A game with too many evaluable options stalls, because the cost of deciding exceeds the value of deciding well.
Designers treat it as a structural fault rather than a player fault: a game that permits a twenty-minute turn has been designed to permit it. The remedies are hidden information, simultaneous turns and timers, all of which cut the tree the player is searching.
In practice
- A four-player game with one deliberate player becomes a game for one player and three spectators.
- A committee given every option and no constraint meets again.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Play & Game Design
- Essay
- Small worlds with visible rules