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WTF!!! Random isn't random - Page 3

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Nal_Testie
Profile Joined April 2004
Canada1257 Posts
December 25 2004 04:56 GMT
#41
As I said, christmas alcohol. I changed it.
The fact that we have flamethrowers means at some point someone said to himself - Gee I sure would like to set those people on fire over there but im just not close enough to get the job done, if only I had something that would throw the flame on them
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12248 Posts
December 25 2004 04:58 GMT
#42
On December 25 2004 13:53 Orlandu wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 25 2004 13:48 Excalibur_Z wrote:
On December 25 2004 13:37 Orlandu wrote:
It's not about the results you're getting. It's about the math behind it. In flipping one coin, there is a 1/2 chance of flipping a heads because there are only two possible outcomes, heads or tails. When flipping two coins and looking at them as a sequence, then there are two possiblities for the first one, which we covered. Assume you get heads. For the next flip, there are two possibilties: heads-heads, or heads-tails. Assume you get tails, two possibilities: tails-heads, tails-tails. So there are 4 possible outcomes of that sequence. There is only 1 outcome that is the result you want, heads-heads. So, 1 out of 4 gives you a 1/4 chance. Apply similar logic to a third round and you get 1/8 chance of getting heads 3 times in a row.


Okay, I understand that. What I don't understand is how you're applying sequential logic to individual games. Everyone has had their suspicions about BW's randomizer. Some say they get Terran 3 times in a row, some say Protoss 4/5 times, some say they've never got Zerg. So without larger sets (i.e., thousands of games) to draw from, how can any conclusion be reached about the randomizer and the math behind it?


Oh I wasn't saying anything about BW, I was just commenting on the coin logic.

I guess I'd have to look into the whole BW-Random debate before I could make an opinion.


Oh okay, so the coin logic and the BW randomizer aren't necessarily related (disregarding the obvious internal-clock that all computer randomizers use)?
Moderator
Orlandu
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
China2450 Posts
December 25 2004 05:01 GMT
#43
On December 25 2004 13:58 Excalibur_Z wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 25 2004 13:53 Orlandu wrote:
On December 25 2004 13:48 Excalibur_Z wrote:
On December 25 2004 13:37 Orlandu wrote:
It's not about the results you're getting. It's about the math behind it. In flipping one coin, there is a 1/2 chance of flipping a heads because there are only two possible outcomes, heads or tails. When flipping two coins and looking at them as a sequence, then there are two possiblities for the first one, which we covered. Assume you get heads. For the next flip, there are two possibilties: heads-heads, or heads-tails. Assume you get tails, two possibilities: tails-heads, tails-tails. So there are 4 possible outcomes of that sequence. There is only 1 outcome that is the result you want, heads-heads. So, 1 out of 4 gives you a 1/4 chance. Apply similar logic to a third round and you get 1/8 chance of getting heads 3 times in a row.


Okay, I understand that. What I don't understand is how you're applying sequential logic to individual games. Everyone has had their suspicions about BW's randomizer. Some say they get Terran 3 times in a row, some say Protoss 4/5 times, some say they've never got Zerg. So without larger sets (i.e., thousands of games) to draw from, how can any conclusion be reached about the randomizer and the math behind it?


Oh I wasn't saying anything about BW, I was just commenting on the coin logic.

I guess I'd have to look into the whole BW-Random debate before I could make an opinion.


Oh okay, so the coin logic and the BW randomizer aren't necessarily related (disregarding the obvious internal-clock that all computer randomizers use)?


I just edited my post, but yeah I think it would be pretty wrong to relate the two arguments. I could be wrong, but I don't see why there would be a relation. Computers just don't function the same way as a coin toss.
We cant give up just because things arent the way we want them to be.
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12248 Posts
December 25 2004 05:01 GMT
#44
On December 25 2004 13:53 Orlandu wrote:
Most likely Blizzard's algorithm is based off of a timer, so you could possibly have an algorithm where if you start the game very quickly right away each time, you might get the same race much more often because of the timer. That's IF the timer starts each time a game is created/or someone joins or whatever. There's lots of possiblities. I don't think any of them are truly random though, more dependent on some variable like the timer, and when you actually start the game would be my best guess.


