
00:02:46,940 --> 00:02:49,682
In the end, you'll want to get
the operating test and time.

61
00:02:49,682 --> 00:02:51,960
So it's going to take half
and hour for somebody to

62
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,150
understand your game just by
reading your rules, then you

63
00:02:55,150 --> 00:02:56,960
do want to try and
cut that down.

64
00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,200
Eventually, before you send me
your game you'll want to be in

65
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,518
a situation where someone can
understand your entire game

66
00:03:02,518 --> 00:03:04,430
quickly, comprehending
the rules.

67
00:03:04,430 --> 00:03:04,908
What's up?

68
00:03:04,908 --> 00:03:08,550
AUDIENCE: When we're play
testing and timing, we weren't

69
00:03:08,550 --> 00:03:11,500
sure or we didn't remember, or
we didn't read carefully

70
00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:14,600
enough, what is the
maximum time that

71
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:15,750
the game has to take?

72
00:03:15,750 --> 00:03:19,720
And does that include set up
from a complete novice, or

73
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,970
does that include, are you
allowed to explain the rules

74
00:03:23,970 --> 00:03:26,150
and have totally experienced
players go at it, and once

75
00:03:26,150 --> 00:03:27,990
experienced players go at it
they have to take a certain

76
00:03:27,990 --> 00:03:28,655
amount of time?

77
00:03:28,655 --> 00:03:29,330
How does your--

78
00:03:29,330 --> 00:03:32,060
PROFESSOR: It was supposed to be
for novice players but I'm

79
00:03:32,060 --> 00:03:36,160
just going to check the
actual syllabus.

80
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,240
AUDIENCE: Do we have to be able
to explain the entire

81
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,270
game, run through an entire play
through and all that, in

82
00:03:40,270 --> 00:03:41,090
10 minutes?

83
00:03:41,090 --> 00:03:42,610
PROFESSOR: That one
I wasn't sure.

84
00:03:42,610 --> 00:03:44,370
I think it's actually
on your play through

85
00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:45,790
but give me a second.

86
00:03:45,790 --> 00:03:46,620
I'm going to look up.

87
00:03:46,620 --> 00:03:49,980
AUDIENCE: I'm pretty sure
it says 10 minutes.

88
00:03:49,980 --> 00:03:53,790
Yeah, 5 or 10 minutes including
setup and play.

89
00:03:53,790 --> 00:03:54,860
PROFESSOR: Including
set-up and play.

90
00:03:54,860 --> 00:03:56,190
But that does not
necessarily--

91
00:03:56,190 --> 00:03:58,690
AUDIENCE: It shouldn't include
reading the rules.

92
00:03:58,690 --> 00:03:59,670
AUDIENCE: It should not?

93
00:03:59,670 --> 00:04:00,860
AUDIENCE: It should not.

94
00:04:00,860 --> 00:04:03,820
10 minutes is way too short a
time to read and understand

95
00:04:03,820 --> 00:04:04,796
and then play a game.

96
00:04:04,796 --> 00:04:06,260
PROFESSOR: Yeah, let me
just verify that.

97
00:04:06,260 --> 00:04:07,724
AUDIENCE: Walks and words.

98
00:04:07,724 --> 00:04:09,188
That's about it.

99
00:04:09,188 --> 00:04:12,116
AUDIENCE: Our game takes two
minutes to play at the moment.

100
00:04:12,116 --> 00:04:19,470
AUDIENCE: What we'll be able
to do is take a really long

101
00:04:19,470 --> 00:04:22,400
time for premium effect and
have some more information

102
00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:23,095
written on these cards.

103
00:04:23,095 --> 00:04:25,505
It's just taking the time to
write it so that way if

104
00:04:25,505 --> 00:04:27,320
somebody's busting a move--

105
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,150
PROFESSOR: So it's true.

106
00:04:31,150 --> 00:04:35,980
It doesn't say 10 minutes that
you need to be able to play

107
00:04:35,980 --> 00:04:38,020
and understand the game
in 10 minutes.

108
00:04:38,020 --> 00:04:41,490
So I'm going to say, set-up and
play has to be 10 minutes.

109
00:04:41,490 --> 00:04:45,261
So it's like, every time you
reset the game and you play to

110
00:04:45,261 --> 00:04:48,026
the end, that should be
under 10 minutes.

111
00:04:48,026 --> 00:04:49,900
If it takes longer than
that to understand the

112
00:04:49,900 --> 00:04:51,320
game, that's fine.

113
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,320
But frankly, if it takes more
than 10 minutes for someone to

114
00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,660
understand your game,
you have a problem.

115
00:04:57,660 --> 00:04:59,890
And the problem isn't going to
be one that's going to affect

116
00:04:59,890 --> 00:05:02,420
your grade, it's going to be
one that you can use the

117
00:05:02,420 --> 00:05:05,730
processes in this class to
reiterate on to improve your

118
00:05:05,730 --> 00:05:07,927
game to the point where it
doesn't take that long to

119
00:05:07,927 --> 00:05:09,220
understand.

120
00:05:09,220 --> 00:05:10,738
Reading the rules should
not take longer

121
00:05:10,738 --> 00:05:12,410
than playing the game.

122
00:05:12,410 --> 00:05:16,700
There are games like that but
try not to make those games

123
00:05:16,700 --> 00:05:20,150
and not when it's
the first time.

124
00:05:20,150 --> 00:05:24,070
So I would say in for the
explaining of the rules should

125
00:05:24,070 --> 00:05:25,670
take within 10 minutes.

126
00:05:25,670 --> 00:05:30,110
Right now, it might be OK if
the actual explanation

127
00:05:30,110 --> 00:05:32,460
requires someone who's actually
an expert in the game

128
00:05:32,460 --> 00:05:33,285
to explain it.

129
00:05:33,285 --> 00:05:35,730
By the end of this assignment
you should be definitely

130
00:05:35,730 --> 00:05:37,700
getting to the point where
you don't even need that.

131
00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:40,190
Just a new player with your
rules should be able to

132
00:05:40,190 --> 00:05:42,400
understand and play your
game in 10 minutes.

133
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,220
It could involve discussion
of the entire

134
00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:46,480
group of your players.

135
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,860
You've got four people in--
let's say it's a card game--

136
00:05:48,860 --> 00:05:50,492
you have four people and they're
all looking at the

137
00:05:50,492 --> 00:05:53,210
rules simultaneously, and your
friend says, where does

138
00:05:53,210 --> 00:05:54,550
it say so and so?

139
00:05:54,550 --> 00:05:57,206
And somebody else who has never
played your game before

140
00:05:57,206 --> 00:05:57,670
answers that.

141
00:05:57,670 --> 00:05:58,134
That's fine.

142
00:05:58,134 --> 00:06:01,210
And that's actually how a lot
of people play games.

143
00:06:01,210 --> 00:06:03,410
Sometimes people play in
quick thought rules.

144
00:06:03,410 --> 00:06:06,739
This is all you need to know
to play your first round of

145
00:06:06,739 --> 00:06:09,318
cards, and that actually
helps a lot of

146
00:06:09,318 --> 00:06:10,491
people to get started.

147
00:06:10,491 --> 00:06:12,310
And then you're picking
up the--

148
00:06:12,310 --> 00:06:14,304
AUDIENCE: Lowers the
activation energy.

149
00:06:14,304 --> 00:06:16,410
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

150
00:06:16,410 --> 00:06:17,560
In the end, more people
play your game.

151
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,632
That's good.

152
00:06:22,190 --> 00:06:24,220
So that's on Wednesday.

153
00:06:24,220 --> 00:06:28,144
Everyone please come on time
because every minute of this

154
00:06:28,144 --> 00:06:30,830
time wins some recognition or
pizza [UNINTELLIGIBLE] and if

155
00:06:30,830 --> 00:06:32,400
whole teams don't show up--

156
00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,820
Who's aligning a game that has
to be played by both players.

157
00:06:40,190 --> 00:06:42,190
So there's some teams.

158
00:06:42,190 --> 00:06:42,690
Two?

159
00:06:42,690 --> 00:06:43,190
Three?

160
00:06:43,190 --> 00:06:44,690
AUDIENCE: Two or four.

161
00:06:44,690 --> 00:06:45,690
PROFESSOR: Two or four.

162
00:06:45,690 --> 00:06:47,190
OK.

163
00:06:47,190 --> 00:06:47,505
All right.

164
00:06:47,505 --> 00:06:48,680
No, that's cool.

165
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:49,955
AUDIENCE: So even if a
guy didn't show up

166
00:06:49,955 --> 00:06:52,810
on time that's OK.

167
00:06:52,810 --> 00:06:58,332
PROFESSOR: OK, so that's the
preparation for Wednesday now.

168
00:06:58,332 --> 00:07:01,340
I do want to apologize
for Friday's lecture.

169
00:07:01,340 --> 00:07:03,748
I was on a lot of meds.

170
00:07:03,748 --> 00:07:06,234
You may or may not have noticed
that I was having a

171
00:07:06,234 --> 00:07:09,930
splitting headache and was not
the best lecture that I have

172
00:07:09,930 --> 00:07:11,420
given in my entire
teaching career.

173
00:07:11,420 --> 00:07:13,946
In fact, it's probably the
worst lecture I've given.

174
00:07:13,946 --> 00:07:15,392
AUDIENCE: No.

175
00:07:15,392 --> 00:07:16,838
I didn't notice.

176
00:07:23,190 --> 00:07:25,330
PROFESSOR: It occurred to me
that there might just be a

177
00:07:25,330 --> 00:07:28,570
better way to get some of those
concepts across other

178
00:07:28,570 --> 00:07:30,540
than me yammering
for three hours.

179
00:07:30,540 --> 00:07:33,780
And what I'd like to do is
revisit some of them but

180
00:07:33,780 --> 00:07:38,710
actually do a bit
of an activity.

181
00:07:38,710 --> 00:07:42,280
I have never done this before
so this is not tested.

182
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,730
You guys are the first
iteration.

183
00:07:44,730 --> 00:07:45,056
AUDIENCE: Oh.

184
00:07:45,056 --> 00:07:46,306
I feel honored.

185
00:07:49,150 --> 00:07:50,899
PROFESSOR: But basically, what
I'm going to do is I'm going

186
00:07:50,899 --> 00:07:52,294
to go through these terms
again, explain

187
00:07:52,294 --> 00:07:53,497
them one more time.

188
00:07:53,497 --> 00:07:55,915
You guys have accurate
clarifications or anything.

189
00:07:55,915 --> 00:08:01,070
And then each in a group of
about, I think two people,

190
00:08:01,070 --> 00:08:05,050
we're going to pick the game
that pretty much every one in

191
00:08:05,050 --> 00:08:07,540
the class should sort of know.

192
00:08:07,540 --> 00:08:09,940
Maybe they don't know the exact
rules but you know of

193
00:08:09,940 --> 00:08:14,604
the game, and analyze
that game across

194
00:08:14,604 --> 00:08:17,448
these different axes.

195
00:08:17,448 --> 00:08:21,840
And the idea of that is that,
if you get used to this then

196
00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:23,330
you can do that same thing
to your own game.

197
00:08:23,330 --> 00:08:27,670
And that may shed light on how
your game is balanced, how

198
00:08:27,670 --> 00:08:29,530
your game is balanced especially
between chance and

199
00:08:29,530 --> 00:08:33,260
skills because we get a
topic of this class.

200
00:08:33,260 --> 00:08:39,194
But also question, is our
game doing what we want

201
00:08:39,194 --> 00:08:41,120
our game to be doing?

202
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,540
So that's the general outline.

203
00:08:45,540 --> 00:08:50,920
So there's one more thing
I want to mention

204
00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:52,780
before I go into that.

205
00:08:52,780 --> 00:08:58,360
And Jason actually brought up
a point at the end of last

206
00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:03,630
Friday was that he noticed that
our two end robots, Mr.

207
00:09:03,630 --> 00:09:06,959
Roboto and Badass Mofo 600.

208
00:09:06,959 --> 00:09:08,426
AUDIENCE: 610.

209
00:09:08,426 --> 00:09:09,404
AUDIENCE: Yeah, 610.

210
00:09:09,404 --> 00:09:11,360
PROFESSOR: It's the
upgraded version.

211
00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,815
AUDIENCE: It started at 608 and
then there were a couple

212
00:09:13,815 --> 00:09:16,088
of iterations at least
on Saturday.

213
00:09:19,580 --> 00:09:23,650
PROFESSOR: One of them was
purely deterministic but

214
00:09:23,650 --> 00:09:26,830
horrendously complex
in the sense that--

215
00:09:26,830 --> 00:09:29,110
AUDIENCE: It wasn't
that complex.

216
00:09:29,110 --> 00:09:30,820
PROFESSOR: Not in the sense
that it was difficult to

217
00:09:30,820 --> 00:09:32,425
explain what it was doing but
difficult to predict what it

218
00:09:32,425 --> 00:09:35,000
was going to do.

219
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:41,260
This was the one that will start
it's turn order based on

220
00:09:41,260 --> 00:09:43,440
the number of hit points
that it had.

221
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,710
AUDIENCE: And take the number
of moves based also on the

222
00:09:45,710 --> 00:09:46,960
number of hit points it had.

223
00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,090
PROFESSOR: So it's entirely
algorithmic.

224
00:09:50,090 --> 00:09:53,200
It's just following it's
root every single time.

225
00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,470
The other one was pretty
much random, right?

226
00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:57,900
Who of Mr. Roboto which
should have in a

227
00:09:57,900 --> 00:10:01,440
die roll every round.

228
00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,670
And it just hit something.

229
00:10:04,670 --> 00:10:07,570
And we ended up with
the closest fight

230
00:10:07,570 --> 00:10:09,870
of that day, I think.

231
00:10:09,870 --> 00:10:13,570
And that does drive home the
point that at some point and

232
00:10:13,570 --> 00:10:15,530
time you can get complexity
through showing

233
00:10:15,530 --> 00:10:17,130
deterministic rules.

234
00:10:17,130 --> 00:10:23,470
That frankly, it's as hard to
predict as pure randomness.

235
00:10:23,470 --> 00:10:24,560
AUDIENCE: My card game
is like that.

236
00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:25,720
PROFESSOR: Your card
game is like that?

237
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,703
The nice thing about that is
that if you have deterministic

238
00:10:28,703 --> 00:10:30,310
rules, you can see
why it happened.

239
00:10:30,310 --> 00:10:34,580
You can see why, wow I didn't
expect that to happen but I

240
00:10:34,580 --> 00:10:36,720
can see why it happened.

241
00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,430
AUDIENCE: He was so sure
he was going to win.

