Further Player Improvement Potential
That players have the possibility to increase their skills in handling the gameplay.
This pattern is still a stub.
Contents
Examples
Chess and Go are classical examples of Board Games which allow Further Player Improvement Potential for a lifetime to most players, much due to the fact than the skill of one's opponent is what primary sets the difficulty for anybody playing. This can also be found in most Sports such as Tennis. Golf and Marathons show examples where one doesn't necessarily need to compete against others but can always try to improve one's own handicap score.
Examples of Computer Games which offers players Further Player Improvement Potential for long period of time include team-based games such as Defense of the Ancients, the Counter-Strike series, and the Starcraft series.
Magic: the Gathering and [[
Using the pattern
Further Player Improvement Potential provides means of players being able to perform some gameplay actions, note how well these work against some goals, and finally noticing that the possibility for better performances exist. While this does require Uncertainty of Outcome, not all types of Uncertainty of Outcome work. Performance Uncertainty is the primary way of achieving this and pitching players against each other in PvP gameplay where the outcome depends on their performance is a classical solution found for example in Chess and Go to allow nearly all players Further Player Improvement Potential. Difficulty Levels and Ever Increasing Difficulty can also support Further Player Improvement Potential but here the potentially typically is bounded earlier, either due to a limited number of Difficulty Levels or that it is a narrow set of skills that are challenges by the Ever Increasing Difficulty. Exaggerated Perception of Influence can be used to encourage players to believe they can perform better, and this can motivate them to try harder and actually discover Further Player Improvement Potential they otherwise may have missed.
There are several patterns that can work against Further Player Improvement Potential, most which are related to making players have less Player Agency. The easiest example of this are games with absolutely No Direct Player Influence (i.e. not in a meaningful way even before gameplay begins). Strong presence of Randomness or where successful outcomes can be attributed to Luck also work against Player Agency and thereby reasons for players to believe that Further Player Improvement Potential exists or is meaningful to try and develop. Gameplay building on Solution Uncertainty, for example through Puzzle Solving, depends on finding the solution and without other additions to the design there is no reason for Further Player Improvement Potential for a challenge once a solution is found. This is especially the case for games where Trial by Error Solutions exists since here Luck or simply systematically going through alternatives can reveal the solution.
Consequences
The presence of Further Player Improvement Potential in games show that players have a possibility to achieve better Gameplay Mastery than they currently have, and that there exists a potential Value of Effort for trying to become better. In games with Teams, it shows that positive Team Development is possible.
If the Further Player Improvement Potential exists between game instances, it supports Replayability either through getting better at performing the necessary gameplay actions or by developing Strategic Knowledge.
Relations
Can Instantiate
Gameplay Mastery, Replayability, Value of Effort
Team Development in games with Teams
with Strategic Knowledge
Can Modulate
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Can Be Instantiated By
Difficulty Levels, Ever Increasing Difficulty, Performance Uncertainty
PvP together with Performance Uncertainty
Can Be Modulated By
Exaggerated Perception of Influence
Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
Challenging Gameplay, Luck, No Direct Player Influence, Puzzle Solving, Randomness, Solution Uncertainty, Trial by Error Solutions
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
