The Price of Randomness - Balancing RNG - Extra Credits

Let's compare the RNG design in Hearthstone and Slay the Spire and figure out how we can design RNG for strategic difficulty without veering into completely frustrating players.
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[@extrahistory]

When is RNG

[@TierZoo]

I feel like this postulate helps explain why Battle Royales work so well! There's a huge RNG factor in the first minute of the game because the weapons and equipment you'll find when you first land is random. But the RNG factor quickly drops as you survive and collect weapons you actually want to use in battle. By the end, there's basically zero RNG and therefore a really low frustration factor.

[@narri214]

That last equation, lol

[@DeyaViews]

I appreciated that "still not a Dan" joke at the end a lot, because it made me feel like Matt has a lot of respect for Dan. You're doing a good job, Matt!

[@LimeGreenTeknii]

Too much randomness is when you make all the right moves and still lose.

[@BeerByTheNumbers]

Pray to rngesus

[@toatsmcgoats727]

i jsut want a definitive answer, is dan gone for good? once i get this answer i won't bother you guys about it anymore

[@Zeldur]

I like the hint of humor at the end. It adds a nice touch

[@christhestampeder]

The problem with equating money to time here is that you're factoring that time spent earning the money at exactly the same value as time spent playing a video game in terms of total frustration when you lose it. I don't think I would be alone in saying an hour spent at work is a lot harder hour than one spent playing video games, even if you're losing. If you're going to count money as time, I feel like it needs to be weighted heavier than time spent on a leisure activity.

[@BlueVegasCourier]

I think, Extra history should make a: Extra Games Studio, making games for people to learn fun also, while getting sponsored by others that they would sponsor onto their channel a basic trade and money making idea.

[@wezza668]

What did math ever do for us anyway?

[@PatrickWaddingham]

I, for one, have finally decided that Not-Dan is OK.

[@zodayn4767]

4:35

[@MrServantRider]

"Divided by Still Not A Dan"

[@jesternario]

Divided by still not a Dan...

[@pixelsdeadchannel]

That last bit was great.

[@sortacozi]

I want to like this video twice for that joke at the end

[@KaiserAfini]

I agree, for some players, too much RNG can be disheartening. XCOM 2 drove me away more than a few times because a bad mission could set off a domino effect that lead to your doom, making you lose hours of progress after being bled dry. Since I am still trying to be better at strategy games, being sent back to square one and seeing how much work I need to put in just to get back to the interesting part just builds aggravation.

[@BMVfilms]

I think that RNG formula definitely needs to diverge for single player vs multiplayer. There's that innate call for fairness against playing a human being that just compounds the salt from poor rng. (he got lucky AND I got unlucky)

[@Nerdnumberone]

There are some big differences in the value of randomness based on target audience. While risk management can be a huge part of some games, randomness often benefits weaker players. Randomness allows a novice to snag the occasional lucky win on a slightly better player. This can be great for casual and party games, but for games where peak performance is very important, consistency may be preferred. In a speedrun, even a few seconds lost in a critical area could ruin a potential world record run. In a pro tournament, RNG could mean having the best player in the world losing thousands of dollars.