242
00:10:38,430 --> 00:10:41,610
He was so sure he was going
to win but then we--

243
00:10:41,610 --> 00:10:43,020
AUDIENCE: It did not
turn out as such.

244
00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:46,820
PROFESSOR: That's a
desirable trait.

245
00:10:46,820 --> 00:10:51,130
It's a lot better than just
saying, well it's a die roll.

246
00:10:51,130 --> 00:10:54,948
The nice thing about die rolls
is that it does take it out of

247
00:10:54,948 --> 00:10:57,260
your control.

248
00:10:57,260 --> 00:11:01,320
It's kind of designed to make
it not skill based and as a

249
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,960
result of that, you get people
who are lagging, who are

250
00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,910
having a harder time playing and
finding the unskilled base

251
00:11:09,910 --> 00:11:11,042
way of catching up.

252
00:11:11,042 --> 00:11:14,700
Which is awesome if that's
what you're going for.

253
00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:19,550
And then the other one is if you
just make it deterministic

254
00:11:19,550 --> 00:11:22,600
but complex enough so the
behavior is just hard to

255
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:26,620
predict, but logical ones that
are actually happens then you

256
00:11:26,620 --> 00:11:28,150
kind of get the same result.

257
00:11:28,150 --> 00:11:29,880
It all balances out.

258
00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,170
Die rolls are really
easy to enter.

259
00:11:32,170 --> 00:11:35,560
It's difficult to actually
come up with rules that

260
00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:37,815
deterministically give you the
kind of complex that you're

261
00:11:37,815 --> 00:11:40,040
really looking for.

262
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:41,310
But it's a nice thing
to go for.

263
00:11:41,310 --> 00:11:44,270
Of course, to get the complexity
sometimes you need

264
00:11:44,270 --> 00:11:47,270
so many rules that people
just can get bored.

265
00:11:47,270 --> 00:11:48,920
It's like, wow, this is
really complicated.

266
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,016
I'm not sure whether I can
figure out what the next step

267
00:11:52,016 --> 00:11:53,440
is going to be and then
they just give up.

268
00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,650
That's the down side
of really complex

269
00:11:56,650 --> 00:11:57,900
deterministic behavior.

270
00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:06,010
It's neat that you saw both of
those playing off of each

271
00:12:06,010 --> 00:12:10,240
other and them behaving
in pretty much

272
00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:11,300
unpredictable ways.

273
00:12:11,300 --> 00:12:14,760
And yet, getting nicely
balanced results.

274
00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,390
So the book we leave
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

275
00:12:18,390 --> 00:12:22,150
So now, I'm going to be actually
deeply, deeply

276
00:12:22,150 --> 00:12:24,370
plagiarizing from
Salen and Crumb.

277
00:12:24,370 --> 00:12:29,472
Katie Salen in Eric Zimmerman
from Rules of Play which is

278
00:12:29,472 --> 00:12:32,230
one of those big thick books I
brought in on the first day.

279
00:12:32,230 --> 00:12:35,130
I'm not making you read it
because I find that book takes

280
00:12:35,130 --> 00:12:37,390
three pages to explain what
could have been explained in

281
00:12:37,390 --> 00:12:40,000
one, which is why I have
a whole bunch of

282
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,110
summaries in here.

283
00:12:43,110 --> 00:12:46,640
But what that book does do is
give you very, very concrete

284
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,290
terms that are pretty
well accepted.

285
00:12:50,290 --> 00:12:53,190
They're not necessarily among
game designers, among big

286
00:12:53,190 --> 00:12:55,290
people [UNINTELLIGIBLE]
experiments.

287
00:12:55,290 --> 00:13:00,166
And I've got some of those
for you to refer to.

288
00:13:00,166 --> 00:13:03,290
I'll touched a little bit on
information theory on Monday.

289
00:13:03,290 --> 00:13:09,450
That model of how a signal goes
from someone who wants to

290
00:13:09,450 --> 00:13:12,440
send it through a transmitter
and goes through some sort of

291
00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,010
channel, is received through
some sort of

292
00:13:15,010 --> 00:13:17,442
receiver to a person.

293
00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:23,130
If the person who wants to send
a signal is actually the

294
00:13:23,130 --> 00:13:26,800
game, the game state, and is
transferring information to a

295
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,840
player, who need to get
information about what's going

296
00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,200
on in the game in order to make
a decision then, you can

297
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,420
see how this applies
to game design.

298
00:13:36,420 --> 00:13:37,970
And in between you have
[? moints ?].

299
00:13:37,970 --> 00:13:41,100
You have the thing that prevents
you from knowing

300
00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,230
exactly what the
game state is.

301
00:13:44,230 --> 00:13:47,700
And there are certain words that
are associated with that

302
00:13:47,700 --> 00:13:51,770
level of uncertainty.

303
00:13:51,770 --> 00:13:56,495
Uncertainty and certainty are
two word study searches to

304
00:13:56,495 --> 00:13:57,745
begin with.

305
00:14:04,340 --> 00:14:12,230
So the uncertainty includes both
your inability to know

306
00:14:12,230 --> 00:14:15,360
what's going to happen next due
to chance or due to really

307
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,025
complex behavior, as you saw
in both of the robots.

308
00:14:20,025 --> 00:14:24,495
It's just the degree to which
how much the game--

309
00:14:24,495 --> 00:14:27,170
all the different states the
game could take, either they

310
00:14:27,170 --> 00:14:28,780
need the next turn
or throughout the

311
00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:32,290
entire play of the game.

312
00:14:32,290 --> 00:14:35,935
And in information theory, they
actually also use the

313
00:14:35,935 --> 00:14:38,780
word information almost
interchangeably.

314
00:14:38,780 --> 00:14:42,590
Unfortunately this gets kind
of confusing because people

315
00:14:42,590 --> 00:14:46,133
don't actually use the word
information in that sense in

316
00:14:46,133 --> 00:14:48,140
day to day.

317
00:14:48,140 --> 00:14:50,670
In fact, I'm going to propose a
different way of looking at

318
00:14:50,670 --> 00:14:52,640
it that also uses the word
information in a completely

319
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:53,020
different way.

320
00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:55,690
So I'm actually going to
stop using the word

321
00:14:55,690 --> 00:14:56,610
information for now.

322
00:14:56,610 --> 00:15:00,460
I'm just going to call it
uncertainty which is pretty

323
00:15:00,460 --> 00:15:06,470
much all the different things
that could happen in the game,

324
00:15:06,470 --> 00:15:10,000
either in their next turn
or throughout the

325
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:11,440
entirety of the game.

326
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:17,210
Certainty is the degree to which
you have knowledge about

327
00:15:17,210 --> 00:15:20,160
what could happen.

328
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,840
Chess board pieces could be
configured in any position but

329
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,600
one move after the opening,
there's only a small set that

330
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:32,680
could possibly happen.

331
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:36,080
It's probably on the order of
where only one side is moving

332
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:36,890
for the first time.

333
00:15:36,890 --> 00:15:38,713
Any one of the pawns
could move 20.

334
00:15:38,713 --> 00:15:39,560
20?

335
00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:44,400
Yeah, the knights could
move, yeah.

336
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:46,990
So there will be 20 different
possible things.

337
00:15:46,990 --> 00:15:51,320
So that's kind of the degree
of certainty that you have

338
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,480
among all the different states,
all the uncertainty of

339
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:55,620
this chess board.

340
00:15:55,620 --> 00:15:57,296
You are certain that
it's going to be

341
00:15:57,296 --> 00:15:58,670
limited to this chunk.

342
00:16:02,980 --> 00:16:10,074
And your knowledge of what that
ratio is, of how much you

343
00:16:10,074 --> 00:16:13,620
know could be happening, based
on what you know of the game

344
00:16:13,620 --> 00:16:17,530
rules, based on your experience
of the game, based

345
00:16:17,530 --> 00:16:24,460
on your skill in the game, to
the stakes that the game could

346
00:16:24,460 --> 00:16:27,590
possibly take is called risk.

347
00:16:27,590 --> 00:16:32,300
So you can flip it the other way
around and say that if the

348
00:16:32,300 --> 00:16:36,865
uncertainty of the first turn is
20 different moves but you

349
00:16:36,865 --> 00:16:39,855
are certain that the guy--

350
00:16:43,090 --> 00:16:47,790
let's say I'm the opening
player, I played white and I

351
00:16:47,790 --> 00:16:51,330
really only know how to make
three of those openings

352
00:16:51,330 --> 00:16:59,490
effective, and the person I'm
playing against knows that

353
00:16:59,490 --> 00:17:01,935
really, I only know three
openings, even if I only know

354
00:17:01,935 --> 00:17:08,940
two, then that person's degree
of risk is limited to the

355
00:17:08,940 --> 00:17:10,826
range of possibilities that
branch out all of

356
00:17:10,826 --> 00:17:14,050
that 2 out of 20.

357
00:17:14,050 --> 00:17:19,156
So that's one way that you can
sort of describe risk.

358
00:17:19,156 --> 00:17:23,720
Let me see whether there's a
more technical term that I can

359
00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:24,535
describe that with.

360
00:17:24,535 --> 00:17:26,002
I skipped a page, didn't I?

361
00:17:32,380 --> 00:17:41,290
So one thing that I want you to
think about later, actually

362
00:17:41,290 --> 00:17:47,580
for the analogy step
we're going to do.

363
00:17:47,580 --> 00:17:48,800
I want groups of two.

364
00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:54,290
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15.

365
00:17:54,290 --> 00:18:02,100
Mostly groups of two and one
group of three, actually,

366
00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:03,000
let's just do it in
groups of three.

367
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,052
It will be easier that way.

368
00:18:06,052 --> 00:18:11,110
And just think about and pick
a game first that you think

369
00:18:11,110 --> 00:18:13,590
that you can probably mention
in this class without having

370
00:18:13,590 --> 00:18:16,022
to explain to everybody
else exactly how

371
00:18:16,022 --> 00:18:17,820
this game is played.

372
00:18:17,820 --> 00:18:19,030
It could be a computer game.

373
00:18:19,030 --> 00:18:20,026
It could be a board game.

374
00:18:20,026 --> 00:18:22,740
It could be a card game,
something fairly [? modern. ?]

375
00:18:22,740 --> 00:18:30,450
And I want you to think about
what are the things that, what

376
00:18:30,450 --> 00:18:36,118
are all the variables that you
need to know in this game.

377
00:18:36,118 --> 00:18:37,510
Doing the [? variable terms ?].

378
00:18:37,510 --> 00:18:41,360
If you're doing something
like a game of Caustic

379
00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:42,810
Encounter or something.

380
00:18:42,810 --> 00:18:47,330
Then you can say that every
single race as a unique power

381
00:18:47,330 --> 00:18:50,666
without explaining to me
every single power.

382
00:18:50,666 --> 00:18:53,200
I think there are 100
races in that game.

383
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:54,170
AUDIENCE: Which game?

384
00:18:54,170 --> 00:18:56,130
PROFESSOR: Caustic Encounter.

385
00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:57,840
Oh it's fun.

386
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,470
You will get a chance to play
it later this semester.

387
00:19:04,330 --> 00:19:08,592
Let's see, so think about what
are the variables that you got

388
00:19:08,592 --> 00:19:09,240
to keep track of.

389
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,020
That's kind of the degree
of uncertainty.

390
00:19:11,020 --> 00:19:13,155
That's the amount of information
that could be in

391
00:19:13,155 --> 00:19:14,405
the system with that
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

392
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,280
User does all the different
range of possibilities, all

393
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,360
the different things they
got to keep track.

394
00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,550
What do you know for sure a
single playing in this game?

395
00:19:26,550 --> 00:19:30,182
What do you know in your first
turn and what information do

396
00:19:30,182 --> 00:19:32,445
you tend to pick up
along the way?

397
00:19:35,670 --> 00:19:38,900
Let's see, so let's
start with that.

398
00:19:38,900 --> 00:19:40,470
You've got just five minutes.

399
00:19:40,470 --> 00:19:42,240
It doesn't have to be
an exhaustive list.

400
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,560
So let's just split into
groups of three.

401
00:19:48,952 --> 00:19:51,545
The first activity we're going
to [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

402
00:19:51,545 --> 00:19:54,010
every single one of these games
through all of these

403
00:19:54,010 --> 00:19:54,690
different answers.

404
00:19:54,690 --> 00:19:59,310
So I'm just going to start,
actually now, and if we run

405
00:19:59,310 --> 00:20:03,928
out of time to do this, we can
always do it after class and

406
00:20:03,928 --> 00:20:05,407
we can talk about it.

407
00:20:05,407 --> 00:20:06,886
But we're going to go
through all of them.

408
00:20:06,886 --> 00:20:08,858
So I'm going to breeze
through this.

409
00:20:08,858 --> 00:20:11,323
So starting with this team then,
moving all the way over

410
00:20:11,323 --> 00:20:13,810
and do you want to
just talk about--

411
00:20:13,810 --> 00:20:15,460
AUDIENCE: So we decided
to go for Scrabble.

412
00:20:15,460 --> 00:20:18,350
And so, in terms of variables,
you have to invent it by

413
00:20:18,350 --> 00:20:19,490
individual tiles.

414
00:20:19,490 --> 00:20:22,090
Their tiles are uncertain and
yours are fairly certain.

415
00:20:22,090 --> 00:20:25,360
The one's on the board were
certain because they're faced.

416
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:26,840
PROFESSOR: It was
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

417
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:27,993
AUDIENCE: Yes.

418
00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:32,060
Another variable, well I used
a variable, it's the bonus

419
00:20:32,060 --> 00:20:35,050
squares on the board.

420
00:20:35,050 --> 00:20:37,106
Even though there's stakes on
the board, they're variable in

421
00:20:37,106 --> 00:20:38,670
terms of, as more tiles get
played, some of them become

422
00:20:38,670 --> 00:20:41,390
open and some of them become
closed and you don't know

423
00:20:41,390 --> 00:20:42,640
which one's are going to
be working closed.

424
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:42,940
PROFESSOR: True.

425
00:20:42,940 --> 00:20:44,890
True.

426
00:20:44,890 --> 00:20:47,310
Yes.

427
00:20:47,310 --> 00:20:50,920
So that's something as you don't
know how that's going to

428
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,660
turn out during the
middle of play.

429
00:20:53,660 --> 00:20:56,540
So one thing that's interesting
about word games,

430
00:20:56,540 --> 00:20:59,260
especially in Scrabble and
crossword puzzles, in general,

431
00:20:59,260 --> 00:21:04,888
is that a lot of them rely on
the fact that the English

432
00:21:04,888 --> 00:21:07,278
language, in particular, is
actually pretty redundant.

