OK! In the previous (now gone and devoured) post, I mentioned something about some game on BTG I host... but that's not too important.

Why I mentioned it in the previous post (that is now gone) is because I had planned to use it as an example of sorts.

An example for many things. Metagames, story-techniques, and so on.

You see, one thing I like to do when I come up with any system, or system modifications, is to think what it's like when it's played at its "highest form", or something of that sort. I think keeping an eye on what a perfect match would be like is kind of important. Not insanely important, but something to keep in mind anyway.

You see, if you keep this in mind, I find that you can make a game with... well, depth, to put it one way. Let's take Pokemon for an example!

In Pokemon, when you get to the "competitive" level of play, you've got a lot of stuff to get ready for, to deal with...

Sweepers, walls, support builds for Pokemon, and so on...

You see, something I like to think of Pokemon as is "Super Rock Paper Scissors", due to many things such as type advantages, Same Type Attack Bonuses given to moves, and so on and so on. I know that it's not an entirely correct title to give it, but I like it. And it's certainly not an insult... in fact, I kind of enjoy going around and seeing how I can find the "Rock Paper Scissors" in a lot of games, as a lot of games have that underlying theme.

To give an idea of "Rock Paper Scissors" in videogames, here's a Gamasutra article on the subject that not only points out the underlying Rock Paper Scissors themes in games, but also gives a few comparisons here and there.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29718/ Analysis_Everything_is_Rock_Paper_Scissors.php

I'm strapped for time, so I'll just go ahead and give it a rest here. I guess next post I'll continue randomly blathering on about games and metagames.