Turns Out, Letting Algorithms Make Card Games Is A Terrible Idea
A new card game is recalling some of its decks for having inappropriate computer-generated names. Names such as “The Pilot That Jabbers At Heteronormativity” and “The Emperor That Pays For Boys”.
Released last week, KeyForge: Call of the Archons is sold in pre-made decks of 37 cards, and every deck is unique. The idea is that players have to figure out how to win with the cards they have, rather than swap and buy cards to build their ideal deck. To this end, each deck has its name printed onto the back of every card, preventing players from swapping cards between decks.
Naming KeyForge‘s millions of decks is a feat too great for any mortal, so the task was entrusted to an algorithm. According to publisher Fantasy Flight Games, KeyForge‘s deck names are “procedurally generated by an algorithm that pulls from a list that includes tens of thousands of words”.
But in yet another lesson why computers should never be given absolute control of any system, in some cases, the algorithm produced an “unfortunate pairing of words”.
Sooooo. I saw one of the procedurally generated mistake names. from KeyforgeGame
Though Fantasy Flight Games appears to regard these decks as aberrations that must be destroyed, the misfortune of these word combinations is really up to your point of view. Personally, I would be thrilled to open my deck to discover The Emperor That Pays For Boys. He may pay for boys, but he also pays for himself.
In a blog post, Fantasy Flight Games stated that it was “[removing] these decks from the play environment”, meaning players are not allowed to use them in official Keyforge events. If a deck has been flagged, players will receive a message when they try to register their deck online, and will be encouraged to contact Fantasy Flight Games. If players return their flagged deck, they will be sent two new decks as compensation.
But it wouldn’t matter how many new decks they offered me. There’s no way I would ever return The Emperor.
Fantasy Flight Games states that only 0.05 percent of the game’s initial print run has been flagged, and that the naming algorithm has since been adjusted to prevent such unfortunate word combinations from occurring again.
Even so, players are still finding joy in sharing the deck names KeyForge‘s algorithm has cooked up. Though few are considered “unfortunate”, many of them are delightful.
Best deck name at our Prerelease: Antagonizer of Boys from KeyforgeGame
This deck I opened gave everyone in the store a good laugh from KeyforgeGame
Wow didnt know deck names would describe myself from KeyforgeGame
I so very much hope this deck is awesome cuz this is so me. #Keyforge pic.twitter.com/hVUxohDksV
— ? SUZANNE ? (@425suzanne) November 12, 2018
I really hope The Boy Who Basically Headbutts Heaven and The Child Who Terribly Fears The Church become best friends.