433
00:21:07,278 --> 00:21:13,357
We can take about 50% of the
letters out from a word, this

434
00:21:13,357 --> 00:21:16,506
very long word, and can still
figure out what it means.

435
00:21:16,506 --> 00:21:19,203
That works really well in
crossword puzzles because if

436
00:21:19,203 --> 00:21:21,434
you get something like 25% of
the word, you can actually

437
00:21:21,434 --> 00:21:25,492
still figure why the associated
that clue.

438
00:21:25,492 --> 00:21:29,290
But Scrabble rules are made
easier so that it is now

439
00:21:29,290 --> 00:21:34,600
possible for you to make
connections between disparate

440
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,430
characters and find a word
that's going to fit that.

441
00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:42,480
Of course, part of the
problem actually--

442
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:44,580
has anyone played Words
with Friends?

443
00:21:44,580 --> 00:21:46,545
AUDIENCE: Yeah, against
my brother.

444
00:21:46,545 --> 00:21:49,800
PROFESSOR: This one like
Scrabble, basically, right?

445
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,710
The same folks who made Words
with Friends made a game

446
00:21:52,710 --> 00:21:54,090
called Words with Pirates.

447
00:21:56,630 --> 00:22:00,360
And I have a screen shot
here of the game

448
00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:01,410
I was playing yesterday.

449
00:22:01,410 --> 00:22:05,340
And basically, you have
way fewer letters.

450
00:22:05,340 --> 00:22:12,221
You have h, a, r, a
lot of r's, I and

451
00:22:12,221 --> 00:22:15,780
an exclamation mark.

452
00:22:15,780 --> 00:22:21,230
So the number of letters that
you can get, the quantity of

453
00:22:21,230 --> 00:22:23,600
the letters that you get are the
same as in Scrabble, but

454
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,740
the range of the different
letter you can is way lower.

455
00:22:26,740 --> 00:22:29,040
With means there's a lot
less uncertainty.

456
00:22:34,310 --> 00:22:43,825
Because this language, this
parrot language has so much--

457
00:22:43,825 --> 00:22:48,635
I want to be very careful to
use the right word here--

458
00:22:57,410 --> 00:23:02,230
so if I'm using the right word
here, this is actually a very

459
00:23:02,230 --> 00:23:08,380
non-redundant language because
a, r, r, r is a word.

460
00:23:08,380 --> 00:23:13,930
A, r, r, r, r is a different
word which are balanced.

461
00:23:13,930 --> 00:23:17,320
So there's actually very
little redundancy.

462
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:23,700
I see a, r and I think, that
could be any number of words.

463
00:23:23,700 --> 00:23:28,200
And as a result you notice that
this game of Words with

464
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,732
Pirates it results in an
incredibly dense word.

465
00:23:31,732 --> 00:23:32,982
Of course, I can show
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

466
00:23:35,430 --> 00:23:37,160
But you can't do that
with Scrabble.

467
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,252
Scrabble spaces go empty and get
locked out because, unless

468
00:23:41,252 --> 00:23:44,168
you have an incredible knowledge
of the Scrabble

469
00:23:44,168 --> 00:23:48,109
dictionary, for the most part,
you don't know those exploits

470
00:23:48,109 --> 00:23:50,782
that I'm going to then slide
in an extra character.

471
00:23:50,782 --> 00:23:54,184
But most people's knowledge of
English doesn't happen in that

472
00:23:54,184 --> 00:23:55,434
board game.

473
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,912
So anyway I thought that was
specifically useful for an

474
00:24:04,912 --> 00:24:05,820
illustration.

475
00:24:05,820 --> 00:24:06,500
OK, so Scrabble.

476
00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:08,250
All right, cool.

477
00:24:08,250 --> 00:24:09,500
Next game.

478
00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:15,342
AUDIENCE: We did Go Fish so
some of the variables

479
00:24:15,342 --> 00:24:17,334
depending on the equation we
had were like every players

480
00:24:17,334 --> 00:24:20,571
hands and the pile of cards
in the middle that

481
00:24:20,571 --> 00:24:22,314
you can pick from.

482
00:24:22,314 --> 00:24:28,160
We thought about some of the
uncertainty being what cards

483
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:29,585
the other player has.

484
00:24:29,585 --> 00:24:33,530
And the challenge that comes out
of it is them asking what

485
00:24:33,530 --> 00:24:37,610
cards they want and you
asking them for cards.

486
00:24:37,610 --> 00:24:40,902
And there's noise because just
because they're asking for a

487
00:24:40,902 --> 00:24:43,586
certain card can imply what they
have in their hand, but

488
00:24:43,586 --> 00:24:45,300
it doesn't necessarily tell
you what they have.

489
00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:45,880
PROFESSOR: Right.

490
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:47,860
It only tells you what they
don't have in their hands.

491
00:24:47,860 --> 00:24:49,840
Sometimes it tells you
what they don't

492
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:50,630
have in their hands.

493
00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:53,710
Sometimes they give
you a card and--

494
00:24:53,710 --> 00:24:55,590
I forget the rules.

495
00:24:55,590 --> 00:24:57,475
If you have multiple
threes and someone

496
00:24:57,475 --> 00:24:58,860
says, got any threes?

497
00:24:58,860 --> 00:25:00,306
You give them all three?

498
00:25:00,306 --> 00:25:01,040
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

499
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:01,950
PROFESSOR: Yeah, OK.

500
00:25:01,950 --> 00:25:02,950
So

501
00:25:02,950 --> 00:25:04,675
AUDIENCE: Why do you
have three 3's?

502
00:25:04,675 --> 00:25:06,060
You put a pair down.

503
00:25:06,060 --> 00:25:08,655
That would just be dumb.

504
00:25:08,655 --> 00:25:10,630
AUDIENCE: That means you're
a bad player.

505
00:25:10,630 --> 00:25:16,280
PROFESSOR: For the most part in
that game that's your one

506
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,560
channel of finding out what
the state of the game is.

507
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,585
The game states what everybody
has and hasn't had.

508
00:25:24,435 --> 00:25:24,910
Cool?

509
00:25:24,910 --> 00:25:25,385
Cool?

510
00:25:25,385 --> 00:25:25,860
Cool?

511
00:25:25,860 --> 00:25:27,653
AUDIENCE: We did Mario Kart.

512
00:25:31,250 --> 00:25:33,350
AUDIENCE: There's a lot of
uncertainty and a lot of other

513
00:25:33,350 --> 00:25:34,580
things to keep track of.

514
00:25:34,580 --> 00:25:36,722
So the things you can't possibly
keep track of but

515
00:25:36,722 --> 00:25:40,170
that are really important in the
game are what's going to

516
00:25:40,170 --> 00:25:43,020
come up when you hit an item
block and what items people

517
00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:43,870
around you have.

518
00:25:43,870 --> 00:25:47,710
So you might think it's safe to
bump another player but if

519
00:25:47,710 --> 00:25:49,955
they have three green shells
they can activate that then

520
00:25:49,955 --> 00:25:51,844
and blast you out of the map.

521
00:25:51,844 --> 00:25:54,477
AUDIENCE: Another one is what
position you're in because if

522
00:25:54,477 --> 00:25:56,960
you're in first place and a
blue shell hits you that's

523
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,565
also what position you're in,
which is what other people are

524
00:25:59,565 --> 00:26:00,260
in, and stuff like that.

525
00:26:00,260 --> 00:26:00,640
PROFESSOR: Right.

526
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,960
So the probability of being hit
by the blue shell is way

527
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,150
higher when you're number one.

528
00:26:06,150 --> 00:26:08,310
AUDIENCE: So you gather
information through your

529
00:26:08,310 --> 00:26:10,903
people range which is also a
function of, basically, where

530
00:26:10,903 --> 00:26:12,270
you are on the map.

531
00:26:12,270 --> 00:26:15,810
And so the information you're
giving about other players

532
00:26:15,810 --> 00:26:18,092
depends on where you
are, interestingly.

533
00:26:18,092 --> 00:26:19,970
If they're immediately in front
of you, you have a lot

534
00:26:19,970 --> 00:26:22,286
more information than if they're
behind you, you have a

535
00:26:22,286 --> 00:26:24,620
lot more information than if
they're way far away from you.

536
00:26:24,620 --> 00:26:24,940
PROFESSOR: Right.

537
00:26:24,940 --> 00:26:26,717
Because if they're behind you
or they're way far away from

538
00:26:26,717 --> 00:26:29,296
you, you don't know what weapons
they've got ahead for

539
00:26:29,296 --> 00:26:30,920
you, for instance.

540
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,860
You generally know what position
others people are in

541
00:26:34,860 --> 00:26:37,140
but that's all you got.

542
00:26:37,140 --> 00:26:39,700
So [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

543
00:26:39,700 --> 00:26:40,845
AUDIENCE: And then there's
different paths and levels so

544
00:26:40,845 --> 00:26:42,630
you might get someone in the
same position as you but

545
00:26:42,630 --> 00:26:44,653
they're not at the same
point because they're

546
00:26:44,653 --> 00:26:45,486
at a different branch.

547
00:26:45,486 --> 00:26:47,980
And then, good also the
very given motives

548
00:26:47,980 --> 00:26:48,750
of different cars.

549
00:26:48,750 --> 00:26:52,370
So in Mario Kart 64 if you take
Bowser and you're playing

550
00:26:52,370 --> 00:26:56,710
as toad, you can ram into
toad until you go flat.

551
00:26:56,710 --> 00:26:56,970
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

552
00:26:56,970 --> 00:26:59,530
I've run into Bowser before.

553
00:26:59,530 --> 00:27:06,520
AUDIENCE: So one of the little
risks that you get in Mario

554
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,460
Kart is that the kinds of
weapons that you get are

555
00:27:10,460 --> 00:27:14,290
pretty much weighted based on
where you are in the game.

556
00:27:14,290 --> 00:27:17,130
If you are at the back, you get
all the awesome weapons.

557
00:27:17,130 --> 00:27:18,180
Because the game--

558
00:27:18,180 --> 00:27:19,674
AUDIENCE: You get the star.

559
00:27:19,674 --> 00:27:24,010
The eraser on Hero station was
way more weighted than--

560
00:27:24,010 --> 00:27:24,330
PROFESSOR: Sure.

561
00:27:24,330 --> 00:27:26,830
There are more obvious
versions of this.

562
00:27:26,830 --> 00:27:29,540
I think Super Monkeyball
axis, too, actually.

563
00:27:29,540 --> 00:27:33,394
When you're right in front, I
think, all you get is bananas,

564
00:27:33,394 --> 00:27:34,700
is that the only--

565
00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:36,315
AUDIENCE: In Mario Karts?

566
00:27:36,315 --> 00:27:38,770
Bananas and one green shell.

567
00:27:38,770 --> 00:27:40,510
That's pretty much it.

568
00:27:40,510 --> 00:27:41,580
PROFESSOR: You get a
pile of junk later.

569
00:27:41,580 --> 00:27:43,726
AUDIENCE: And also, the
fake mystery box.

570
00:27:43,726 --> 00:27:47,300
PROFESSOR: And half way through
and half way games,

571
00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:50,100
the waiting is, I'm going
to guess roughly linear.

572
00:27:50,100 --> 00:27:53,495
So the basic idea is one of the
things about risk is that

573
00:27:53,495 --> 00:27:58,630
every time you take up a new
weapon you are, basically,

574
00:27:58,630 --> 00:28:00,478
taking a gamble about what
you're going to get.

575
00:28:00,478 --> 00:28:03,280
If you're already holding a
weapon sometimes you can

576
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,574
choose to discard that to
pick up something new.

577
00:28:05,574 --> 00:28:07,562
And I believe leader iteration
you can [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

578
00:28:07,562 --> 00:28:09,680
think of that.

579
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,290
So now, that's one element
of risk, right?

580
00:28:12,290 --> 00:28:13,190
What do I know?

581
00:28:13,190 --> 00:28:15,010
I know what I got.

582
00:28:15,010 --> 00:28:16,290
What else do I know?

583
00:28:16,290 --> 00:28:19,680
I know what position I'm in and
I know that if I run into

584
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,220
this box right now and I got
rid of what I had, I could

585
00:28:23,220 --> 00:28:25,540
pick up a cooler weapon.

586
00:28:25,540 --> 00:28:29,640
There's a probability associated
with that and

587
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,470
that's, yet, another
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

588
00:28:34,576 --> 00:28:38,080
One way to think of it is that
there's such an outcome, which

589
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,940
I said a probability associated
with it, you are

590
00:28:39,940 --> 00:28:40,700
going to get a weapon.

591
00:28:40,700 --> 00:28:43,270
AUDIENCE: It might be cracked.

592
00:28:43,270 --> 00:28:45,657
You only really gain a sense
of the hard way from

593
00:28:45,657 --> 00:28:47,650
experience of playing with it.

594
00:28:47,650 --> 00:28:49,300
PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's one of
those things where your

595
00:28:49,300 --> 00:28:53,700
certainty of this game goes
up as the number of play.

596
00:28:53,700 --> 00:28:55,910
Cool.

597
00:28:55,910 --> 00:28:58,620
AUDIENCE: We did Monopoly?

598
00:28:58,620 --> 00:28:59,870
PROFESSOR: Sure.

599
00:29:02,930 --> 00:29:05,540
AUDIENCE: So Monopoly basically,
what's certain is

600
00:29:05,540 --> 00:29:07,730
who owns what property,
essentially.

601
00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:10,950
And it's technically certain
how much money everyone has

602
00:29:10,950 --> 00:29:13,285
though keeping track of all
that information on a

603
00:29:13,285 --> 00:29:14,450
turn-to-turn basis
can be difficult.

604
00:29:14,450 --> 00:29:16,386
So there's a little bit of
relative uncertainty just due

605
00:29:16,386 --> 00:29:20,060
to the quantity of information
there.

606
00:29:20,060 --> 00:29:21,360
Yes, so you gain
uncertainties.

607
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,040
It's actually that Monopoly has
very different opening and

608
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,420
end games, essentially.

609
00:29:26,420 --> 00:29:28,830
Towards the start of the game
there's a lot of uncertainty

610
00:29:28,830 --> 00:29:33,160
about how other players are
going to value property that

611
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:34,280
you give up.

612
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:35,270
Owen was telling me.

613
00:29:35,270 --> 00:29:36,420
I wasn't even aware of this.

614
00:29:36,420 --> 00:29:39,200
In Monopoly when you decide not
to purchase a property it

615
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,860
actually goes up to auction.

616
00:29:40,860 --> 00:29:44,896
It's like I have never played
with that rule.

617
00:29:44,896 --> 00:29:46,355
AUDIENCE: And it's an open
auction and so you don't know

618
00:29:46,355 --> 00:29:49,000
what other people's valuation
are so each time you'd be

619
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,732
taking a risk if you
didn't actually

620
00:29:51,732 --> 00:29:52,848
want it at that price.

