Mark Rosewater on the Role of Randomness in Games

Mark Rosewater, the lead designer of Magic: The Gathering, wrote a blog post titled 'The Virtue of Randomness' about the advantages and disadvantages of randomness in games. He defines randomness as the absence of predictable order or plan.

Jesse Schell defines interest as 'enjoyment of surprises', gameplay as 'satisfying curiosity through actions', and a game as 'solving problems in an entertaining form'.

Mark Rosewater states that all good games contain a meta-game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', where three or more strategies compete with each other, and none is dominant. Randomness in games creates surprises, adds drama and emotions, and makes the gameplay varied. However, it can also cause frustration, make the game repetitive, and lead to a loss of hope for positive development.