Newsgroups: comp.org.acm
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: The Programming Contest IS A GAME!!!
Message-ID: <QIBB56@xds13.ferranti.com>
Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva)
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
References: <9105020134.AA29577@enuxha.eas.asu.edu> <1991May9.004140.1116@tc.fluke.COM> <-F7BOR2@xds13.ferranti.com> <1462@earth.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: Wed, 15 May 91 13:59:19 GMT

In article <1462@earth.cs.utexas.edu> mbarnett@cs.utexas.edu (Michael Barnett) writes:
> In article <-F7BOR2@xds13.ferranti.com> peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
> >In article <1991May9.004140.1116@tc.fluke.COM> kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth) writes:
> >> I can't believe all this <expletive> about the programming contest.  How is
> >> football or basketball like real life.  It's a CONTEST.  Y'know, a GAME?

> >And what's a game? A model of a system. The closer it gets to reality within
> >the constraints on playability, the better. Look at any war game out there.
> >Eastern Front, or Afrika Corps. These games are considered the tops because
> >of the level of detail and the closeness to reality.

> I have to admit that I read the above paragraph at least three times
> before I could believe what I was seeing. Would those games become even
> more popular if the players ran an actual risk of death or injury? 

Perhaps you ought to read it again. These games model things at a divisional
or higher level, but at that level they're unbelievably detailed. If you want
to play war games at a 1-on-1 personal level, I'd recommend "The Survival
Game" over "Sniper".

> I would appreciate some self-editorship else this newsgroup risks being
> swamped. I usually try not to respond, but this comment was just too much,
> especially with our "just war" so recently over.

If only people would be willing to settle differences at a game board rather
than a battlefield I, for one, would be much happier. I doubt we have that
different an opinion of the whole bloody business. That doesn't change the
popularity of the more accurate simulations. If war games bother you, then
consider Microsoft Flight Simulator.
-- 
Peter da Silva; Ferranti International Controls Corporation; +1 713 274 5180;
Sugar Land, TX  77487-5012;         `-_-' "Have you hugged your wolf, today?"
                                     >U<
