Micromanagement (computer gaming)

Micromanagement is a term which describes the management of many small details in computer games. It has at least two senses, one referring to economic management and the other to combat tactics. Micromanagement has been a controversial aspect of game design for many years - some games minimize it while others treat it as an important skill.

Economic micromanagement

In Command and Conquer: Red Alert players often have to micromanage ore-gathering trucks

Some games are designed in such a way that players must constantly check many details or give new orders to ensure that resources are being gathered efficiently and / or settlements are producing the right things.

Military micromanagement

In Starcraft the Templar is a spellcaster which needs micromanagement. Here its Psionic Storm (the "lightning") devastates enemy units in a large area.

Detailed management of units in combat aims to maximize damage given to enemy units and minimize damage to the player's units. For standard combat units the most common techniques are: grouping units into formations; using military tactics such as flanking and counterattacks; and exploiting Rock, Paper, Scissors relationships between units. Micromanagement is even more necessary for units which can cast spells or have other special abilities which can only be used infrequently. "Micromanagement" in this sense is often abbreviated to "micro", which can be used as a noun or a verb.

Controversy about micromanagement in games

Micromanagement can divert the player's attention from grand strategy by overloading the player with repetitive and mechanical work.^[1] In turn-based games this is boring and tiring, and it can be more serious in real-time games since something could be going disastrously wrong elsewhere while the player is preoccupied. Games in which constant micromanagement is needed are often described as "micromanagement hell".^[2][3][4] In turn-based games the need for economic micromanagement is generally regarded as a defect in the design, and more recent TBS game have tried to minimise it.^[2][1][5] But hands-on tactical combat is a feature of many turn-based games (e.g. Master of Orion II, Space Empires III, Heroes of Might and Magic III), and reviewers complained about the difficulty of controlling combat in Master of Orion 3.^[6] There is controversy between fans of different RTS games about whether micromanagement is: (a) a skill which involves taking decisions quickly while under pressure; or (b) a chore which degenerates into a "clickfest" where a player who is faster with the mouse usually beats a player who is better at grand strategy.^[7][8] As a result RTS games vary widely from e.g. Total Annihilation, which eliminates most economic micromanagement and reduces tactical micromanagement, to Starcraft, in which both economic and tactical micromanagement are important and software has been developed to analyze players' Actions Per Minute (commonly known as APM).^[9][10] Many role-playing games and first-person shooters are developing more advanced hotkey layouts, allowing these genres to develop their own micromanagement skills.

Micromanagement in popular culture

• The popular Internet-distributed mockumentary series Pure Pwnage coined the term "über-micro", a term describing unusually superior levels of micromanagement. The series interviewed several girls asking if they'd rather date a guy with lots of money or über-micro.^[11]
• In South Korea, the real-time strategy game StarCraft is highly popular. The ability to micromanage (contributing to the game's "depth of strategy") is a key reason for its continued popularity.^[12] The game is broadcast on Korean national television, showing professional players' micromanagement skills.

References

See also

• Real-time strategy
• Turn-based strategy