Scars of War - Avoiding Chance and Reloading

 Over at Naked Ninja's Scars of War Blog is another excellent and thought provoking article on how a game designer might try to encourage players not to continually save and reload when something goes wrong. Here's a taste:

The worst part of this is really how it kills immersion and the game’s sense of tension. I remember in the Trial in Neverwinter Nights 2, instead of it being a series of tense courtroom arguments and counter arguments it became a game of “keep reloading until you get the optimal result". It still resulted in stupid combat in the end, but I didn’t know that at the time. Nevertheless, any attempts to get me immersed in the legal battle underway were undermined by the fact that I was “gaming the system". Now, I’m a roleplayer type, I love playing a role. But the temptation is just too much for me in games. And so I, effectively, cheat.

Check it out and then discuss his ideas in our forums.