Gambling in games

[psychospacecow]

Basically, what do you think of it when a game throws in slots, roulette, blackjack, and craps like that? I personally don't mind the inclusion of things like this, but they're usually necessary to unlock certain things or complete quests/achievements, and frankly, that's a problem for me, because I'm gonna about to learn how to play a game to play a game in my game.

[megaMasquerain]

I don't care as long as it's a side thing. If it's for completionists (Porygon in RBY) or just a way to make extra cash, it's a-ok with me!

I'm mostly posting here because there's a debacle about building casinos in some smaller towns here and I've started telling people that we should build a Voltorb Flip facility instead. It's kid-friendly!

[puggsoy]

I think slots are fine, they're in a fair number of Mario games. Any other gambling-based minigames can be a bit much, especially if success in them is necessary to progress.

It does depend on the game though. I haven't played it myself but to my knowledge Fallout: New Vegas has various places you can play roulette and whatnot. As long as winning in them isn't necessary in the main quest (side-quests are OK), then I think it's fine, since you're in Vegas it's sort of needed for the atmosphere of the setting.

[psychospacecow]

Funny you mention Fallout: New Vegas actually. I'm trying to get the gambling achievements, and one of them includes an invented card game called caravan. Its a pain.

[Vipershark]

There's this one part of Red Dead Redemption that forces you to play a card game or something and you have to win in order to advance the plotline and it's totally RNG dependent. I once got insanely bad luck and it took me hours just to actually win a single game.
That one made me really mad.

If the gambling is just a side minigame though, I don't mind it.

[Gwen]

I don't mind it at all. I spent hours in Red Dead finding different places to play and would gamble a day away instead of advancing in the story. Knights of the Old Republic also had this made up card game that I obsessively played.

[Eno]

If it's an optional way to make extra money, sure. If it's intergral to actually continue in the game, that's pretty bad. The rock paper scissors in Alex Kidd is a good example of that.

I tend to really dislike randomness in games in general, unless the game is built around that sort of thing (random encounters, random events etc.). Mount & Blade really annoys me when it comes to tournaments (it's technically gambling so it works...) because they're SO dependent on luck: that you and your team will have good equipment and you won't get a weapon you're no good with; that the enemy team won't be unfairly given better equipment than your team; and that your team-mates won't be complete idiots and get themselves instantly killed, leaving you to get chased around the arena by the remaining four enemies on horseback.

It would be so much more fair if you could choose what weapon you wanted to go into the tournament with, or if at the very least it was guaranteed that all the teams would have the same equipment... Although some tournaments do make sure of that, so it's even random what rules a tournament will follow.

[-¼-]

If it's an optional way to make extra money, sure. If it's intergral to actually continue in the game, that's pretty bad. The rock paper scissors in Alex Kidd is a good example of that.

I tend to really dislike randomness in games in general, unless the game is built around that sort of thing (random encounters, random events etc.). Mount & Blade really annoys me when it comes to tournaments (it's technically gambling so it works...) because they're SO dependent on luck: that you and your team will have good equipment and you won't get a weapon you're no good with; that the enemy team won't be unfairly given better equipment than your team; and that your team-mates won't be complete idiots and get themselves instantly killed, leaving you to get chased around the arena by the remaining four enemies on horseback.

It would be so much more fair if you could choose what weapon you wanted to go into the tournament with, or if at the very least it was guaranteed that all the teams would have the same equipment... Although some tournaments do make sure of that, so it's even random what rules a tournament will follow.

While I agree with you that it would be cool to be able to chose your equipment (have you suggested this feature in the bannerlord thread?), it's quite easy to win tournaments because it's always the same thing. You just need fighting skills and skill points, because gaming skills + skill points = kills. You can still reduce damage to yourself and friendly troops in the options, but that's the dishonourable coward's way...

Or just do swadian tournaments, they're easier because they always give you a horse, a lance or javelins. You just need to make them stuck to the walls and strike. The wait shouldn't be too long since King Harlaus often disrupt war tactics simply for hosting a feast... and where there's a feast, there's usually a tournament!

Sorry for being off topic, but he was half off topic.

[Zero Kirby]

I remember World is not Enough on the PlayStation having the mandatory Blackjack segment where you have to win a lot of money... playing Blackjack.

Against the dealer only.

... And you have to quadruple what you start with.

Kinda sucked.

It really depends on the kind of game. Something like poker which requires a little more skill, I can get behind that, especially if it's a side thing I can get side-tracked by (or it's just the whole game, like Poker Night at the Inventory). But mandatory luck bits? Not really very fun.

[Keychain]

Thought this was relevant.