There was an amusing comment related to this over on the Metafilter thread on this earlier today which included this impressive detail:
Naturally, we did what any self-respecting half-in-the-bag Americans would do upon meeting so-called champions of the rock-paper-scissors arena on the streets of a foreign nation, and challenged them to a duel on the spot. We proceeded to go a spectacular 0-24 against our fellow countrymen, before realizing that maybe there's more to the metagame than we had previously considered.
I understand this meta-strategy on an intellectual level, but I'd find it easier to fully understand with a concrete example or an interactive example. It mentions that this meta-strategy only works if your opponent's strategy is consistent. I'd like an interactive version to play with to show that. Also, I'm curious how this strategy fairs against itself.
> History matching: This is easily the strongest predictor in Iocaine Powder's arsenal,
> In fact, it looks for the longest match to recent history; a repeat of the
> last 30 moves is considered better than just the last 3 moves.
An excuse to post my favorite RoShamBo scene ever: https://vimeo.com/210145683 , from the show Patriot. (There's a lot of context that's missing but it's hopeless for me to try to explain it. I highly recommend the show.)
That is great, I wonder if they memorised the sequence, had notes out of shot, were signalling to each other on the side away from the camera, or just did a lot of takes.
The outcome of the scene is weak. Coming in cold, I don't know why a detective would be interviewing a subject, but the natural disposition for any detective story is to have the guilty party resist questioning, and here we see a party offering resistance.
To put the hero in the deepest hole possible shall maximize the climactic anticipation of their escape. If the police are heroic, a brilliant criminal will best them at every turn to build suspense.
We see this here, and yet they dump it out on the ground. The unbelievable resistance to the interview is expended and the detective wins. For most of the game, the subject stalemates without even looking, but toward the end starts to peek. Then we see the winner emerge. This frames the police as counter and equal in supernatural powers of seeming clairevoyance. It even throws the comedy in the trash. It's not funny at that point. It ruins any underdog status and levels the playing field. Why do we want the police to have super powers? What fun is it to watch the hero play a game they stand a chance of winning?
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 66.1 ms ] threadNaturally, we did what any self-respecting half-in-the-bag Americans would do upon meeting so-called champions of the rock-paper-scissors arena on the streets of a foreign nation, and challenged them to a duel on the spot. We proceeded to go a spectacular 0-24 against our fellow countrymen, before realizing that maybe there's more to the metagame than we had previously considered.
https://www.metafilter.com/181225/Iocaine-Powder#7714208
Any competitive RoShamBo players here willing to share their metagame strategies?
Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
The only winning move is not to play. ;-)
I suspect the answer is "yes, but not in the sense of this meta-strategy".
This also gives me an excuse to post Lasse Gjertson's excellent short animation, 'Roshambo' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGzdzRFftBc
To put the hero in the deepest hole possible shall maximize the climactic anticipation of their escape. If the police are heroic, a brilliant criminal will best them at every turn to build suspense.
We see this here, and yet they dump it out on the ground. The unbelievable resistance to the interview is expended and the detective wins. For most of the game, the subject stalemates without even looking, but toward the end starts to peek. Then we see the winner emerge. This frames the police as counter and equal in supernatural powers of seeming clairevoyance. It even throws the comedy in the trash. It's not funny at that point. It ruins any underdog status and levels the playing field. Why do we want the police to have super powers? What fun is it to watch the hero play a game they stand a chance of winning?
"You are using the Iocane Powder Stragety against me."
"I found it appropriate considering the terrain."