Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

On the nature of trust in pseudo random number generators true nature

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
12,618
Its hard to have a proper discussion about RNG without watching first The Blood of Heroes with Rutheg Hauer. Watch it first and then you can move on.

I want to drive closer attention to rules of Jugger, time keeping to be exact. You have an old guy with 100 stones and a gong. He is throwing stones at a gong. Game starts and ends with 1st and last stone. Here:


Now imagine watching fifa game which length would be determined in same way. Commentators would be like: he is barely standing, we are predicting 30min longer game than usual.
Later on, after careful consideration referee would decide add 5 more stones.
Time itself becomes non deterministic.

Now when you play your perfect rpg, imagine that behind each dice roll there is temporary universe spun up. It contains only old man with his stones and a referee with pocket atomic clock. He counts seconds of old man performance and returns value modulo 20.
How do you like your RNG systems now?
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
Patron
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
5,381
Location
Երևան
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I understood it, you're not missing out on anything.

Movie looks cool though, so I might take a look at it.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
stopped reading at gong

EDIT: i mean, isn't it common knowledge that there are no random numbers? like, doesn't everyone know this?
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
Either the universe is deterministic by nature, which renders the whole ordeal about RNG pointless, or it isn't, which makes deterministic behaviour stupid, since every aspect that lead to the moment in which the pre-determined outcome of a system is decided has been aleatory.
Whatever you choose to believe, the wheels are already in motion and there's nothing you can do to fight against it. This discussion is pointless, your only escape is death.
 

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,786
stopped reading at gong

EDIT: i mean, isn't it common knowledge that there are no random numbers? like, doesn't everyone know this?

For maxium craziness you can connect a cesium-decay based random number generator to your game
 

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
12,618
deterministic system > RNG
 
Last edited:

FeelTheRads

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
13,716
What im getting at are that people are fine with rng without knowing that under the hood someone is counting ticks of a clock and performing some math. Or get used keystrokes/eyeball movement/whatever if you want to be more fancy.

What the fuck does it matter? Does it make your autism flare up?

lukaszek: Hey, guise, random numbers suck because u don't always know what's gonna happen!
codex: That's the point, it adds extra excitement and instead of having everything be 1 or 0 you sometimes have to consider whether you can succeed or not
lukaszek: Ah, but did you know that the random numbers are not really random, but predetermined! HAHA, suckers!

:hmmm:
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
you had me until you did put fate in equation
It was just a figure of speech; you don't actually have any kind of choice, otherwise I would've been in contradiction with my previous statement. Figured you'd get the implied joke with the inability to control death and all that neurotic drivel.
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
4,130
Location
YES!
Its hard to have a proper discussion about RNG without watching first The Blood of Heroes with Rutheg Hauer. Watch it first and then you can move on.

I want to drive closer attention to rules of Jugger, time keeping to be exact. You have an old guy with 100 stones and a gong. He is throwing stones at a gong. Game starts and ends with 1st and last stone. Here:


Now imagine watching fifa game which length would be determined in same way. Commentators would be like: he is barely standing, we are predicting 30min longer game than usual.
Later on, after careful consideration referee would decide add 5 more stones.
Time itself becomes non deterministic.

Now when you play your perfect rpg, imagine that behind each dice roll there is temporary universe spun up. It contains only old man with his stones and a referee with pocket atomic clock. He counts seconds of old man performance and returns value modulo 20.
How do you like your RNG systems now?


Since a good amount of rpg systems describe a round as a time between 6 to 10 seconds or so, without being perfectly specific, time was already non-deterministic.

And the good thing about random number systems isn't the dice roll and luck. It is the underlying systems that allow you to manipulate the random numbers by chardev, itemization, etc. The more complex the system, the more ways to manipulate, the more fun it is.

Non-random systems are not fun for thinking people. The lack of variables make the outcomes perfectly foreseeable for most people. What could be a beautiful menagerie of incalculable possibilities is reduced to a quarter sized chess board presenting the square root of fun. I also like when someone advertises a game as being deterministic but it allows you to increase your dodge chance and other random number elements - making the rare non-random game that isn't.

People that prefer games with no random number manipulation are basically calling for high-stakes casino poker to be turned into solitaire. You remove the betting aspect, the luck aspect, the strategy aspect, reading people aspect, and the thrill of taking a chance without being sure of the outcome, etc. But not just that outcome, the next outcome, and the next, which all need to be manipulated as best you can, with all the various tools the systems put at your disposal, until jackpot motherfuckers.

Why not remove itemization? Why have better items? Why have choice and consequence in the story? Why have character generation? Why have chardev systems? Why have rpgs? Why not make every game Metal Gear Whatever?

RPGs are the sum total of its parts. If you remove the reason for all the good parts, you have a lesser product. This is not just true for non-random systems being far lesser products when viewed through an rpg lens, or a realism lens, but also for games that do not present a challenge. With no challenge you take away the reason for all those systems and are left with a dramatically inferior product.

Also, deterministic is a word meant to manipulate perception. Its random or non-random. Or systematic. Saying deterministic is a way to dress a pig up to make it look fancy or smart. To make it more palatable. Like the MSM using undocumented immigrant instead of illegal alien. Its used to promote and agenda instead of being what it is. And that agenda is shit games with barely any rpg elements.
 
Self-Ejected

DakaSha V

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
436
People that claim deterministic systems are inherently better than non-deterministic systems are just trying to feign some kind of skill-superiority, while wondering why all the games that they are so proud of being good at feel like boring ass puzzles instead of proper tactics and strategy.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
Patron
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
18,650
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
People that claim deterministic systems are inherently better than non-deterministic systems are just trying to feign some kind of skill-superiority, while wondering why all the games that they are so proud of being good at feel like boring ass puzzles instead of proper tactics and strategy.
Tactics and strategy are not deterministic?
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
random_number.png
 

Tacgnol

Shitlord
Patron
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
1,871,734
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
You people will "discuss" fucking anything. Unsubscribing.

I believe this statement requires further discussion.

On topic, pseudo random number generation is usually good enough for 99% of scenarios. Poorly coded systems lead to dumb situations, like the Wasteland 2 jamming system where a 1% jam chance would routinely jam multiple times in a row (probably a badly implemented seed value).
 

Berekän

A life wasted
Patron
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
3,097
Poorly coded systems lead to dumb situations, like the Wasteland 2 jamming system where a 1% jam chance would routinely jam multiple times in a row (probably a badly implemented seed value).

So I wasn't crazy after all, thought it was just me.
 

Tacgnol

Shitlord
Patron
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
1,871,734
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Poorly coded systems lead to dumb situations, like the Wasteland 2 jamming system where a 1% jam chance would routinely jam multiple times in a row (probably a badly implemented seed value).

So I wasn't crazy after all, thought it was just me.

I can't remember whether they ever directly acknowledged the problem, but it was certainly fixed at some point.

I believe other Unity games have had similar issues with the engine's built in randomisation library.
 

Black Angel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 23, 2016
Messages
2,910
Location
Wonderland
Letting character's skill decides whether or not the character can pick that lock through dice rolls >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> shitty lockpicking minigames.

Same with hacking.

I know this thread more or less talking about combat in general, but I just want to say.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom