Re: [pbmserv-dev] quoridor 4 player?

["Miguel Villaverde" <sirrus@teleline.es>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Williams" <williams@morinda.com>

>I have attached a patch to make make quoridor work for 4 players.

I'm afraid it might just be a wasted effort. :P

>I have _not_ changed PrintBoardAs.  I'm hoping dzander or whoever wrote it
>will do that,

That's me, and I don't have the slightest interest nor inclination in doing
that. There are a number of reasons for this.

First, as Douglas Zander correctly pointed out, the game was coded with only
a 2-player version in mind. I briefly considered making it suitable for 4
players (for as long as about two seconds), but then rejected the idea. As
it is, the whole code would require a major rewrite that I believe would be
roughly equivalent to starting from scratch. Well, I'm exaggerating a
little, perhaps.

But the main point is, I think it just wouldn't be worth it (unless you
think of it as a programming challenge. You perverts. ;) The thing is,
Quoridor just doesn't work well as a four player game. It is intrinsically a
two player game. The rules included for more players in the game clearly
look like an afterthought, like an "extra", if you wish. The game with four
tends to be confusing, chaotic (you depend too much on what the others are
doing with their fences) and, above all, shows a terrible case of
kingmaking.

Yes, kingmaking. That's when you reach a state in a game in which you know
you can't win, but still can determine with your moves who of the other
players will win. A very undesirable feature in any game, and it doesn't
take a genius to figure out why it is such a problem in this game (will I
use my remaining fence to prevent this or that player from winning?).

In short: I think Quoridor x 4 sucks. And I won't be wasting my time in it
while I could be doing more productive stuff, like coding other games, or
scratching my navel. :)

Sirrus