621
00:29:52,848 --> 00:29:55,700
AUDIENCE: That actually makes
the game more interesting.

622
00:29:55,700 --> 00:29:58,643
AUDIENCE: It turns out the game
is not that much more

623
00:29:58,643 --> 00:30:00,086
interesting.

624
00:30:00,086 --> 00:30:02,960
Even when you have the auction
system [UNINTELLIGIBLE] it's

625
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,210
still pretty boring.

626
00:30:07,211 --> 00:30:09,320
PROFESSOR: Can you see the like
degenerate strategies.

627
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,308
We will get to them.

628
00:30:11,308 --> 00:30:13,880
AUDIENCE: Towards the end of the
game, basically, it's also

629
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,820
a lot of uncertainty about what
players are going to be--

630
00:30:16,820 --> 00:30:18,460
well, these aren't part of the
rules-- but whether they're

631
00:30:18,460 --> 00:30:21,610
going to be willing to trade
with you, whether you can do

632
00:30:21,610 --> 00:30:24,820
things like manage to get into
jail so you can stop landing

633
00:30:24,820 --> 00:30:27,160
of people's properties.

634
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,970
Chance is, of course, another
level of uncertainty there.

635
00:30:31,970 --> 00:30:35,430
PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's weird
about the risk associated with

636
00:30:35,430 --> 00:30:42,510
an auction because you kind
of know the seller.

637
00:30:42,510 --> 00:30:46,520
Especially in the early game,
you have a vague idea of how

638
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,480
much people could possibly
bid on this.

639
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,718
Not more than the amount of
money that you have, although

640
00:30:52,718 --> 00:30:55,270
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] a mortgage
something that he had, just to

641
00:30:55,270 --> 00:30:56,760
get the cash flow at auction.

642
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,830
But it's one of those things
that you know is fairly built

643
00:31:01,830 --> 00:31:05,980
with certainty, and
so it's true risk.

644
00:31:05,980 --> 00:31:07,720
Ok?

645
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,650
AUDIENCE: So we chose chess.

646
00:31:12,950 --> 00:31:18,030
Chess has no uncertainty
in the game.

647
00:31:18,030 --> 00:31:20,460
If I would say an answer to you
would be, you don't know

648
00:31:20,460 --> 00:31:22,960
what you're opponent
is going to do.

649
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,910
So you have to make a move
assuming he's going to do

650
00:31:25,910 --> 00:31:28,870
something completely
different.

651
00:31:28,870 --> 00:31:33,820
And as well as risk in the game,
the only risk is also

652
00:31:33,820 --> 00:31:35,130
not knowing what your opponent's
going to do.

653
00:31:35,130 --> 00:31:37,961
So he could do a series of moves
which causes you to be

654
00:31:37,961 --> 00:31:40,720
in a situation where you
have to lose a piece.

655
00:31:45,750 --> 00:31:48,540
That's pretty much it.

656
00:31:48,540 --> 00:31:50,300
PROFESSOR: That's cool.

657
00:31:50,300 --> 00:31:55,020
I would argue that not knowing
what your player is capable of

658
00:31:55,020 --> 00:31:57,060
is deep in uncertainty.

659
00:31:57,060 --> 00:32:00,423
And in fact, it's a
usual amount of

660
00:32:00,423 --> 00:32:01,850
uncertainty in the game.

661
00:32:01,850 --> 00:32:06,160
It's true that the way and how
the pieces move and where the

662
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,570
pieces are placed, everyone
knows that.

663
00:32:08,570 --> 00:32:09,986
And we're going to
get a mixed one.

664
00:32:09,986 --> 00:32:12,346
It's a game of perfect
information.

665
00:32:12,346 --> 00:32:16,360
The game stake is no dice.

666
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,740
You know exactly what's going
in the game unless you're

667
00:32:19,740 --> 00:32:21,850
playing with a five year old who
didn't put the piece right

668
00:32:21,850 --> 00:32:23,100
down in the square.

669
00:32:25,140 --> 00:32:29,430
AUDIENCE: So I guess something
where it would be a lot more

670
00:32:29,430 --> 00:32:31,480
noise for the game would be if
you're playing something like

671
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,790
speed chess because then it's
like oh, you just have to

672
00:32:33,790 --> 00:32:36,640
think fast and it's a lot
harder to realize

673
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:37,320
what's going on.

674
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,960
PROFESSOR: Yeah, that is true
because now you're limited by

675
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,430
your own cognitive bandwidth.

676
00:32:44,430 --> 00:32:46,190
So that's true.

677
00:32:46,190 --> 00:32:47,710
It doesn't change the amount
of uncertainty.

678
00:32:47,710 --> 00:32:50,450
The uncertainty of the game
really is your opponent and

679
00:32:50,450 --> 00:32:52,802
what's in that person's head.

680
00:32:52,802 --> 00:32:56,350
The knowledge of openings and
knowledge of different moves,

681
00:32:56,350 --> 00:32:59,150
whether that player has seen
something that you haven't

682
00:32:59,150 --> 00:33:05,490
seen or knows of a counter that
you [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

683
00:33:05,490 --> 00:33:07,310
AUDIENCE: Or there's another
way to give the impression

684
00:33:07,310 --> 00:33:09,585
that they know exactly how to
counter if you're doing any

685
00:33:09,585 --> 00:33:12,260
kind of loading like.

686
00:33:12,260 --> 00:33:14,380
PROFESSOR: Sometimes other
counting on them to do

687
00:33:14,380 --> 00:33:16,647
something, and then they
don't it's like, why

688
00:33:16,647 --> 00:33:17,351
didn't you do that?

689
00:33:17,351 --> 00:33:19,240
I would have done that.

690
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,442
AUDIENCE: It's like golf where
you have to pretend like you

691
00:33:21,442 --> 00:33:23,030
really look like you know
what you're doing.

692
00:33:23,030 --> 00:33:26,370
PROFESSOR: Or poker.

693
00:33:26,370 --> 00:33:30,460
OK, so that's one way to
look at your game.

694
00:33:30,460 --> 00:33:34,010
What you know, what
you don't know.

695
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:39,230
What's the probability
of the certainty and

696
00:33:39,230 --> 00:33:42,390
you know the answer.

697
00:33:42,390 --> 00:33:44,000
And, of course, not as you.

698
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,670
As a game designer you're
thinking, what do

699
00:33:45,670 --> 00:33:46,870
your players know?

700
00:33:46,870 --> 00:33:48,238
What do the players not know?

701
00:33:48,238 --> 00:33:49,150
What can your players do?

702
00:33:49,150 --> 00:33:52,950
And a reasonable guess
of what likelihood

703
00:33:52,950 --> 00:33:54,815
something is going to happen.

704
00:33:54,815 --> 00:33:56,810
Also, the things going
to be true.

705
00:33:56,810 --> 00:33:59,820
It's like, OK, I don't know what
card that person has but

706
00:33:59,820 --> 00:34:03,350
there's an 80% probability that
that person has jacks of

707
00:34:03,350 --> 00:34:10,949
higher of the trump because that
person bid on the trump.

708
00:34:10,949 --> 00:34:13,754
That's a fairly good guess.

709
00:34:16,650 --> 00:34:18,110
A low risk guess.

710
00:34:18,110 --> 00:34:22,465
OK now, we'll go to the other
schema which is the

711
00:34:22,465 --> 00:34:24,022
information systems.

712
00:34:24,022 --> 00:34:25,954
Now, we're talking a little
bit about perfect and

713
00:34:25,954 --> 00:34:27,150
imperfect information.

714
00:34:27,150 --> 00:34:29,100
Perfect information games,
you know game state.

715
00:34:29,100 --> 00:34:30,714
Everyone knows games state.

716
00:34:30,714 --> 00:34:33,219
No player does not know
a game state.

717
00:34:33,219 --> 00:34:36,033
Imperfect is, the information,
OK, there's something you

718
00:34:36,033 --> 00:34:36,320
don't know.

719
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:38,920
Maybe it's card games in
particular because

720
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,390
cards have two sides.

721
00:34:41,390 --> 00:34:44,601
Cards are typically used
to hold back imperfect

722
00:34:44,601 --> 00:34:44,848
information.

723
00:34:44,848 --> 00:34:47,318
Anyone play Stratego?

724
00:34:47,318 --> 00:34:48,306
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

725
00:34:48,306 --> 00:34:50,282
PROFESSOR: Now that's incapable
of complete,

726
00:34:50,282 --> 00:34:52,258
imperfect information
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] the game.

727
00:34:52,258 --> 00:34:54,830
You know every single piece.

728
00:34:54,830 --> 00:34:56,969
There's nothing random
in an entire game.

729
00:34:56,969 --> 00:34:58,160
There are no die rolls.

730
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,580
There are no random shuffles.

731
00:35:00,580 --> 00:35:04,870
AUDIENCE: So when the other guy
chooses to play where he

732
00:35:04,870 --> 00:35:07,505
just places pieces, it can be
perceived as random to you.

733
00:35:07,505 --> 00:35:10,415
PROFESSOR: Can be perceived
as random, it is true.

734
00:35:10,415 --> 00:35:15,610
But let's get really specific
about turn around.

735
00:35:15,610 --> 00:35:17,586
What it is, is that it's
actually uncertain.

736
00:35:17,586 --> 00:35:21,044
It's not actually random, it's a
decision made by that player

737
00:35:21,044 --> 00:35:23,740
who's got the right moves.

738
00:35:23,740 --> 00:35:31,280
So, actually one, objectively,
it is not random.

739
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:32,750
It is perceived as random.

740
00:35:32,750 --> 00:35:36,060
It's perceived as, effectively
random because really the

741
00:35:36,060 --> 00:35:39,688
person couldn't put his pieces
anywhere within the first

742
00:35:39,688 --> 00:35:43,080
three rules, or something.

743
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:49,880
So however, that's kind
of a blunt tool.

744
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,840
Is this game a game of perfect
information or imperfect

745
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:52,235
information.

746
00:35:52,235 --> 00:35:53,576
That's a yes /no question.

747
00:35:53,576 --> 00:35:57,840
Does it really tell you that
much about your game.

748
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,904
Asking, OK, what is actually
random and what is not

749
00:36:01,904 --> 00:36:05,185
actually random but may be
perceived as that, is a

750
00:36:05,185 --> 00:36:06,790
slightly better question.

751
00:36:06,790 --> 00:36:11,100
Because you can think, OK, if
I isn't clear I know that's

752
00:36:11,100 --> 00:36:14,312
not random but it could be
anything because of what the

753
00:36:14,312 --> 00:36:15,625
other player has done.

754
00:36:15,625 --> 00:36:16,990
I will treat it as random.

755
00:36:16,990 --> 00:36:18,659
I might as well do all.

756
00:36:18,659 --> 00:36:21,117
And when you're designing for
that player and you are doing

757
00:36:21,117 --> 00:36:22,896
all your calculations, just
taking it as random.

758
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:30,050
There is a game theorist-- not
game theorist-- the game

759
00:36:30,050 --> 00:36:33,520
studies scholar of games, Ceila
Pierce, who works over

760
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:34,870
at Georgia Tech.

761
00:36:34,870 --> 00:36:38,402
And her proposal is that a more
useful range of questions

762
00:36:38,402 --> 00:36:41,901
to ask would be what's known
to all the players?

763
00:36:41,901 --> 00:36:43,975
And in a game of perfect
information everything is

764
00:36:43,975 --> 00:36:46,050
known to all players.

765
00:36:46,050 --> 00:36:48,060
What's only known
to one player?

766
00:36:48,060 --> 00:36:51,490
What's known to the game?

767
00:36:51,490 --> 00:36:54,780
Especially for a computer game,
the computer knows a lot

768
00:36:54,780 --> 00:36:56,880
more about game state.

769
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:58,380
Sometimes that even comes
down to rules.

770
00:36:58,380 --> 00:37:01,812
So if you've ever done Force
Battles in something like

771
00:37:01,812 --> 00:37:03,420
Metriod or Castlevania,
for instance.

772
00:37:03,420 --> 00:37:07,810
There are rules that every
single process is going to

773
00:37:07,810 --> 00:37:10,336
react to anything that you do.

774
00:37:10,336 --> 00:37:11,294
Maybe it's based on time.

775
00:37:11,294 --> 00:37:13,210
Maybe it's just the
sequence of action

776
00:37:13,210 --> 00:37:14,860
that are already done.

777
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:17,702
Like the EIHI robot that you
guys programmed in class

778
00:37:17,702 --> 00:37:19,040
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

779
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,280
You don't know those rules
going into the game.

780
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,346
Those don't prevent you
from playing the game.

781
00:37:23,346 --> 00:37:25,089
In fact, part of the fun is
figuring out the rules and

782
00:37:25,089 --> 00:37:27,810
figuring what the pattern
is and explaining it.

783
00:37:27,810 --> 00:37:29,370
So that's an example
of a thing that's

784
00:37:29,370 --> 00:37:30,190
known to the game.

785
00:37:30,190 --> 00:37:38,440
Other things that are known to
the game are actually now,

786
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,632
maybe that's not a good one.

787
00:37:40,632 --> 00:37:42,500
I'm going to stick with my
topic because randomly

788
00:37:42,500 --> 00:37:45,250
generated stuff, like there
is a shuffled deck.

789
00:37:45,250 --> 00:37:48,110
Shuffled decks are one of those
things where it's a

790
00:37:48,110 --> 00:37:54,890
little bit unclear about whether
the game knows what's

791
00:37:54,890 --> 00:37:55,730
in that stack.

792
00:37:55,730 --> 00:37:57,640
It's true that you shuffled
it, so it's randomly

793
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,580
generated, but once it shuffled
it, it is now in a

794
00:38:01,580 --> 00:38:03,230
fixed order.

795
00:38:03,230 --> 00:38:06,946
So the game knows what order
that's in even though

796
00:38:06,946 --> 00:38:09,169
essentially randomly generated,
it's not randomly

797
00:38:09,169 --> 00:38:11,890
generated every single turn.

798
00:38:11,890 --> 00:38:14,800
But it's a good question
to ask.

799
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:17,472
Even if it's not an easy
question to answer, it's a

800
00:38:17,472 --> 00:38:19,870
good question to ask what's
known to the game but not

801
00:38:19,870 --> 00:38:21,400
known to the rest
of the players?

802
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,980
And what's this randomly
generated?

803
00:38:24,980 --> 00:38:26,992
Even if the game had a brain
we would have no idea what

804
00:38:26,992 --> 00:38:29,132
these things turn
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] because it's

805
00:38:29,132 --> 00:38:30,690
pretty terrible.

