Mark Rosewater, the lead developer of the card game Magic:The Gathering constantly talks about how restriction breeds creativity. "The explanation he gives is

Mark Rosewater, the lead developer of the card game Magic:The Gathering constantly talks about how restriction breeds creativity. "The explanation he gives is simple: when someone is building a house, the more tools they have, the better off they are. But when someone is looking for something, the more space they have to explore, the worse off they are" from: http://lesswrong.com/lw/3ir/narrow_your_answer_space/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/3ir/narrow_your_answer_space/ and the original article (on Magic:The Gathering design, but with useful information - scroll down to the "Design Tool #1: Restrictions" header where he discusses this point): http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/92 http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/dai...