Player Balance

Design structures in a game which works towards players having equal chances of succeeding with actions in a game or with winning the game.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Most players want games to have the mechanics that give them the same or better chances to win or succeed with actions as other players. As this typically means that all players need the same chances to win or succeed, most games try to have Player Balance. However, this Player Balance does not usually consider the skill of players and usually only apply to the beginning of games.

Example: the symmetry in traditional board games such as Chess or Go guarantee a high level of initial Player Balance, although being the first player to do a move usually has some advantage.

Example: fighting games can allow players to modify their health by a percentage to give different players different health values and thereby counter imbalances in the skill of damaging the opponent.

Note: this pattern is categorized as a Subjective Pattern since players may have subjective feelings if the design structures in place are good enough (or too good) at balancing the fortunes of all players.

Examples

Anti-Examples

optional

Using the pattern

Can Modulate

Competition, Gameplay Mastery

Can Be Instantiated By

Dedicated Game Facilitators, Diminishing Returns, Free Game Element Manipulation, Game Masters, Negative Feedback Loops, Negotiation, Paper-Rock-Scissors, Player Augmentations, Player-Decided Results, Privileged Abilities, Public Player Statistics, Randomness, Symmetric Goals, Symmetry, Variable Accuracy

Sanctioned Cheating in Multiplayer Games

Balancing Effects, Drafting, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, Evolving Rule Sets, Handicap Systems, Killcams, Orthogonal Differentiation, Sanctioned Cheating, Self-Facilitated Games, Symmetry, Team Development in games with PvP

Balancing Effects, Drafting, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, Handicap Systems, Orthogonal Differentiation, Self-Facilitated Games, Symmetry, Team Development in games with TvT

Power-Ups together with Randomness

Can Be Modulated By

Ability Losses, Challenging Gameplay, Decreased Abilities, Enemies, Non-Renewable Resources, Reconfigurable Game World, Red Queen Dilemmas, Role Reversal, Spawning, Supporting Goals, Symmetric Resource Distribution, Tournaments

Potentially Conflicting With

AI Players, Asymmetric Abilities, Asymmetric Goals, Asymmetric Resource Distribution, Asymmetric Starting Conditions, Camping, Combos, Early Leaving Players, Empowerment, Enemies, Entitled Players, Extra Turns, First Player Advantages, Flip-Flop Events, Geometric Rewards for Investments, Invulnerabilities, Late Arriving Players, Multiplayer Games, New Abilities, Non-Player Help, Player Augmentations, Player Killing, Positive Feedback Loops, Power-Ups, Privileged Abilities, Privileged Movement, Procedurally Generated Game Worlds, Purchasable Game Advantages, Reconfigurable Game Worlds, Red Queen Dilemmas, Strategic Locations, Tiered Participation, Weapons

Abstract Player Constructs and Characters in games with Asymmetric Starting Conditions

Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership in games with Combos

Gameplay Mastery in games with Player/Character Skill Composites

Gameplay Mastery, Skills, Tools, or Vehicles in Multiplayer Games

Late Arriving Players in games with Player Characters that are subject to Game Element Insertion

Persistent Game Worlds when Abstract Player Construct Development, Character Development, or Crafting exists in the Multiplayer Games

Consequences

One effect of providing Player Balance to a game is that it can let players have an Determinable Chance to Succeed.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Determinable Chance to Succeed

Can Modulate

Competition, Gameplay Mastery

Can Be Instantiated By

Dedicated Game Facilitators, Diminishing Returns, Free Game Element Manipulation, Game Masters, Negative Feedback Loops, Negotiation, Paper-Rock-Scissors, Player Augmentations, Player-Decided Results, Privileged Abilities, Public Player Statistics, Randomness, Symmetric Goals, Symmetry, Variable Accuracy

Sanctioned Cheating in Multiplayer Games

Balancing Effects, Drafting, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, Evolving Rule Sets, Handicap Systems, Killcams, Orthogonal Differentiation, Sanctioned Cheating, Self-Facilitated Games, Symmetry, Team Development in games with PvP

Balancing Effects, Drafting, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, Handicap Systems, Orthogonal Differentiation, Self-Facilitated Games, Symmetry, Team Development in games with TvT

Power-Ups together with Randomness

Can Be Modulated By

Ability Losses, Challenging Gameplay, Decreased Abilities, Enemies, Non-Renewable Resources, Reconfigurable Game World, Red Queen Dilemmas, Role Reversal, Spawning, Supporting Goals, Symmetric Resource Distribution, Tournaments

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

AI Players, Asymmetric Abilities, Asymmetric Goals, Asymmetric Resource Distribution, Asymmetric Starting Conditions, Camping, Combos, Early Leaving Players, Empowerment, Enemies, Entitled Players, Extra Turns, First Player Advantages, Flip-Flop Events, Geometric Rewards for Investments, Invulnerabilities, Late Arriving Players, Multiplayer Games, New Abilities, Non-Player Help, Player Augmentations, Player Killing, Positive Feedback Loops, Power-Ups, Privileged Abilities, Privileged Movement, Procedurally Generated Game Worlds, Purchasable Game Advantages, Reconfigurable Game Worlds, Red Queen Dilemmas, Strategic Locations, Tiered Participation, Weapons

Abstract Player Constructs and Characters in games with Asymmetric Starting Conditions

Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership in games with Combos

Gameplay Mastery in games with Player/Character Skill Composites

Gameplay Mastery, Skills, Tools, or Vehicles in Multiplayer Games

Late Arriving Players in games with Player Characters that are subject to Game Element Insertion

Persistent Game Worlds when Abstract Player Construct Development, Character Development, or Crafting exists in the Multiplayer Games

History

An updated version of the pattern Player Balance that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

-