806
00:38:30,690 --> 00:38:33,410
So use those games again.

807
00:38:33,410 --> 00:38:35,920
Every single one of those games
they are talking about,

808
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:37,936
what's known to all players?

809
00:38:37,936 --> 00:38:39,330
What's known to one player?

810
00:38:39,330 --> 00:38:40,785
What's known to the
game and what's

811
00:38:40,785 --> 00:38:41,755
just randomly generated?

812
00:38:41,755 --> 00:38:43,005
Go.

813
00:38:58,200 --> 00:38:59,966
Shall we just do the
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

814
00:38:59,966 --> 00:39:01,890
AUDIENCE: So we changed
our game to poker.

815
00:39:01,890 --> 00:39:03,030
Texas Hold 'em now.

816
00:39:03,030 --> 00:39:04,440
So know on your test.

817
00:39:07,870 --> 00:39:12,420
So it's imperfect information
because you know what's in

818
00:39:12,420 --> 00:39:15,450
your hand, you know what's on
the board, but you have no

819
00:39:15,450 --> 00:39:17,720
idea what anyone else has.

820
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:22,360
They can try and trick you
so it's maybe perceived.

821
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:23,360
It's perceived knowledge.

822
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,890
So let's say they play
a large bet.

823
00:39:26,890 --> 00:39:29,040
It's perceived that they must
a good hand but it's not

824
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,710
necessarily accurate.

825
00:39:31,710 --> 00:39:35,960
So it's not really an objective
base however, it is

826
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,260
subjective whenever you can
finally show your hand.

827
00:39:38,260 --> 00:39:41,110
Then either you've won
or you've lost.

828
00:39:41,110 --> 00:39:43,453
It's not really up for debate.

829
00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:51,220
AUDIENCE: So I guess it could
also be whether you know, like

830
00:39:51,220 --> 00:39:54,230
again with chess, what the other
player knows, whether

831
00:39:54,230 --> 00:39:57,150
the other players know
conventional poker conventions

832
00:39:57,150 --> 00:40:01,183
for folding or not.

833
00:40:01,183 --> 00:40:04,460
PROFESSOR: OK, let's see.

834
00:40:04,460 --> 00:40:07,470
Other things that are a lot of
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] especially

835
00:40:07,470 --> 00:40:11,760
poker, that is known to all
players will be things like,

836
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:13,837
what are the number of
kings in the deck?

837
00:40:16,865 --> 00:40:19,505
What are deposits and what are
all the different hands that

838
00:40:19,505 --> 00:40:22,310
you could make, and what
are the point values?

839
00:40:22,310 --> 00:40:24,290
So that's just one example of
things that need to be known

840
00:40:24,290 --> 00:40:25,720
by all players.

841
00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:28,335
The assumption is that all
players know that.

842
00:40:28,335 --> 00:40:29,820
Sometimes all players don't
know all these.

843
00:40:29,820 --> 00:40:31,280
AUDIENCE: Yeah, memorizing the

844
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:33,570
probability is a huge endeavor.

845
00:40:33,570 --> 00:40:35,683
AUDIENCE: Really big player
know the objective

846
00:40:35,683 --> 00:40:37,360
probabilities in
any given hand.

847
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,341
AUDIENCE: Actually, a lot of
casinos will let you bring in

848
00:40:39,341 --> 00:40:40,478
a card with probabilities.

849
00:40:40,478 --> 00:40:42,920
PROFESSOR: Really?

850
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:44,160
I'm surprised that they'd
let you do that.

851
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:44,550
OK.

852
00:40:44,550 --> 00:40:45,370
All right.

853
00:40:45,370 --> 00:40:46,580
I guess they couldn't--

854
00:40:46,580 --> 00:40:47,210
AUDIENCE: Even blackjack.

855
00:40:47,210 --> 00:40:49,275
I'm pretty sure with blackjack,
too, you can bring

856
00:40:49,275 --> 00:40:50,580
in a card with probability.

857
00:40:50,580 --> 00:40:55,317
PROFESSOR: So the things that
are known to the game would

858
00:40:55,317 --> 00:40:58,692
be, of course, shuffle order.

859
00:40:58,692 --> 00:41:01,182
I guess this happens more in
blackjack where you've got

860
00:41:01,182 --> 00:41:03,672
five decks all shuffled together
and you know there's

861
00:41:03,672 --> 00:41:06,005
a number of kings and they're
in there somewhere.

862
00:41:06,005 --> 00:41:08,171
So if all the kings get played
out you know there's no more

863
00:41:08,171 --> 00:41:10,830
kings left in there and
then you can do

864
00:41:10,830 --> 00:41:13,840
computations from there.

865
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,990
And one thing I want
to clarify on

866
00:41:15,990 --> 00:41:17,840
objective and proceed.

867
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,670
Objective doesn't necessarily
mean that any one player knows

868
00:41:21,670 --> 00:41:23,320
whether this is good or bad.

869
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:27,835
The idea is that if there was a
third party observer who was

870
00:41:27,835 --> 00:41:31,632
not playing the game and knew
all the game stake, looking to

871
00:41:31,632 --> 00:41:35,670
that, looking to the hands,
knows what's coming up, or a

872
00:41:35,670 --> 00:41:39,575
computer running the game, that
person, that computer

873
00:41:39,575 --> 00:41:43,260
will know the extent to which
something is good or bad.

874
00:41:43,260 --> 00:41:48,100
So if you've got a hand
probabilistically you can tell

875
00:41:48,100 --> 00:41:51,600
well, this is a pretty darn
good hand, or this is all

876
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,126
ready probabilistically
a crappy hand.

877
00:41:55,126 --> 00:41:56,990
It might be good for
that game, right?

878
00:41:56,990 --> 00:42:01,130
It might be just like I have one
pair, but it might be good

879
00:42:01,130 --> 00:42:03,252
if nobody has anything.

880
00:42:03,252 --> 00:42:05,032
AUDIENCE: But probability
you're not

881
00:42:05,032 --> 00:42:06,730
gonna have a good game.

882
00:42:06,730 --> 00:42:07,020
PROFESSOR: But

883
00:42:07,020 --> 00:42:08,550
probabilistically you want to win.

884
00:42:08,550 --> 00:42:10,720
That's why you have poker
player's saying things like,

885
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:15,450
right up until this point I was
winning and then I maybe

886
00:42:15,450 --> 00:42:16,360
lost in a tie game.

887
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,250
But it's like, probabilistically
they were

888
00:42:18,250 --> 00:42:19,640
doing everything right.

889
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:23,146
And actually, a lot of
professional players have

890
00:42:23,146 --> 00:42:27,040
disparages to say well, they
were doing everything right,

891
00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:33,014
sure they lost a hand, but to
them they were winning every

892
00:42:33,014 --> 00:42:36,050
one up until the point
when he had to fold.

893
00:42:36,050 --> 00:42:38,440
OK, next game.

894
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,800
AUDIENCE: The Monopoly game
was run through the all

895
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:43,800
players, one player game, etc.

896
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,272
All players know the board
stakes so the people that are

897
00:42:48,272 --> 00:42:49,850
owners of any of the
properties and

898
00:42:49,850 --> 00:42:51,100
[? what's owned ?]
by the bank.

899
00:42:56,350 --> 00:42:58,920
Every given player knows the
amount of money that they

900
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:03,670
have, and also what valuation
they placed on all of their

901
00:43:03,670 --> 00:43:07,310
properties, which is not known
to other people except

902
00:43:07,310 --> 00:43:09,330
incidentally through
their actions.

903
00:43:09,330 --> 00:43:13,720
The game knows the state of
Community chance and, I'm

904
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:16,515
sorry, Community Chest and
Chance decks, and then there's

905
00:43:16,515 --> 00:43:17,720
randomly generated die rolls.

906
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,370
PROFESSOR: Die rolls, yeah.

907
00:43:20,370 --> 00:43:24,410
I'm forgetting whether Monopoly
requires you to show

908
00:43:24,410 --> 00:43:26,859
your bankroll clearly.

909
00:43:26,859 --> 00:43:28,248
AUDIENCE: I think so.

910
00:43:28,248 --> 00:43:29,640
I'm pretty sure.

911
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:31,160
AUDIENCE: If you want to know
how much money somebody else

912
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:34,600
has they have to tell you.

913
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:36,230
PROFESSOR: It would be an
interesting thing to look up

914
00:43:36,230 --> 00:43:39,410
and see what the actual
rule on that is.

915
00:43:39,410 --> 00:43:42,750
AUDIENCE: Why is the
game so popular?

916
00:43:42,750 --> 00:43:44,410
PROFESSOR: Good marketing.

917
00:43:44,410 --> 00:43:47,690
AUDIENCE: But then again
it's very shallow and--

918
00:43:47,690 --> 00:43:51,010
AUDIENCE: It's really
familiar.

919
00:43:51,010 --> 00:43:55,060
I asked friends of mine who
happily play Monopoly but

920
00:43:55,060 --> 00:43:59,450
don't like to play, for
instance, Settlers, and a lot

921
00:43:59,450 --> 00:44:02,010
of it is really, you
don't have to think

922
00:44:02,010 --> 00:44:03,450
too much about it.

923
00:44:03,450 --> 00:44:05,575
It's just an excuse to sit
around and talk with people.

924
00:44:09,860 --> 00:44:12,844
There's not that much that
apparently distinguishes

925
00:44:12,844 --> 00:44:15,590
somebody who's like a incredibly
good player or an

926
00:44:15,590 --> 00:44:16,240
incredibly bad player.

927
00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:19,240
It's got a bit of that any given
Sunday feel to it so

928
00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:21,770
that you always have an
opportunity to win.

929
00:44:21,770 --> 00:44:23,766
There can be dramatic swings
of fate, and all

930
00:44:23,766 --> 00:44:24,080
that kind of thing.

931
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:26,990
PROFESSOR: So it's kind of
like adult Candyland.

932
00:44:26,990 --> 00:44:29,038
You just go through
the motions.

933
00:44:29,038 --> 00:44:31,410
AUDIENCE: But I also have
friends who are like avid

934
00:44:31,410 --> 00:44:35,046
Monopoly players who really
believe that there's a deep

935
00:44:35,046 --> 00:44:36,030
skill to playing Monopoly.

936
00:44:36,030 --> 00:44:37,430
But I'm yet to be convinced.

937
00:44:37,430 --> 00:44:38,130
PROFESSOR: There
is a strategy.

938
00:44:38,130 --> 00:44:41,900
I'm not sure if it's a skill.

939
00:44:41,900 --> 00:44:42,950
OK, all right, cool.

940
00:44:42,950 --> 00:44:44,369
Thanks.

941
00:44:44,369 --> 00:44:45,788
AUDIENCE: We did Mario
Kart, again.

942
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:53,240
Except for a couple of special
stages, in general, players

943
00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:56,726
are aware of their welcome
position to other players

944
00:44:56,726 --> 00:44:58,524
during the race.

945
00:44:58,524 --> 00:45:00,944
AUDIENCE: Everyone
knows the maps.

946
00:45:00,944 --> 00:45:03,370
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

947
00:45:03,370 --> 00:45:05,990
AUDIENCE: You're not sure if
you know what other people,

948
00:45:05,990 --> 00:45:09,130
like what their special power
ups are, because you can look

949
00:45:09,130 --> 00:45:11,050
at the screen and see
what they have.

950
00:45:11,050 --> 00:45:11,470
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

951
00:45:11,470 --> 00:45:13,750
Since you're playing to other
humans there are situations

952
00:45:13,750 --> 00:45:15,425
where you definitely
know what they had.

953
00:45:15,425 --> 00:45:16,370
I don't think--

954
00:45:16,370 --> 00:45:19,215
AUDIENCE: That's cheating.

955
00:45:19,215 --> 00:45:21,220
AUDIENCE: It's a strategy.

956
00:45:21,220 --> 00:45:24,862
AUDIENCE: In Mario Kart DS you
know all your opponents items.

957
00:45:24,862 --> 00:45:26,230
AUDIENCE: That's true.

958
00:45:26,230 --> 00:45:26,660
That's lame.

959
00:45:26,660 --> 00:45:28,890
PROFESSOR: Suddenly, on a
simultaneously multi-player

960
00:45:28,890 --> 00:45:31,320
game where you're screen's
divided into four or two,

961
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:35,430
yeah, you know what your
opponent has and decide if

962
00:45:35,430 --> 00:45:36,603
you're going to get
into a Kart.

963
00:45:36,603 --> 00:45:38,480
Same thing for Halo.

964
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:40,330
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

965
00:45:40,330 --> 00:45:42,670
AUDIENCE: It actually
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

966
00:45:42,670 --> 00:45:43,170
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

967
00:45:43,170 --> 00:45:46,280
And let's see what else.

968
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:50,980
So there's you perceive it as
completely random especially

969
00:45:50,980 --> 00:45:52,235
if you don't pay much attention
to it but it's more

970
00:45:52,235 --> 00:45:54,460
like weighted random in
what items you get.

971
00:45:54,460 --> 00:45:56,790
So that's something you'll have
to figure out as you go

972
00:45:56,790 --> 00:45:59,930
along, that actually, as you're
further up, you get

973
00:45:59,930 --> 00:46:00,986
worse items.

974
00:46:00,986 --> 00:46:02,840
I actually think it's a good
strategy in that game to

975
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:04,755
remain in second place
for most of the race

976
00:46:04,755 --> 00:46:07,760
and then go to first.

977
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:09,870
PROFESSOR: Now, the game knows
those probabilities anyway.

978
00:46:09,870 --> 00:46:11,187
AUDIENCE: The game definitely
knows that.

979
00:46:11,187 --> 00:46:13,365
The game also knows who's going
to get hit by a red

980
00:46:13,365 --> 00:46:15,260
shell, for example, when
you launch it.

981
00:46:15,260 --> 00:46:17,770
It's not entirely clear to me
as a player, when there's

982
00:46:17,770 --> 00:46:20,590
multiple people in front of me,
who it's going to pick.

983
00:46:20,590 --> 00:46:25,450
When I shoot a green shell back
behind me, the game knows

984
00:46:25,450 --> 00:46:26,310
what's going on.

985
00:46:26,310 --> 00:46:27,160
I don't.

986
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:28,435
Is that my field of view?

987
00:46:28,435 --> 00:46:29,190
I hear it.

988
00:46:29,190 --> 00:46:30,240
Am I getting a result?

989
00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:31,600
Am I not?

990
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:33,820
PROFESSOR: The game definitely
understands the physics way

991
00:46:33,820 --> 00:46:36,210
better than any human player
can possibly understand.

