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Luck. It’s an element that many - dare we say most - video games are designed to incorporate to varying degrees. It’s something that some would argue is a must for all but a few games (chess springs to mind), but is it something that should really hold sway in PVP worlds?
When you’re entering a PVP game, like Marvel Rivals, you’re usually looking to best your opponents. The things you want to count include your skills and your reaction times, your ability to influence the battlefield, and maybe the kind of map you’re playing on. But even in a universe where players are pitting themselves against each other and testing their skills to the max, luck remains a pivotal feature, a core mechanic that we can’t eliminate and shouldn’t ignore. We’re going to find out why.
Luck Adds Thrill
Games without luck (and we mean games that really don’t incorporate any luck at all) often feel… dry. Lifeless. Predictable. Okay, there are options like chess, where it’s truly a battle of skill against each other, but for the most part, luck is an ingredient that games need to be successful because it injects an element of uncertainty and ensures that every iteration of the game is fresh. It forces you to adapt, to change your strategy, to roll with the unexpected. Take luck out of video games, and you often end up with something pretty much unplayable.
Look across the myriad of games and see what we mean. So many of the staples in the gaming world rely on luck, either in part or wholly - and those that depend on it completely are often very successful. Take something like roulette, one of the pure-luck options, and you’ll see just how this mechanic adds magic to games of all kinds.
When you play roulette with Bitcoin, you are putting yourself totally in the hands of fate. You pick a number, take the plunge, and then enjoy the thrill of the wheel turning. It’s like being on a roller-coaster. It’s got its own special brand of excitement, something that gives you goosebumps, something that makes you want to come back again and again. There are few games that provide quite the same adrenaline shot and energy as those where luck guides the wheel, and if you’ve ever observed just how popular roulette is, you’ll see why this ingredient matters so much.
That simplicity opens the door to people who want to try new things, but want a core stability that they already understand - hence the popularity of betting with crypto. Folks who feel unsure about using a new kind of currency often turn to staple games that they’ve got a good grasp of, so they can focus on one learning curve at a time. Betting with cryptos is becoming more and more popular, whether that’s on esports or traditional casino games, but it’s partly thanks to the simplicity of certain titles that it has taken off.
And the same is true when we turn our eyes back to Marvel Rivals. Where does luck play a particularly prominent role in this game? The ranking system, where players get matched to others, relies heavily on luck and randomness, both in terms of who your opponents are and who you get on your team. While it does make an effort to keep things balanced and pair similar strength teams against each other, inevitably you will have times when the matches feel easier or harder based on the luck of the draw. This isn’t necessarily a downside, though. Sometimes, facing a stronger team can actually help you improve your skills, and that randomness certainly adds variety and interest to every game.
Players Are Unpredictable
Another area where we see randomness affect the games, and one that might well be overlooked by anyone who thinks of randomness in games in terms of random number generators, is the decisions that your opponents make. Even if you were to play an identical game against the same opponents on the same map, you’d still have to deal with randomness because sometimes people make different decisions. Your opponents might all choose to head to the same part of the map, drastically changing the outcome of the game.
Understanding randomness and adapting to it is a key part of playing the game well. You can’t just plan for what you think your opponents will do, or what you might do if you were in their situation. In order to play the game well, you also need to factor in the possibility that they will do something very unexpected. That’s where looking at games like roulette can actually help you get a better feel for Marvel Rivals.
The extreme unpredictability of a spinning roulette wheel can be great for helping players get accustomed to the chaotic nature of other games as well. You have to stop feeling as though every factor can be predicted ahead of time and focus instead on coming up with a plan that covers a wide range of opponent behaviors.
Think of it a bit like inside or outside bets at the roulette table. If you go for an option that wins in a large number of situations, your chances are better… and unlike in roulette, you don’t have to factor in the size of the payout. In games like Marvel Rivals, you either win the match or lose it.
