What I see as a problem isn't that some games have statistics as much as they have a kitchen sink design ethic. Everything goes into the model and the model is poorly adjusted so that it can do everything. I don't like this as I see it as a sort of unthinking way of designing that has an answer for everything but doesn't care if the design is a good fit for purpose.
In the Neverwinter Nights mod scene there was a design discussion about how riddle solving should be implemented in a game. One solution in the D&D world is to say that the player character has a lore stat so they should get a hint to solve the riddle based on how high their lore stat is. Most NWN players don't like riddles so this is the best solution for all. My argument is that, firstly, if most of your players don't like riddles and you care about their wishes then don't have any. Secondly, solving a riddle by your character just knowing the answer isn't that satisfying and does not communicate the riddle solving process well at all. If most parties have a character with high lore there is also not much challenge in configuring a party.
If you have a good riddle to put in your game then put it in and let the players try to enjoy it as well as they can. If you need a game mechanic that re-creates the triumph of solving a complex riddle without demanding that the player is actually able to solve complex riddles then make something yourself that actually works. Don't just think that the character sheet has a stat that fits so all I need to do is to check that. Let the player do something other than sit back and let the game play itself.
Going to the concept of health points, these are used in a large number of computer games from Super Mario Galaxy to Call of Duty. Their use is constantly evolving and being reinterpreted in increasingly stylised and unrealistic ways to keep the genre interesting. Regenerating health like in Call of Duty 4 could be done in a table top game but it would be harder to manage but it is very much a video game solution to the problem that would be absurd in reality. The fact that in practice it seems more natural than having a health meter that you can refill by using medical kits is pretty surprising.
There must be other solutions out there that would be even better in some ways but other conventions like the player being a one man army who takes hundreds of direct hits in the course of a game will hold back innovation.
In the Neverwinter Nights mod scene there was a design discussion about how riddle solving should be implemented in a game. One solution in the D&D world is to say that the player character has a lore stat so they should get a hint to solve the riddle based on how high their lore stat is. Most NWN players don't like riddles so this is the best solution for all. My argument is that, firstly, if most of your players don't like riddles and you care about their wishes then don't have any. Secondly, solving a riddle by your character just knowing the answer isn't that satisfying and does not communicate the riddle solving process well at all. If most parties have a character with high lore there is also not much challenge in configuring a party.
If you have a good riddle to put in your game then put it in and let the players try to enjoy it as well as they can. If you need a game mechanic that re-creates the triumph of solving a complex riddle without demanding that the player is actually able to solve complex riddles then make something yourself that actually works. Don't just think that the character sheet has a stat that fits so all I need to do is to check that. Let the player do something other than sit back and let the game play itself.
Going to the concept of health points, these are used in a large number of computer games from Super Mario Galaxy to Call of Duty. Their use is constantly evolving and being reinterpreted in increasingly stylised and unrealistic ways to keep the genre interesting. Regenerating health like in Call of Duty 4 could be done in a table top game but it would be harder to manage but it is very much a video game solution to the problem that would be absurd in reality. The fact that in practice it seems more natural than having a health meter that you can refill by using medical kits is pretty surprising.
There must be other solutions out there that would be even better in some ways but other conventions like the player being a one man army who takes hundreds of direct hits in the course of a game will hold back innovation.