992
00:46:36,210 --> 00:46:36,610
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

993
00:46:36,610 --> 00:46:37,210
For sure.

994
00:46:37,210 --> 00:46:38,460
For sure.

995
00:46:41,830 --> 00:46:44,130
AUDIENCE: The game knows all
the player's positions and

996
00:46:44,130 --> 00:46:46,470
dull leads but it doesn't know
what they're going to do or

997
00:46:46,470 --> 00:46:48,500
how their going to interact
with each other.

998
00:46:48,500 --> 00:46:52,970
It also doesn't presumably,
actually know what items are

999
00:46:52,970 --> 00:46:54,220
coming out.

1000
00:46:54,220 --> 00:46:57,110
AUDIENCE: Oh, and then another
thing as players, you can

1001
00:46:57,110 --> 00:47:03,360
learn the patterns of some of
the hazards and be able to

1002
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:05,950
predict which way to
go depending on

1003
00:47:05,950 --> 00:47:07,270
how you know a certain--

1004
00:47:07,270 --> 00:47:08,300
PROFESSOR: Just like
knowing the map.

1005
00:47:08,300 --> 00:47:09,110
Just like knowing the map.

1006
00:47:09,110 --> 00:47:09,515
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

1007
00:47:09,515 --> 00:47:11,550
One of them are random,
actually.

1008
00:47:11,550 --> 00:47:12,900
AUDIENCE: Some of
them are random.

1009
00:47:12,900 --> 00:47:15,270
PROFESSOR: But one thing to keep
in mind about randomly

1010
00:47:15,270 --> 00:47:19,440
generated computers obviously,
well, maybe it's not obvious

1011
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:21,660
but computers actually have a
real tough time generating

1012
00:47:21,660 --> 00:47:22,900
really random numbers.

1013
00:47:22,900 --> 00:47:25,350
AUDIENCE: It's starts
to assume.

1014
00:47:25,350 --> 00:47:28,090
PROFESSOR: That why they're
called pseudo-random.

1015
00:47:28,090 --> 00:47:32,132
So to some extent the computer
knows but it's trying really,

1016
00:47:32,132 --> 00:47:34,452
really hard not to know.

1017
00:47:34,452 --> 00:47:36,955
What's really, really useful
if you ever go into game

1018
00:47:36,955 --> 00:47:40,700
design for digital games, to
use that to your advantage.

1019
00:47:40,700 --> 00:47:43,290
Because you can use that to
reproduce problematic

1020
00:47:43,290 --> 00:47:44,515
situations.

1021
00:47:44,515 --> 00:47:48,160
It's like, yeah, write another
generator that we have

1022
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:51,594
absolute control over and then
use that to your advantage

1023
00:47:51,594 --> 00:47:53,410
when you're trying
to find bugs.

1024
00:47:53,410 --> 00:47:55,453
Cool.

1025
00:47:55,453 --> 00:47:57,030
AUDIENCE: So just to remind
you, we did Go Fish.

1026
00:47:57,030 --> 00:48:00,700
So clearly every player knows
what's in his hand, knows what

1027
00:48:00,700 --> 00:48:03,650
pairs have been played thus
far, knows how many cards

1028
00:48:03,650 --> 00:48:06,146
people have, and stuff
like that.

1029
00:48:06,146 --> 00:48:09,383
AUDIENCE: Generally, people
should know what cards have

1030
00:48:09,383 --> 00:48:12,122
been given from one player
to another player.

1031
00:48:12,122 --> 00:48:14,114
Although, they may have
forgotten that.

1032
00:48:17,250 --> 00:48:20,720
Sometimes there's a situation
where most of the players

1033
00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:22,925
don't know which pairs
could be possibly

1034
00:48:22,925 --> 00:48:24,390
made at a given point.

1035
00:48:24,390 --> 00:48:27,662
Sometimes one player may know
that because he might have one

1036
00:48:27,662 --> 00:48:28,796
card and then somebody
else gave their

1037
00:48:28,796 --> 00:48:30,260
card to somebody else.

1038
00:48:30,260 --> 00:48:30,970
Something like this.

1039
00:48:30,970 --> 00:48:33,384
But the game definitely
knows this.

1040
00:48:33,384 --> 00:48:37,288
Also, the order of the deck
is randomly generated.

1041
00:48:37,288 --> 00:48:38,264
PROFESSOR: Yup.

1042
00:48:38,264 --> 00:48:42,232
And he's right at the beginning,
first turn.

1043
00:48:42,232 --> 00:48:44,950
AUDIENCE: So For Scrabble
all the players know the

1044
00:48:44,950 --> 00:48:45,680
pieces on the board.

1045
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:48,970
They all know the letter
frequencies.

1046
00:48:48,970 --> 00:48:50,398
AUDIENCE: They don't know
what tiles they're

1047
00:48:50,398 --> 00:48:51,226
going to get next.

1048
00:48:51,226 --> 00:48:53,393
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1049
00:48:53,393 --> 00:48:55,357
PROFESSOR: That's randomly
generated.

1050
00:48:55,357 --> 00:48:57,812
AUDIENCE: What if someone knows
the dictionary, though?

1051
00:48:57,812 --> 00:49:00,267
Like your opponent could have
a dictionary, but not

1052
00:49:00,267 --> 00:49:01,610
everyone knows it.

1053
00:49:01,610 --> 00:49:03,510
PROFESSOR: That's the knowledge
that is both

1054
00:49:03,510 --> 00:49:05,790
available to one player
and to the game.

1055
00:49:05,790 --> 00:49:09,170
Technically the game has an
official Scrabble dictionary.

1056
00:49:09,170 --> 00:49:11,128
If you're playing a digital
version, they're

1057
00:49:11,128 --> 00:49:12,378
probably using it.

1058
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:17,324
Your family, they probably
don't accept certain

1059
00:49:17,324 --> 00:49:19,292
two-letter words.

1060
00:49:19,292 --> 00:49:22,270
AUDIENCE: Until Pictionary.

1061
00:49:22,270 --> 00:49:26,440
AUDIENCE: They also don't know
what the other players have.

1062
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:29,626
So one person only knows
what they have.

1063
00:49:29,626 --> 00:49:32,362
But then the other three
aren't really--

1064
00:49:32,362 --> 00:49:34,520
But then again, we discussed how
if you're playing with two

1065
00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:37,660
people you can probabilistically
figure out

1066
00:49:37,660 --> 00:49:39,070
what they've got.

1067
00:49:39,070 --> 00:49:40,230
Or, figure out what you're
going to get

1068
00:49:40,230 --> 00:49:41,580
next when you draw.

1069
00:49:41,580 --> 00:49:43,220
PROFESSOR: It's also more likely
for you to figure out

1070
00:49:43,220 --> 00:49:46,280
as the game goes on and tiles
get played what letters will

1071
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:47,362
never come up again.

1072
00:49:47,362 --> 00:49:50,308
AUDIENCE: At pro levels of
Scrabble they do know exactly

1073
00:49:50,308 --> 00:49:52,272
what's the final set.

1074
00:49:52,272 --> 00:49:55,805
There's just a certain point
that you get to at which point

1075
00:49:55,805 --> 00:50:00,421
Scrabble players just know what
play and work out and all

1076
00:50:00,421 --> 00:50:01,070
the possible--

1077
00:50:01,070 --> 00:50:03,340
AUDIENCE: At that point do you
just keep letters that are

1078
00:50:03,340 --> 00:50:05,928
more likely to work with
what's in the bag.

1079
00:50:05,928 --> 00:50:09,260
How do you use that
to your advantage?

1080
00:50:09,260 --> 00:50:11,004
AUDIENCE: Well after all the
tiles are drawn you know what

1081
00:50:11,004 --> 00:50:14,340
your opponents have.

1082
00:50:14,340 --> 00:50:15,996
PROFESSOR: Yeah, you are trying
to prevent them from

1083
00:50:15,996 --> 00:50:17,820
using the letters that
they've got.

1084
00:50:17,820 --> 00:50:21,970
But most Scrabble boards,
although I don't know if all

1085
00:50:21,970 --> 00:50:24,040
Scrabble boards have this,
they actually show the

1086
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:31,018
frequency in which the number
of tiles where I'd be given

1087
00:50:31,018 --> 00:50:32,360
that are in there.

1088
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:34,714
So it's actually expected
that you're going to

1089
00:50:34,714 --> 00:50:35,904
take this into account.

1090
00:50:35,904 --> 00:50:38,662
It's like oh, there are only 4
h's or something like that,

1091
00:50:38,662 --> 00:50:39,646
and they're all out.

1092
00:50:39,646 --> 00:50:40,138
All right.

1093
00:50:40,138 --> 00:50:41,614
There's none coming
out of here.

1094
00:50:41,614 --> 00:50:43,582
AUDIENCE: Random other
Scrabble facts.

1095
00:50:43,582 --> 00:50:45,550
I found another one about
Scrabble when I was reading

1096
00:50:45,550 --> 00:50:48,010
about computational
Scrabble playing.

1097
00:50:48,010 --> 00:50:51,390
Apparently, in Scrabble
tournaments, they have a chess

1098
00:50:51,390 --> 00:50:54,315
court system, right, to making
sure it doesn't go over time.

1099
00:50:54,315 --> 00:50:57,135
And apparently, people set
aside half their time to

1100
00:50:57,135 --> 00:50:58,575
playing the end game
in Scrabble.

1101
00:50:58,575 --> 00:51:01,668
Which is the point at which
there's basically full

1102
00:51:01,668 --> 00:51:02,620
information.

1103
00:51:02,620 --> 00:51:05,476
And then, you're just sitting
there nodding out.

1104
00:51:05,476 --> 00:51:07,999
Like, what the best sequence
of play is to beat your

1105
00:51:07,999 --> 00:51:12,062
opponent so then, it
becomes like chess.

1106
00:51:12,062 --> 00:51:13,974
AUDIENCE: How much
time do you get?

1107
00:51:13,974 --> 00:51:15,224
AUDIENCE: I don't
even remember.

1108
00:51:18,898 --> 00:51:22,230
So, high level Scrabble is
completely different from the

1109
00:51:22,230 --> 00:51:23,182
Scrabble that you play.

1110
00:51:23,182 --> 00:51:24,432
It's crazy.

1111
00:51:29,710 --> 00:51:31,220
PROFESSOR: OK, all right.

1112
00:51:31,220 --> 00:51:32,370
We've still got some time.

1113
00:51:32,370 --> 00:51:33,090
Great.

1114
00:51:33,090 --> 00:51:36,772
Let's talk about cybernetics.

1115
00:51:36,772 --> 00:51:40,800
Cybernetics are, given that it
was kind of invented at MIT,

1116
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:43,835
it's something that you probably
encountered there.

1117
00:51:43,835 --> 00:51:45,510
And we've mentioned this
a few times, the

1118
00:51:45,510 --> 00:51:46,670
whole idea of feedback.

1119
00:51:46,670 --> 00:51:51,180
I want to break this down a
little bit, though, because

1120
00:51:51,180 --> 00:51:54,100
feedback works.

1121
00:51:54,100 --> 00:51:57,370
The official sense of feedback,
and this theory of

1122
00:51:57,370 --> 00:51:59,830
cybernetic systems as written by
Norbert Wiener back in the

1123
00:51:59,830 --> 00:52:04,230
40's, I think, is that there is
a sensor, something which

1124
00:52:04,230 --> 00:52:06,770
measures what the
system is doing.

1125
00:52:06,770 --> 00:52:11,080
There is a comparative, which
was, in his era, was that

1126
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:15,531
machine, and in our era is
probably a rule, a logic, a

1127
00:52:15,531 --> 00:52:21,580
statement, that compares this
against some sort of set value

1128
00:52:21,580 --> 00:52:24,980
or some sort of rule and decides
to take action--

1129
00:52:24,980 --> 00:52:26,410
an activator.

1130
00:52:26,410 --> 00:52:30,230
And you can think of this this
way, all as your sensor is the

1131
00:52:30,230 --> 00:52:31,920
variable that you're
looking at.

1132
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:33,995
Or, a set of collection
of variables that

1133
00:52:33,995 --> 00:52:34,390
you're looking at.

1134
00:52:34,390 --> 00:52:35,810
So what are you looking at?

1135
00:52:35,810 --> 00:52:37,925
Your comparable is a rule that
you're comparing against.

1136
00:52:41,066 --> 00:52:44,720
I'm trying to pick a game that
no one has mentioned here, so

1137
00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:50,935
far, that has a good
few facts system.

1138
00:52:50,935 --> 00:52:57,570
Let's say I played a version of
Cops and Robbers as a kid

1139
00:52:57,570 --> 00:53:01,070
where every time the cop caught
a robber, the robber

1140
00:53:01,070 --> 00:53:03,570
would have to go into a jail
area and put him down until

1141
00:53:03,570 --> 00:53:04,570
someone tagged him.

1142
00:53:04,570 --> 00:53:06,570
Someone from the robber
team tagged him.

1143
00:53:06,570 --> 00:53:09,988
And the basic idea is that the
fewer people there are, and a

1144
00:53:09,988 --> 00:53:12,890
few of us humanly are playing
in a big space, the more

1145
00:53:12,890 --> 00:53:14,650
robbers there are in jail,
the easier it is

1146
00:53:14,650 --> 00:53:17,038
for a robber to run.

1147
00:53:17,038 --> 00:53:18,785
Actually, because they
have more freedom.

1148
00:53:18,785 --> 00:53:21,695
Sure, there are more cops to any
given robbers so that you

1149
00:53:21,695 --> 00:53:23,870
can do flagging [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1150
00:53:23,870 --> 00:53:27,090
But one of the variables that
we're looking at are how many

1151
00:53:27,090 --> 00:53:30,155
people are trying to
be in the jail.

1152
00:53:30,155 --> 00:53:35,700
And an activator is basically
what's the rule or what's the

1153
00:53:35,700 --> 00:53:37,810
game dynamic that comes
with the play.

1154
00:53:37,810 --> 00:53:39,810
So that's a kind of interesting
things about the

1155
00:53:39,810 --> 00:53:41,510
Cops and Robbers situation.

1156
00:53:41,510 --> 00:53:45,740
One had more space to run when
all my buddies are in jail but

1157
00:53:45,740 --> 00:53:49,130
there are a lot more cops
going after me, and that

1158
00:53:49,130 --> 00:53:51,985
actually means that it's easier
for him to flag me even

1159
00:53:51,985 --> 00:53:53,540
though I had more
space to run.

1160
00:53:53,540 --> 00:53:54,830
So it goes up.

1161
00:53:54,830 --> 00:53:57,440
Both are negative and a positive
feedback system.

1162
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:02,205
More space to run is actually
a negative feedback system.

