Commitment & Risk

[3XXXDDD]

Take any generic battle-based TCG and one of the cards you will find people flocking too are those that can discard cards straight from your Opponents hand.

Simple question, is this fair? or is it unfair that the owner of the card didn't get a choice to risk that card by playing it to the field or not.

Essentially, would it not be too unimaginable to suggest that the only cards of yours that your Opponent should be able to affect are the ones you  yourself risked by playing into what is the usual "Danger Zone"? While keeping any cards in Deck/Hand/Whatever other safe zone free from risk?

[Kevashim]

While it can be an irritating thing to happen in a game, it remains a legitimate tactic to limit your opponent's options in many games by forcing them to discard. Some games however (MtG for example) have mechanics that interact with discarded cards, so it isn't always bad to have to discard cards and indeed sometimes players want to discard cards just to get them into the discard pile so they can get some kind of bonus out of it!!

[Typherion]

I think it depends on whether there is any choice involved with the discard or if it is random.

If you are using one card to force the opponent to discard a card of their choice, then they will choose to discard their worst card and you probably gain no real advantage.

But if you get to choose and discard from your opponent's hand then that can be hugely important.

In my opinion there is no question of fairness or unfairness in deciding whether your game should allow players to interact with the hand as a zone. Players will compete for advantage using whatver zones you allow them to interact with.

I think having more avenues for competition can encourage interesting gameplay.

A good example might be two different archetypes in Yugioh. Inzektors are good at destroying cards in play so opposing players try to keep cards in their hands to reduce risk. But Windups are good at discarding cards in the hand, so opposing players try to commit as many cards to the field as they can to get them out of their hands.

[Wisp]

One solution to good discard cards in a game, is to make it generally easier for players to draw cards. In the CCG i was making, players hand refilled every turn, so making your opponents discard cards was like letting them draw an extra card nest turn, so it only made sense to have targeted discard cards.