The thing is, internal-clock randomizers go down to the... what is it... millisecond? nanosecond? While I suppose it would be possible to create some kind of script so you'd always get the same race whenever you chose Random, it would be nearly impossible for a human to have that kind of timing, assuming someone was even able to figure out which cpu-tick translated to which race was selected.
Moderator
Nal_Testie
Profile Joined April 2004
Canada1257 Posts
December 25 2004 05:05 GMT
#45
Progress is slow among mortals.
The fact that we have flamethrowers means at some point someone said to himself - Gee I sure would like to set those people on fire over there but im just not close enough to get the job done, if only I had something that would throw the flame on them
Orlandu
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
China2450 Posts
December 25 2004 05:05 GMT
#46
On December 25 2004 14:01 Excalibur_Z wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 25 2004 13:53 Orlandu wrote:
Most likely Blizzard's algorithm is based off of a timer, so you could possibly have an algorithm where if you start the game very quickly right away each time, you might get the same race much more often because of the timer. That's IF the timer starts each time a game is created/or someone joins or whatever. There's lots of possiblities. I don't think any of them are truly random though, more dependent on some variable like the timer, and when you actually start the game would be my best guess.


The thing is, internal-clock randomizers go down to the... what is it... millisecond? nanosecond? While I suppose it would be possible to create some kind of script so you'd always get the same race whenever you chose Random, it would be nearly impossible for a human to have that kind of timing, assuming someone was even able to figure out which cpu-tick translated to which race was selected.


Probably. I'm not really sure how it works or how it would work. But I don't think it functions as what we would call "luck" like the coin toss. I guess you could call it random as far as our needs and concerns go, but I don't think it would be truly random. I dunno, I could be totally wrong on that, but it just seems that way to me. I don't know nearly enough about computers to make a factual statement like that =]
We cant give up just because things arent the way we want them to be.
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36401 Posts
December 25 2004 05:06 GMT
#47
testie is right. the randomizer may be random for one person among many different games, but for four players going random in the same game, it's biased towards at least giving one of each.

this way you can almost always figure out at least one of your opp's races.

if you and your partner get...

z/z, t/t, p/p, your opponents are the other two races
any other combo, at least one of your opponents is the race you are not

it's impossible to conclude anything when you say something like "oh, it randomed to terran for me five times yesterday! its biased!" first your sample size is way too small, and the nature of random allows for stuff like terran five times in a row.

i'm pretty sure the more than one random player in a game bias is right, someone test it!
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
Nal_Testie
Profile Joined April 2004
Canada1257 Posts
December 25 2004 05:11 GMT
#48
...
You fucking idiot. I was saying what I was saying as fact. Not even speculation or a hypothesis.

IF 8 players random there will be 3/3/2
If 4 players random there will be 2/1/1

IT WILL NEVER
EVER
EVER
BE
DIFFERENT

Stop pissing me off.
The fact that we have flamethrowers means at some point someone said to himself - Gee I sure would like to set those people on fire over there but im just not close enough to get the job done, if only I had something that would throw the flame on them
Ack1027
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
United States7873 Posts
December 25 2004 05:14 GMT
#49
When I used to play random I used to think really hard about the race I wanted before the game started and I'd usually get them.

Haha.
gg_hertzz
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
2152 Posts
December 25 2004 05:22 GMT
#50
The funny thing about random though, is even when it really is random you don't know if in fact it is totally random.

You might get T 4/5 times and think that there probably is a pattern, but it could also be random and you would not know it. How can you know if it's random or not?

You could get T 99/100 times and it could still be random.