1163
00:54:02,205 --> 00:54:04,490
And how you tell the
difference is is it

1164
00:54:04,490 --> 00:54:08,115
stabilizing to my state or is
it cumulative to my state.

1165
00:54:08,115 --> 00:54:11,710
And it's stabilizing, which
means I'm doing badly, my

1166
00:54:11,710 --> 00:54:15,110
team's doing badly but this
is now giving me an edge.

1167
00:54:15,110 --> 00:54:20,120
Or, I'm doing really well and
this is really crappy.

1168
00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:22,960
Mario Kart is a type of these.

1169
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:24,110
Those are negative feedback.

1170
00:54:24,110 --> 00:54:29,620
Those are things that basically
reduce the gap

1171
00:54:29,620 --> 00:54:31,856
between the best and the people
who are doing well and

1172
00:54:31,856 --> 00:54:33,510
the people who aren't
doing well.

1173
00:54:33,510 --> 00:54:34,550
Positive feedback
is cumulative.

1174
00:54:34,550 --> 00:54:37,120
They're doing well, they're
going to do a bit better.

1175
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:40,132
So the cops have got everybody
but one and now

1176
00:54:40,132 --> 00:54:43,600
it's a 5 to 1 game.

1177
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:46,170
That's a positive feedback
system because now they can do

1178
00:54:46,170 --> 00:54:51,630
tactics as opposed to everyone
going after someone separate.

1179
00:54:51,630 --> 00:54:53,300
And you have these two feedback

1180
00:54:53,300 --> 00:54:55,580
views working together.

1181
00:54:55,580 --> 00:54:56,970
There are tons of
these in games.

1182
00:54:56,970 --> 00:55:01,190
Games aren't really the kind
of closed systems that

1183
00:55:01,190 --> 00:55:04,360
cybernetics were actually
originally designed to handle.

1184
00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:07,146
In fact, only a few systems are
digital systems in that

1185
00:55:07,146 --> 00:55:10,210
way and games are actually
better than most.

1186
00:55:10,210 --> 00:55:14,600
But let's talk about what's
in all the games

1187
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:15,455
we're talking about.

1188
00:55:15,455 --> 00:55:17,938
What are some of the negative
feedback you experience, and

1189
00:55:17,938 --> 00:55:19,710
some of the positive feedback
you experienced.

1190
00:55:19,710 --> 00:55:25,280
Mario Kart team, you got way
too easy [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1191
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:26,370
Think of some other game.

1192
00:55:26,370 --> 00:55:27,260
Think of some other game.

1193
00:55:27,260 --> 00:55:29,200
AUDIENCE: Wait, that's
what I didn't know.

1194
00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:32,000
The AI automatically
goes faster.

1195
00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:34,850
There's a huge gap.

1196
00:55:34,850 --> 00:55:36,780
PROFESSOR: That's more than just
a Mario Kart, actually.

1197
00:55:36,780 --> 00:55:38,520
That's a lot of racing games.

1198
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:40,690
AUDIENCE: Also, when if you're
playing like the Grand Prix

1199
00:55:40,690 --> 00:55:43,252
there's always three computers
that are always better than

1200
00:55:43,252 --> 00:55:45,480
everyone else, then all
the rest of them.

1201
00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:48,340
So they will always be the ones
that are in the top four.

1202
00:55:48,340 --> 00:55:50,730
Like they're in the
top, always.

1203
00:55:50,730 --> 00:55:53,900
PROFESSOR: Mario Kart team,
pick a different game.

1204
00:55:53,900 --> 00:55:57,840
Go through all of the games.

1205
00:55:57,840 --> 00:55:58,390
Think about chess.

1206
00:55:58,390 --> 00:56:00,606
Actually, chess might actually
be an interesting one for you.

1207
00:56:00,606 --> 00:56:01,402
AUDIENCE: No, but shot
chess, where you

1208
00:56:01,402 --> 00:56:02,996
retake the shot after--

1209
00:56:02,996 --> 00:56:03,952
PROFESSOR: Shot chess?

1210
00:56:03,952 --> 00:56:04,908
AUDIENCE: Yeah, shot chess.

1211
00:56:04,908 --> 00:56:06,342
PROFESSOR: That gets too easy.

1212
00:56:09,376 --> 00:56:10,550
AUDIENCE: Well, it tends
to be negative.

1213
00:56:10,550 --> 00:56:13,015
It can be negative feedback but
there's also the method of

1214
00:56:13,015 --> 00:56:14,430
doing it where there's
positive feedback.

1215
00:56:14,430 --> 00:56:16,090
It depends on how you play.

1216
00:56:16,090 --> 00:56:16,935
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

1217
00:56:16,935 --> 00:56:20,380
Winner takes any drinking
game, pretty much.

1218
00:56:20,380 --> 00:56:24,140
PROFESSOR: It depends on what
your goals are, right?

1219
00:56:24,140 --> 00:56:26,960
AUDIENCE: Such that you'd have
it that whenever you take a

1220
00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:27,930
piece you have to drink
that piece.

1221
00:56:27,930 --> 00:56:30,730
But then there's also whenever
you take a piece you opponent

1222
00:56:30,730 --> 00:56:32,450
has to drink a piece.

1223
00:56:32,450 --> 00:56:34,685
So it can either be negative or
positive feedback depending

1224
00:56:34,685 --> 00:56:35,440
on how you play.

1225
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:37,405
PROFESSOR: Yeah, but let's pick
a version of the game.

1226
00:56:42,610 --> 00:56:45,732
Ideally, pick the same game but
if it's too boring pick

1227
00:56:45,732 --> 00:56:46,982
something else.

1228
00:56:55,428 --> 00:57:01,380
OK, so let's start from
somewhere in the middle which

1229
00:57:01,380 --> 00:57:03,940
and I think is this
group right here.

1230
00:57:03,940 --> 00:57:06,260
AUDIENCE: So we took a pretty
easy one but it's pretty like

1231
00:57:06,260 --> 00:57:07,130
mathematical feedback.

1232
00:57:07,130 --> 00:57:08,350
We did War.

1233
00:57:08,350 --> 00:57:11,532
OK, statistically if you're
winning, every time you win

1234
00:57:11,532 --> 00:57:14,263
you're lowering the value
of your cards.

1235
00:57:14,263 --> 00:57:15,690
AUDIENCE: You had to average
the value to your deck.

1236
00:57:15,690 --> 00:57:16,646
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

1237
00:57:16,646 --> 00:57:18,104
So mathematically it's
negative feedback.

1238
00:57:18,104 --> 00:57:20,048
PROFESSOR: So, it's positive
feedback, right?

1239
00:57:20,048 --> 00:57:22,964
AUDIENCE: Negative.

1240
00:57:22,964 --> 00:57:25,120
[UNINTELLIGIBLE] the negative
impact is you're lowering the

1241
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:26,760
average value of what's
in your deck.

1242
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:28,177
PROFESSOR: So which makes
it harder for

1243
00:57:28,177 --> 00:57:29,040
you to keep do winning.

1244
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:30,870
AUDIENCE: Exactly.

1245
00:57:30,870 --> 00:57:32,408
PROFESSOR: So that's just
negative feedback.

1246
00:57:32,408 --> 00:57:33,860
Any positive feedback?

1247
00:57:33,860 --> 00:57:35,710
AUDIENCE: The small positive
feedback would be insofar as

1248
00:57:35,710 --> 00:57:37,450
you can't win unless you
get all the cards.

1249
00:57:37,450 --> 00:57:40,700
So that's winning hands gets
you more cards, gets you

1250
00:57:40,700 --> 00:57:41,950
closer to winning.

1251
00:57:46,253 --> 00:57:46,844
AUDIENCE: The more cards
you have the

1252
00:57:46,844 --> 00:57:48,145
closer you are to winning.

1253
00:57:48,145 --> 00:57:50,820
AUDIENCE: That's like saying,
and you get with points, the

1254
00:57:50,820 --> 00:57:52,410
more points you get, you're
closer to winning.

1255
00:57:52,410 --> 00:57:53,780
Therefore, positive feedback.

1256
00:57:53,780 --> 00:57:57,950
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I guess
it does count.

1257
00:57:57,950 --> 00:58:00,550
AUDIENCE: Logically it works,
but it's kind of a guess.

1258
00:58:00,550 --> 00:58:04,550
AUDIENCE: Well the only other
one is if you have a war then

1259
00:58:04,550 --> 00:58:06,185
you win those three extra cards
and depending on what

1260
00:58:06,185 --> 00:58:09,640
they are it could be positive
or negative.

1261
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:09,920
PROFESSOR: OK.

1262
00:58:09,920 --> 00:58:11,339
All right.

1263
00:58:11,339 --> 00:58:12,285
Which way should we go?

1264
00:58:12,285 --> 00:58:15,130
This way.

1265
00:58:15,130 --> 00:58:16,280
AUDIENCE: We switched
to Settlers.

1266
00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:20,170
We got a bunch of
feedback loops.

1267
00:58:20,170 --> 00:58:25,100
Obviously, the more points you
get, as soon as the points are

1268
00:58:25,100 --> 00:58:27,549
cities and settlements, then
the more resources you're

1269
00:58:27,549 --> 00:58:30,173
going to get in the future and
the more points you can build.

1270
00:58:30,173 --> 00:58:33,512
So potentially one player just
has so much stuff that he can

1271
00:58:33,512 --> 00:58:35,420
just do whatever he wants to.

1272
00:58:35,420 --> 00:58:36,210
PROFESSOR: And that's
positive?

1273
00:58:36,210 --> 00:58:37,070
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

1274
00:58:37,070 --> 00:58:40,360
There's also negative feedback
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1275
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:44,360
like it censors the relative
prices of resources.

1276
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:49,248
The more one resource is worth
at the time, each person, the

1277
00:58:49,248 --> 00:58:51,760
other one's the more people try
to build on that resource

1278
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:54,984
brick, then the less that
resource will be

1279
00:58:54,984 --> 00:58:56,111
worth in the future.

1280
00:58:56,111 --> 00:58:59,371
So, over the long term they tend
to balance out instead of

1281
00:58:59,371 --> 00:59:01,907
having one go rapidly
out of control.

1282
00:59:01,907 --> 00:59:02,630
PROFESSOR: Think
about that one.

1283
00:59:02,630 --> 00:59:04,886
That's interesting.

1284
00:59:04,886 --> 00:59:09,323
AUDIENCE: Also, the more, this
isn't exactly feedback, but

1285
00:59:09,323 --> 00:59:12,938
the more, the better you're
doing, the less likely people

1286
00:59:12,938 --> 00:59:14,746
are going to try to trick
you somewhere.

1287
00:59:14,746 --> 00:59:16,718
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1288
00:59:16,718 --> 00:59:18,854
That, in my opinion, is the
biggest negative feedback in

1289
00:59:18,854 --> 00:59:20,410
the entire game.

1290
00:59:20,410 --> 00:59:23,714
If you're in the lead,
everyone hates you.

1291
00:59:23,714 --> 00:59:27,666
And then you have eventually
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

1292
00:59:27,666 --> 00:59:31,870
AUDIENCE: There's also if he had
a bunch of resources, like

1293
00:59:31,870 --> 00:59:34,620
if you had a bunch of cities on
a resource and if someone

1294
00:59:34,620 --> 00:59:36,806
draws a six then you end up
getting six resources from a

1295
00:59:36,806 --> 00:59:41,150
tile then that's higher
probability that if someone

1296
00:59:41,150 --> 00:59:43,740
rolls a seven, [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1297
00:59:43,740 --> 00:59:44,990
So I guess that's negative
feedback, too.

1298
00:59:48,510 --> 00:59:52,080
PROFESSOR: Well your going to
seven and losing your cards

1299
00:59:52,080 --> 00:59:55,000
mechanic is very much
a negative feedback.

1300
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:55,800
I'm so rich!

1301
00:59:55,800 --> 00:59:57,770
Now, I'm not so rich.

1302
00:59:57,770 --> 00:59:59,148
What kind of poor
is this, ha, ha.

1303
00:59:59,148 --> 01:00:01,020
I still could have seen
them [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1304
01:00:01,020 --> 01:00:02,900
That's negative feedback.

1305
01:00:02,900 --> 01:00:07,080
A couple of things about
negative feedback to keep in

1306
01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:09,350
mind is that negative
feedback does tend

1307
01:00:09,350 --> 01:00:10,580
to make games longer.

1308
01:00:10,580 --> 01:00:12,920
It sort of staves off the ending
of the game because

1309
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:15,925
obviously, the difference
between the people in the lead

1310
01:00:15,925 --> 01:00:18,570
and people not in the lead
narrow it to the point that

1311
01:00:18,570 --> 01:00:20,910
sometimes puts it back
in connection again.

1312
01:00:20,910 --> 01:00:24,460
And positive feedback tends
to make things end sooner.

1313
01:00:31,030 --> 01:00:31,575
OK, all right.

1314
01:00:31,575 --> 01:00:33,240
Now, next team.

1315
01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:36,650
AUDIENCE: So in Scrabble, the
main one we came up with was

1316
01:00:36,650 --> 01:00:39,256
that if you play a long word,
you get a lot of points and

1317
01:00:39,256 --> 01:00:40,890
you also get a lot of tiles
which gives you the

1318
01:00:40,890 --> 01:00:44,034
opportunity the next turn to
play more points and get more

1319
01:00:44,034 --> 01:00:44,938
tiles played.

1320
01:00:44,938 --> 01:00:46,910
PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah.

1321
01:00:46,910 --> 01:00:49,810
AUDIENCE: There's also that the
more tiles you play, the

1322
01:00:49,810 --> 01:00:52,260
less tiles there
are available.

1323
01:00:52,260 --> 01:00:53,930
So that's kind of negative.

1324
01:00:53,930 --> 01:00:54,262
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

1325
01:00:54,262 --> 01:00:55,930
It's both positive
and negative.

1326
01:00:55,930 --> 01:00:56,820
That was proposed.

1327
01:00:56,820 --> 01:01:00,271
PROFESSOR: Near the end, yeah,
it becomes negative feedback.

1328
01:01:00,271 --> 01:01:02,736
You possibly end up with
just fewer tiles.

1329
01:01:02,736 --> 01:01:04,215
That's true.

1330
01:01:04,215 --> 01:01:05,694
Any other negative
loops in there?

1331
01:01:05,694 --> 01:01:09,145
AUDIENCE: Well we tried to
make it into a shot deal.

1332
01:01:12,103 --> 01:01:14,810
Yeah, every time you play a
bigger word it's easier for

1333
01:01:14,810 --> 01:01:17,457
someone else to play
a word off of that.

1334
01:01:17,457 --> 01:01:20,670
That's negative feedback.

