For the first time, I tried out the “find-me-a-game-o-matic” feature on the site. I was given a couple recommendations that I agreed with! However, I was also presented this abomination of a figure:
The big one: why is this a scatter plot? (It ought to be a bar graph, if not simply a table). At the very least get rid of the dashed-line interpolation.
“Competition” as a category is perhaps not the right word to use here (competitiveness is mostly a mentality or group dynamic and less a property of the game). I think “conflict” more properly conveys what is meant.
The idea of an “X% Players” score is a bit silly. Maybe a notion of “scalability” works better here? Some games are only good at a very specific player count, and other work great with lots of different numbers of players.
For clarity: we don’t know whether the staff of SU&SD read this site, so if you actually want to reach them you should probably use some other way of contacting them. That said, welcome! And I agree entirely; with my statistician’s hat on my first response is to try to work out what that pretty chart is trying to cover up.
Welcome @Azura. I am a sufferer of that chart, and was victim of it when deciding to buy a game that I could play with my partner. We went for Fog of Love after consulting it, and seeing the review with her. It has hit the table twice in nearly a year.
So I would take that tool with a pinch of salt. Most of the time when I consulted it, I was getting Keyforge as a result. Which doesn’t interest me in the slightest…
I love that chart. It’s like the science bit in shampoo ads. It uses lovely colours, funky little tags, and percentages to give you an insight into the beautiful mind of the algorithm.
And here’s the best part: what it’s telling you is precisely what you just told it - nothing else. But it manages to make it look like the outcome of a load of complex calculations.
It uses lovely colours, funky little tags, and percentages to give you an insight into the beautiful mind of the algorithm.
I agree that it does do this! I think making data beautiful is very important, but an important part of beautiful data is conveying it clearly and unambiguously.
we don’t know whether the staff of SU&SD read this site, so if you actually want to reach them you should probably use some other way of contacting them
Thanks, I actually had no idea; I assumed this was the most appropriate avenue for providing feedback but maybe I was mistaken.
This is lovely. But you’re putting more information in than the chart actually has available.
The original chart, which shows the y axis as a percentage, only actually has three possible values for Complexity, Strategy and Conflict, represented arbitrarily as 33%, 67% and 100%. These correspond to the three radio button options that you were given to start with, so might as well be 0, 1 and 2. 5 for Strategy is hard to understand in context.
The Players column has 29%, 43%, 71% and 100% as options, representing 2/7, 3/7, 5/7 and 7/7 as percentages. It is truly an amazingly non-informative thing. Two of the tags even have the same label (Com). Still, it’s very beautiful, and who doesn’t love beautiful things?
I’d love to see the 108 possible results. I think they’ve added more options since the last time I looked at it, because I think I remember thinking that there were only 30-odd possible results at some point in the past.
I did the thing
Cmplx
Str
Cmpt
Pla
Result 1
Result 2
Result 3
Result 4
1
3
1
2
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
1
2
1
2
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
1
1
1
2
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
1
3
2
2
Carcassonne
1
2
2
2
Fog of Love
1
1
2
2
Fugitive
1
3
3
2
Jaipur
1
2
3
2
The Quest for El Dorado
1
1
3
2
The Quest for El Dorado
1
3
1
3
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
1
2
1
3
Betrayal Legacy
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
1
1
1
3
The Mind
1
3
2
3
Kingdomino
Modern Art
1
2
2
3
Treasure Island
Modern Art
1
1
2
3
Whitehall Mystery
1
3
3
3
Flamme Rouge
Modern Art
1
2
3
3
Modern Art
1
1
3
3
6 Nimmt
1
3
1
5
Deception: Murder In Hong Kong
1
2
1
5
Mysterium
Magic Maze
1
1
1
5
Magic Maze
Codenames
1
3
2
5
For Sale
Modern Art
1
2
2
5
Not Alone
Modern Art
1
1
2
5
Sidereal Confluence: Trading And Negotiation In The Elysian Quadrant
Codenames
Sushi Go Party!
1
3
3
5
Modern Art
Condottiere
1
2
3
5
Modern Art
Sheriff of Nottingham
1
1
3
5
Pictomania
1
3
1
7
Deception: Murder In Hong Kong
Decrypto
1
2
1
7
Magic Maze
1
1
1
7
Magic Maze
Codenames
1
3
2
7
Decrypto
1
2
2
7
Incan Gold / Diamant
1
1
2
7
Codenames
1
3
3
7
1
2
3
7
The Resistance
1
1
3
7
Spyfall 1 & 2
2
3
1
2
Unlock!
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
2
2
1
2
Unlock!
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
2
1
1
2
Unlock!
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
2
3
2
2
Memoir '44
Keyforge
2
2
2
2
Memoir '44
Keyforge
2
1
2
2
Keyforge
Flick 'Em Up
2
3
3
2
Memoir '44
2
2
3
2
Memoir '44
2
1
3
2
X-Wing Miniatures Game
2
3
1
3
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
2
2
1
3
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
2
1
1
3
Burgle Bros.
2
3
2
3
Isle of Skye
Modern Art
2
2
2
3
Inis
Cosmic Encounter
Modern Art
2
1
2
3
Inis
Cosmic Encounter
2
3
3
3
Kemet
El Grande
Modern Art
2
2
3
3
Kemet
Modern Art
2
1
3
3
Lords of Vegas
Kemet
2
3
1
5
Now Boarding
Deception: Murder In Hong Kong
2
2
1
5
Mysterium
Magic Maze
2
1
1
5
Magic Maze
Codenames
2
3
2
5
Modern Art
2
2
2
5
Cosmic Encounter
Modern Art
2
1
2
5
Through the Desert
Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant
Cosmic Encounter
Codenames
2
3
3
5
Power Grid
Modern Art
2
2
3
5
Cutthroat Caverns
Modern Art
2
1
3
5
Cutthroat Caverns
2
3
1
7
Deception: Murder In Hong Kong
Captain Sonar
Decrypto
2
2
1
7
Magic Maze
Captain Sonar
2
1
1
7
Magic Maze
Codenames
Captain Sonar
2
3
2
7
Captain Sonar
Decrypto
2
2
2
7
Mafia de Cuba
Captain Sonar
Two Rooms and a Boom
2
1
2
7
Codenames
Captain Sonar
Two Rooms and a Boom
2
3
3
7
Captain Sonar
2
2
3
7
Captain Sonar
The Resistance: Avalon
2
1
3
7
Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space
Captain Sonar
3
3
1
2
Gloomhaven
3
2
1
2
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
3
1
1
2
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
3
3
2
2
Keyforge
A Feast For Odin
3
2
2
2
Keyforge
3
1
2
2
Keyforge
3
3
3
2
War of the Ring: 2nd Edition
3
2
3
2
War of the Ring: 2nd Edition
3
1
3
2
Mage Wars
3
3
1
3
Gloomhaven
3
2
1
3
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
3
1
1
3
Space Alert
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
3
3
2
3
Brass: Birmingham
3
2
2
3
Inis
Galaxy Trucker
Cosmic Encounter
3
1
2
3
Inis
Cosmic Encounter
3
3
3
3
Tigris & Euphrates
Kemet
3
2
3
3
Twilight Imperium
Kemet
3
1
3
3
Kemet
3
3
1
5
Deception: Murder In Hong Kong
3
2
1
5
Mysterium
Magic Maze
3
1
1
5
Magic Maze
3
3
2
5
Terra Mystica
3
2
2
5
Cosmic Encounter
3
1
2
5
Sidereal Confluence: Trading And Negotiation In The Elysian Quadrant
