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Comment by ahassan | Hacker News Reader

Yeah but why should that matter? If you hit it at a random time and it should be random, then why does it matter if the random number is generated at that instant or before? It's all still random in the user's eyes.

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Because it's not random in the user's eyes. We thought the number was totally based on our input; we would try so very hard to perfect our timing to get the numbers that we wanted.

The author is not the intended user; he is using an emulator. The dice roll seems random to the intended user's eyes.

So? He was the intended user when a younger version of himself played it on the actual console. Many players thought that their timing alone controlled the value. The author has simply used an emulator to show that that is false.

Well, the problem is, that's different to real dice. And subtlely different to the expectation of how it should work. If you throw a die, you could, with enough fine motor control, throw to get the number you desired. Or, in roulette, you could pick the right number the ball will land in by observing the speed with which the ball is spinning. In theory. Is there a practical difference? No. But, it still feels wrong that the game would work in a way that completely ignores the action of the player.

Predictability in roulette -

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428644.500-roulette-...

Perhaps some people thought there was actually a non-random element, whereby hitting the button at a specific timing could cause a specific number to turn up.

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