1335
01:01:20,670 --> 01:01:22,250
PROFESSOR: That's an interesting
thing because

1336
01:01:22,250 --> 01:01:27,710
that's actually counter examples
to a point that was

1337
01:01:27,710 --> 01:01:29,903
made by Eric Zimmerman.

1338
01:01:29,903 --> 01:01:32,400
Because he argues that positive
feedback actually

1339
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:34,083
magnifies early successes.

1340
01:01:34,083 --> 01:01:37,041
And negative feedback tends
to magnify big ones.

1341
01:01:37,041 --> 01:01:40,770
Just like in Mario Kart, it's
great to be the second place

1342
01:01:40,770 --> 01:01:45,075
because if you do a late game
success that propels you to

1343
01:01:45,075 --> 01:01:47,160
first place just as
the game ends.

1344
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,712
Whereas, some of the examples
that we've been hearing on all

1345
01:01:50,712 --> 01:01:54,800
the feedback, if you manage to
be the first one to build a

1346
01:01:54,800 --> 01:02:00,057
city in Settlers, that tends to
perpetuate your success for

1347
01:02:00,057 --> 01:02:02,970
the rest of the game.

1348
01:02:02,970 --> 01:02:07,324
The game isn't quite as
predictable as that but it's

1349
01:02:07,324 --> 01:02:10,060
designed that way, at least.

1350
01:02:10,060 --> 01:02:14,690
But that's a very, very good
example of you've got this

1351
01:02:14,690 --> 01:02:19,700
negative feedback near the end
of the game where you have a

1352
01:02:19,700 --> 01:02:22,360
success by playing all
of your tiles but the

1353
01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:23,820
bag is almost empty.

1354
01:02:23,820 --> 01:02:27,510
So now, you are not getting,
not whether you are or not

1355
01:02:27,510 --> 01:02:32,180
getting an advantage, that
late game success isn't

1356
01:02:32,180 --> 01:02:33,810
translating into
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1357
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:42,640
Still, it's as a general rule,
if you aren't dealing with a

1358
01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:47,560
limited resource, like tiles,
then we do this situation

1359
01:02:47,560 --> 01:02:50,630
where a positive feedback game,
a positive feedback loop

1360
01:02:50,630 --> 01:02:54,670
is going to have to find
early successes.

1361
01:02:54,670 --> 01:02:58,880
And negative feedback make
late successes more hard.

1362
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:01,340
AUDIENCE: So we're basically,
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1363
01:03:01,340 --> 01:03:01,832
StarCraft.

1364
01:03:01,832 --> 01:03:07,244
But I think with StarCraft was
some of the obvious positive

1365
01:03:07,244 --> 01:03:11,180
feedback is that the more a
worker was built and then the

1366
01:03:11,180 --> 01:03:13,148
more mineral you can get.

1367
01:03:13,148 --> 01:03:15,608
The more mineral's gathered
you can get more troops.

1368
01:03:15,608 --> 01:03:17,248
PROFESSOR: The more workers
you build the

1369
01:03:17,248 --> 01:03:18,068
more cash you get.

1370
01:03:18,068 --> 01:03:21,030
The more cash you get the more
workers you can build.

1371
01:03:21,030 --> 01:03:22,315
That's [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1372
01:03:22,315 --> 01:03:27,180
AUDIENCE: Another positive
feedback loop is the more that

1373
01:03:27,180 --> 01:03:32,040
you conquer your opponents, the
harder it is for them to

1374
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:35,240
build up and finance you
while the easier it is

1375
01:03:35,240 --> 01:03:37,430
for you to beat them.

1376
01:03:37,430 --> 01:03:40,242
On it the other hand-- do you
want do negative feedback?

1377
01:03:40,242 --> 01:03:43,710
AUDIENCE: I don't think
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1378
01:03:43,710 --> 01:03:45,920
AUDIENCE: The only thing with
positive feedback is just like

1379
01:03:45,920 --> 01:03:48,710
emphasized a lot of the
earlier game strategy.

1380
01:03:48,710 --> 01:03:51,620
AUDIENCE: So a negative feedback
loop in StarCraft

1381
01:03:51,620 --> 01:03:56,230
would be the faster you, the
more you expand your

1382
01:03:56,230 --> 01:03:59,100
territories the harder it is for
you to defend because your

1383
01:03:59,100 --> 01:04:02,010
spraying half your resources,
and the more friends you have,

1384
01:04:02,010 --> 01:04:05,990
so the easier it is for your
opponents to attack you.

1385
01:04:05,990 --> 01:04:06,630
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1386
01:04:06,630 --> 01:04:09,540
We were having that little
discussion earlier and finding

1387
01:04:09,540 --> 01:04:10,935
other negative feedback
in this was

1388
01:04:10,935 --> 01:04:12,300
kind of tricky, actually.

1389
01:04:12,300 --> 01:04:18,620
AUDIENCE: Another one that
I thought of was the more

1390
01:04:18,620 --> 01:04:21,260
research that you do, the less
resources you have for

1391
01:04:21,260 --> 01:04:24,240
building units or workers
and such.

1392
01:04:24,240 --> 01:04:26,680
And so you have to decide.

1393
01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:29,260
I mean, your power will be units
but you may have less to

1394
01:04:29,260 --> 01:04:31,640
actually build those units.

1395
01:04:31,640 --> 01:04:33,430
And probably not really--

1396
01:04:33,430 --> 01:04:36,415
it's a very small
negative loop.

1397
01:04:36,415 --> 01:04:39,060
AUDIENCE: Another thing, too,
the more shoots you have, the

1398
01:04:39,060 --> 01:04:43,706
less attention you can give
to all the [? children. ?]

1399
01:04:43,706 --> 01:04:45,698
So it's harder to manage.

1400
01:04:45,698 --> 01:04:47,192
AUDIENCE: The less effectively
use them.

1401
01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:54,792
PROFESSOR: The more different
screens you've got to keep

1402
01:04:54,792 --> 01:04:55,960
your eye on makes it--

1403
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:59,220
AUDIENCE: That's the great thing
about the control wand.

1404
01:04:59,220 --> 01:05:00,150
It's like one, go here.

1405
01:05:00,150 --> 01:05:01,050
Two, go here.

1406
01:05:01,050 --> 01:05:01,810
Three, go here.

1407
01:05:01,810 --> 01:05:04,046
One thing a team gives, though,
is there's a huge

1408
01:05:04,046 --> 01:05:04,792
positive feedback.

1409
01:05:04,792 --> 01:05:08,720
If you're doing 3D, if you take
out one of them and then

1410
01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:09,970
it's so much easier.

1411
01:05:13,260 --> 01:05:15,010
PROFESSOR: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1412
01:05:15,010 --> 01:05:16,980
AUDIENCE: Then you have a bunch
of risk because what

1413
01:05:16,980 --> 01:05:20,180
happens if you try taking
out one person?

1414
01:05:20,180 --> 01:05:23,180
Then, you fail and now you're
weak but then they have a lot

1415
01:05:23,180 --> 01:05:25,454
more troops.

1416
01:05:25,454 --> 01:05:27,939
AUDIENCE: So in keeping in
comparison with Warcraft III

1417
01:05:27,939 --> 01:05:32,163
which didn't have built-in
negative feedback where if

1418
01:05:32,163 --> 01:05:35,642
your army gets past a certain
size and it costs more, at

1419
01:05:35,642 --> 01:05:39,370
least you can get
taxed income.

1420
01:05:39,370 --> 01:05:39,867
Yeah.

1421
01:05:39,867 --> 01:05:41,670
I don't know if you guys
know about this.

1422
01:05:41,670 --> 01:05:44,370
But basically, think like
StarCraft but then you have a

1423
01:05:44,370 --> 01:05:47,770
food count that once you get
past a certain food count,

1424
01:05:47,770 --> 01:05:50,710
each of your peons brings in
less gold from the farm.

1425
01:05:50,710 --> 01:05:52,630
I'm sorry, from the gold mine.

1426
01:05:52,630 --> 01:05:55,890
And it gets even worse the
more troops you get.

1427
01:05:55,890 --> 01:05:58,180
So you're kind of punished
for being too far ahead.

1428
01:05:58,180 --> 01:06:00,440
PROFESSOR: That's a very
key negative feedback.

1429
01:06:03,450 --> 01:06:07,290
AUDIENCE: This isn't a strict
thing to keep up with but it's

1430
01:06:07,290 --> 01:06:10,540
interesting to look at the
resource management.

1431
01:06:10,540 --> 01:06:16,570
Basically investing in units
that bring in more resources

1432
01:06:16,570 --> 01:06:18,850
or investing in other units that
you're fighting are all

1433
01:06:18,850 --> 01:06:20,570
different positive
feedback loops.

1434
01:06:20,570 --> 01:06:24,600
And you can view not investing
as negative feedback loops in

1435
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:25,540
those areas.

1436
01:06:25,540 --> 01:06:27,874
Although, it's not really
completely true.

1437
01:06:27,874 --> 01:06:28,780
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1438
01:06:28,780 --> 01:06:30,480
are trying to think of
that as negative

1439
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:31,050
feedback but you're right.

1440
01:06:31,050 --> 01:06:32,670
They are different positive
feedback groups.

1441
01:06:32,670 --> 01:06:34,340
They work very differently.

1442
01:06:34,340 --> 01:06:36,010
Winning a battle makes
it easier for you

1443
01:06:36,010 --> 01:06:38,900
to win later battles.

1444
01:06:38,900 --> 01:06:41,582
But building more workers makes
it easier for you to go

1445
01:06:41,582 --> 01:06:43,560
more units.

1446
01:06:43,560 --> 01:06:46,590
AUDIENCE: Kind of in a not
apparent positive feedback

1447
01:06:46,590 --> 01:06:51,920
issue with StarCraft upgrading
a Zealot's attack power by

1448
01:06:51,920 --> 01:06:56,510
just one greatly increases its
efficiency because now two

1449
01:06:56,510 --> 01:06:58,240
attacks will take
down a Zealot.

1450
01:06:58,240 --> 01:06:59,660
Where before it would
be three attacks--

1451
01:06:59,660 --> 01:07:02,090
PROFESSOR: I don't want to get
into that much detail.

1452
01:07:02,090 --> 01:07:04,750
Let's go onto the next game.

1453
01:07:04,750 --> 01:07:06,964
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1454
01:07:06,964 --> 01:07:10,244
AUDIENCE: So, let's just say,
Crunch we can have a bigger

1455
01:07:10,244 --> 01:07:11,884
workforce and they're returning
to pay for that.

1456
01:07:11,884 --> 01:07:14,016
So you get more money for your
workforce but you still have

1457
01:07:14,016 --> 01:07:14,836
to pay for that.

1458
01:07:14,836 --> 01:07:15,328
That's negative feedback.

1459
01:07:15,328 --> 01:07:15,820
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1460
01:07:15,820 --> 01:07:17,788
That's a killer.

1461
01:07:17,788 --> 01:07:20,740
AUDIENCE: It turns out in
Monopoly if you have a lot of

1462
01:07:20,740 --> 01:07:23,200
money, and a lot of stuff, which
people then land on,

1463
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:24,184
which gives you more money.

1464
01:07:24,184 --> 01:07:27,136
AUDIENCE: With what?

1465
01:07:27,136 --> 01:07:29,980
AUDIENCE: That's top secret
secret strategy.

1466
01:07:29,980 --> 01:07:33,633
I mean, Monopoly is to buy lots
of stuff and then have

1467
01:07:33,633 --> 01:07:37,550
people land on it so you
can get more money.

1468
01:07:37,550 --> 01:07:42,600
AUDIENCE: So this one little
negative feedback into,

1469
01:07:42,600 --> 01:07:48,500
actually two, for the
income tax and--

1470
01:07:48,500 --> 01:07:50,020
AUDIENCE: --repairs on property
and the like.

1471
01:07:50,020 --> 01:07:53,181
AUDIENCE: So several thousand
dollars to build hotels.

1472
01:07:53,181 --> 01:07:56,170
AUDIENCE: Our actual government
is like that, too.

1473
01:07:56,170 --> 01:08:00,340
PROFESSOR: So it patterns out
to real life but then again,

1474
01:08:00,340 --> 01:08:01,790
so is the whole of the
Monopoly game.

1475
01:08:01,790 --> 01:08:04,237
The whole of the Monopoly game
is about real life land

1476
01:08:04,237 --> 01:08:06,445
ownership monopoly in Atlantic
City, I believe.

1477
01:08:06,445 --> 01:08:06,700
Yes.

1478
01:08:06,700 --> 01:08:08,280
AUDIENCE: It's Atlantic City.

1479
01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:09,540
PROFESSOR: So yeah.

1480
01:08:09,540 --> 01:08:12,567
And that gives us a good segue
into degenerate strategies.

1481
01:08:16,729 --> 01:08:17,399
OK.

1482
01:08:17,399 --> 01:08:17,910
All right.

1483
01:08:17,910 --> 01:08:21,229
So I'll go into that
a little bit.

1484
01:08:21,229 --> 01:08:24,870
But maybe I'll get at what
we did on Wednesday.

1485
01:08:24,870 --> 01:08:29,065
But Wednesday we're going to
focus that mostly on play

1486
01:08:29,065 --> 01:08:29,779
testing your game.

1487
01:08:29,779 --> 01:08:31,779
If we have no time for anything
else, we are play

1488
01:08:31,779 --> 01:08:32,990
testing your game.

1489
01:08:32,990 --> 01:08:34,840
And so bring in your games.

1490
01:08:34,840 --> 01:08:35,660
Bring in your cards.

1491
01:08:35,660 --> 01:08:37,800
Make sure your cards are
ready before class.

1492
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,490
Don't be writing stuff.

1493
01:08:40,490 --> 01:08:46,046
Try not to be changing stuff
right up to another class.

1494
01:08:46,046 --> 01:08:49,520
Sometimes you might be feeling
the pressure to do that.

1495
01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:51,340
Try to be ready before
class starts.

1496
01:08:51,340 --> 01:08:53,880
And try to show up right at
the beginning of class.

1497
01:08:53,880 --> 01:08:55,604
Because it will really, really
suck if you finish play

1498
01:08:55,604 --> 01:08:57,800
testing, if you finish play
testing someone else's game

1499
01:08:57,800 --> 01:09:00,130
and that team doesn't
have enough time

1500
01:09:00,130 --> 01:09:01,250
to play test yours.

1501
01:09:01,250 --> 01:09:03,490
OK, and when it may happen
and that will suck.

1502
01:09:03,490 --> 01:09:09,070
So let's try to start that right
on time next Wednesday.

1503
01:09:09,070 --> 01:09:10,320
Thank you.