I have never liked purely deterministic, non-random games. I think part of it is that they encourage analysis paralysis--if I know that a single mathematically perfect move exists, I'm not happy unless I can find it; I'm more willing to settle for "good enough" and move on with the game if I know that even a perfect move can be derailed by the dice, and even a bad one might luck out.
And part of it might be that non-randomness seems sort of cold and sterile and inhuman to me. Sometimes, you do everything right and you still fail. That's the human condition.
And then, meaning no offense, the kind of players who are put off by luck sometimes rub me the wrong way. They often seem to put way too much of their personal self-worth on the outcome of a game. I'm all for rigorous fairness in things that matter, things that affect people's lives, but this is supposed to be a relaxing diversion.
I can totally understand that, it's definitely a preferential thing. I do like some randomness, but overall I prefer having a lot of different choices, and the challenge of trying to work out the optimal one. I think I prefer that feeling of "analysis paralysis" to having your work completely undone by an unlucky dice roll or card draw. Plus, the feeling of satisfaction of forming a creative strategy or tactic is awesome.
I've recently gotten into boardgames, and the ones I enjoy the most follow this line of thought (in particular Caylus and Terra Mystica).
In games with random element a single mathematically perfect move exists as well (it needs to be computed as an expected value over the randomness), which can make the games even more prone to analysis paralysis (ex. poker players pondering a single move for up to 15 minutes).
And part of it might be that non-randomness seems sort of cold and sterile and inhuman to me. Sometimes, you do everything right and you still fail. That's the human condition.
And then, meaning no offense, the kind of players who are put off by luck sometimes rub me the wrong way. They often seem to put way too much of their personal self-worth on the outcome of a game. I'm all for rigorous fairness in things that matter, things that affect people's lives, but this is supposed to be a relaxing diversion.