How could you know?
ShabZzoY!
Profile Joined July 2004
Great Britain760 Posts
December 25 2004 05:33 GMT
#51
hmm if the same thing applies that within 4 there will be at least 1 of each race, then in 1v1 if the same thing happens the chance of a mirror match are 1/6 rather than the 1/3 that it should be, which proves what testie said~
LogaiN
Profile Joined June 2003
Sweden1073 Posts
December 25 2004 05:41 GMT
#52
Excalibur is right when it comes to statistics. Even if you get protoss 300 times in a row (highly unlikely tough) its still 33.3333 % chance to get it the next time (if the RANDOM works correctly). I remember when some of my friends wrote the same lottery number that was a win last week, and another friend of mine said "it's stupid to do that, someone already won with that number". But the same thing applies here, random has no memory.
GulleFjuN@Europe
gg_hertzz
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
2152 Posts
December 25 2004 05:43 GMT
#53
That's not what we're talking about though.
SoL.Origin
Profile Joined September 2003
Argentina2400 Posts
December 25 2004 05:54 GMT
#54
You are missing the point. Its obviously still 33.33% but if you say "i will get terran 9 times in a row now" and then play 9 games as random, you certainly wont have 33.33% chance of getting terran. In fact it would be much less likely. You guys are arguing when you dont even agree what you are arguing about.
Son Of Law
HnR)Pride
Profile Joined October 2002
Canada297 Posts
December 25 2004 05:56 GMT
#55
the only thing I've noticed with random is that you don't get zvz tvt or pvp a lot. This would make sense for Blizzard to not make RacevRace matchups too often as they are, traditionally, the most boring matchups. I do agree though, I don't think random is 100% random.
I wonder where all those socks go...
Cambium
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States16368 Posts
December 25 2004 06:01 GMT
#56
If it's TvRandom

90% TvZ

-__-
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
NuclearAntelope
Profile Joined February 2003
United States1369 Posts
December 25 2004 06:02 GMT
#57
On December 25 2004 13:05 Excalibur_Z wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 25 2004 13:02 ShabZzoY! wrote:
me and my friend had zvt in rvr 3 times in a row

i believe thats 1/729 chance

the whole point of random is anything may happen, its designed to have equal odds but you could have same race for 8 games i suppose(more chance than most lottery :o)


No it's still a 1/3 chance =)

Again I'll use coin-flipping as an example. If you get Heads 3 times in a row, the chances of that happening aren't 1/8, they're still 1/2.

If you flip a coin 3 times, you have these possibilities:
H = heads, T = Tails
HHH
HHT
HTH
THH
TTT
THT
HTT
TTH

how is it 1/2 chance to get HHH?
people are similar in nature. its the experience of life that makes them so different.
Redan
Profile Joined February 2004
Poland7 Posts
December 25 2004 06:09 GMT
#58
1/3 * 1/3 = 1/9 Chance to get ZvT
1/9 * 1/9 * 1/9 = 1/729 Chance to get ZvT three times in a row
Simple?
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28814 Posts
December 25 2004 06:09 GMT
#59
yeah what testie said
and mirror matches are very very rare in 1v1 matches
I remember when me and testie played on coulee in the blizzard map tourney he claimed that I was zerg
and I was protoss
and I instantly "knew" that he was either terran or made the claim to confuse me, because if he was zerg he would not think that I was zerg, and he wouldn't be protoss cause I was protoss.

I believe I then said "well im terran and its not a mirror matchup so you're toss then" to confuse him back though.

as for the other ongoing discussion, excalibur and everyone else are talking about different things

if you have flipped heads 3 times in a row, the chance of getting it a fourth time is not 1/16, it's 1/2
but flipping heads 3 times in a row in the first place only happens 1/8 of the time. likewise if you've randomed terran 5 times in a row it's still 33% likely that you will random terran in your next game.

I've checked my replay folder before and I think I had 35% zerg 34% protoss and 31% terran. the slight lack of terran is however explainable with me normally only saving wins, and winning sliightly less with terran.

Moderator
Nal_Testie
Profile Joined April 2004
Canada1257 Posts
December 25 2004 06:17 GMT
#60
Oh my god. I want to throw large bricks at people.
The fact that we have flamethrowers means at some point someone said to himself - Gee I sure would like to set those people on fire over there but im just not close enough to get the job done, if only I had something that would throw the flame on them
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