With the 6 door example, it seems like you use Miller's law as a way to decide when to introduce gestalt principals. Do you think that's something you do subconsciously after being a designer long enough?
Great post! When writing/running games, I like to avoid the 5-door scenario, as I find many tables come to a standstill with so many options. Especially if there are more options than players, unless those players have been playing together for a while and have well-established decision algorithms (ie “Left is Law”), having a party come to a consensus on which “door” to choose (whether it’s a door to open or an NPC to follow) can be difficult, and not always in a fun way. I lean toward 3 options when I build a scene with the intention of forcing a decision. As you said, it’s enough to feel like you have options without being overwhelming or feeling like you might miss/forget something.
Three is also where you can start playing with rock-paper-scissors type mechanics or relationships, too, which is always fun. If you're looking at it as a graph, it's also the last time the number of connections isn't more than the number of items/people/etc.
Fun article! Love the breakdown, and the secret/explicit example of 6 you provided at the end (I think 6 is a really interesting number for TTRPGs because of the d6 and it being just below Miller's law).
I really enjoyed this! There was a moment when I got to five doors where I thought "Oh, this is too much! He should have stopped at 4." I was wrong. You masterfully pulled off the 6-door example, and I really love this theory of numbers. Sometimes less is more. Intentionality reigns always, and this is an excellent framework for using these numbers of elements.
Would this work also when describing the scene? If you tell only one thing, it matters the most and draws players’ attention. ”There is a strange smell in the room”.
If you tell multiple attributes, it paints a more colorful image in the mind, but the attention would be more distracted. ”The market place is empty (1), rotten apples are left on a market table (2), an angry dog is barking in the nearby (3), a light is blinking in one window (4), the moon is full (5)”
I give this *five* stars. It's a very nice insight into simple concepts that are often overlooked.
With the 6 door example, it seems like you use Miller's law as a way to decide when to introduce gestalt principals. Do you think that's something you do subconsciously after being a designer long enough?
Interesting post! I particularly liked the mention of number of factions in a setting.
Three is really the sweet spot. Three introduces complexity and nuance to the coin flip of the binary.
Great post! When writing/running games, I like to avoid the 5-door scenario, as I find many tables come to a standstill with so many options. Especially if there are more options than players, unless those players have been playing together for a while and have well-established decision algorithms (ie “Left is Law”), having a party come to a consensus on which “door” to choose (whether it’s a door to open or an NPC to follow) can be difficult, and not always in a fun way. I lean toward 3 options when I build a scene with the intention of forcing a decision. As you said, it’s enough to feel like you have options without being overwhelming or feeling like you might miss/forget something.
Three is also where you can start playing with rock-paper-scissors type mechanics or relationships, too, which is always fun. If you're looking at it as a graph, it's also the last time the number of connections isn't more than the number of items/people/etc.
Fun article! Love the breakdown, and the secret/explicit example of 6 you provided at the end (I think 6 is a really interesting number for TTRPGs because of the d6 and it being just below Miller's law).
I really enjoyed this! There was a moment when I got to five doors where I thought "Oh, this is too much! He should have stopped at 4." I was wrong. You masterfully pulled off the 6-door example, and I really love this theory of numbers. Sometimes less is more. Intentionality reigns always, and this is an excellent framework for using these numbers of elements.
Thank you for writing this!
You can have whatever's lurking behind one of the doors decide to open it (or break it down) themselves. Then you just have 5 doors.
Would this work also when describing the scene? If you tell only one thing, it matters the most and draws players’ attention. ”There is a strange smell in the room”.
If you tell multiple attributes, it paints a more colorful image in the mind, but the attention would be more distracted. ”The market place is empty (1), rotten apples are left on a market table (2), an angry dog is barking in the nearby (3), a light is blinking in one window (4), the moon is full (5)”