Oh, Orson Scott Card...
I was reading "Ender's Game" for the... well, hundredth time is probably not too far off, yesterday, and I got to the Dragon Army kicking ass and taking names in the Battle Room.
The Battle Room has always been a point of annoyance for me. The goal of the Battle Room is to defeat an equally numbered force by "freezing" all of the enemy soldiers and then using five of your "unfrozen" soldiers to open the enemy's door to win the game.
And then in the last Battle Room, when Ender faces two armies at once and clearly has no chance of out-fighting the enemy, he just goes for the door and wins this way, which is supposedly a BRILLIANT tactical move, something that no one has ever done before! Amazing!
Complete BS!
The biggest problem I have with Ender's Game is that all these supposedly brilliant kids, who's whole life is based around this game, never thought of this strategy.
Card apparantly never talked to a gamer.
One of the most important thought processes that occur within the mind of a gamer is "what is the fastest/simplest/easiest way to win?" Fair? Doesn't matter. Intended? Who cares? The first thing that any of them, when looking at the rules for the Battle Room would ask is "Wait, so I don't actually need to Freeze any of the enemy, as long as I get the five guys to open the door, right?"
Of course, "Ender's Game" has been around long before the NES, before there was any games at all like the Battle Room. Well, maybe except for Chess, where you have to keep up a strong defense because it doesn't matter how many pieces your opponent has, as long as he can take your king. But, well, I can't really fault him for not having that kind of mindset.
Just a baseless, pointless rant, I guess. But, writers of the future! (aka: Liz and Mom) Be aware that the simplest path to victory is going to be the one that people are going to figure out!
The Battle Room has always been a point of annoyance for me. The goal of the Battle Room is to defeat an equally numbered force by "freezing" all of the enemy soldiers and then using five of your "unfrozen" soldiers to open the enemy's door to win the game.
And then in the last Battle Room, when Ender faces two armies at once and clearly has no chance of out-fighting the enemy, he just goes for the door and wins this way, which is supposedly a BRILLIANT tactical move, something that no one has ever done before! Amazing!
Complete BS!
The biggest problem I have with Ender's Game is that all these supposedly brilliant kids, who's whole life is based around this game, never thought of this strategy.
Card apparantly never talked to a gamer.
One of the most important thought processes that occur within the mind of a gamer is "what is the fastest/simplest/easiest way to win?" Fair? Doesn't matter. Intended? Who cares? The first thing that any of them, when looking at the rules for the Battle Room would ask is "Wait, so I don't actually need to Freeze any of the enemy, as long as I get the five guys to open the door, right?"
Of course, "Ender's Game" has been around long before the NES, before there was any games at all like the Battle Room. Well, maybe except for Chess, where you have to keep up a strong defense because it doesn't matter how many pieces your opponent has, as long as he can take your king. But, well, I can't really fault him for not having that kind of mindset.
Just a baseless, pointless rant, I guess. But, writers of the future! (aka: Liz and Mom) Be aware that the simplest path to victory is going to be the one that people are going to figure out!
posted by Wraithy at 4/18/2006 04:30:00 PM
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