Handicap Systems

Systems for making gameplay easier or more difficult for certain players in order to even the chances of all players to succeed or win.

In some games, players may be aware of differences in their playing skills. In order to make the outcome as uncertain as possible within the game rules and thereby more interesting, players may decide to make use of Handicap Systems. These either make some actions easier for some players or allow those players other advantages so that the greater skills of other players are balanced and all players have equal chance of succeeding in the game. Single-player games can also provide Handicap Systems - in this case to let players decided on how easy or hard games should be.

Examples

Fighting games such as the Tekken or Dead or Alive series allow players to choose starting health by percentage, for example 80% or 140%. This allows one player to have a handicap against another player.

Golf is one of the most well-known sports to make use of Handicap Systems. In this case, one's handicap level does not only serve to equal gameplay but also to indicate mastery of the sport.

Go uses a Handicap System of allowing the weaker player to place a certain number of stones in the handicap points before the actual game begins in such a way that both players are challenged while playing.

Using the pattern

Player Decided Rule Setup

Providing Handicaps for players can either be done by making it possible to set individual Right Levels of Difficulty (possibly by changing the skills of Agents), giving certain players more Resources or abilities (where differences in Non-Renewable Resources give greater Handicaps that other Resources), or limiting or ignoring negative consequences for certain players. Being able to change the Resources in a game with a Game World makes the game one with a Reconfigurable Game World, although the differences in configurations may not be that large from a structural point.

Individual levels of difficulty can be set by having different thresholds for evaluations functions, providing various bonuses to Score values, giving a head start in Races, or giving Skill advantages. The use of Asymmetric Resource Distribution, Asymmetric Abilities, or Privileged Abilities can have Balancing Effects, as players may not have to be as efficient or may have a larger Freedom of Choice than other players. In Self-Facilitated Games, the use of Handicaps is usually the result of Negotiation before gameplay begins, and a special form of Handicap in these games is to allow novice players Reversability by taking back their actions and performing other actions.

Dedicated Game Facilitators Agents Companions Self-Facilitated Games

Difficulty Settings

Player/Character Skill Composites

Consequences

Handicap Systems can be used to let players decide on their own if they wish Challenging Gameplay or Casual Gameplay, and in Multiplayer Games this can be used to create Player Balance or Team Balance. When Handicap Systems are enforced and records of these are kept, this a form of Trans-Game Information and can be a form of Score in a Meta Game (examples of this is the ranking systems used in Go). Handicap Systems are incompatible with Symmetry but are often used for the same reason - to achieve Player Balance.

As Handicaps are a form of Balancing Effect, they give all players a Perceived Chance to Succeed. If the levels of Handicap are gradually lowered as players become more skillful, their use provides a Smooth Learning Curve for players to achieve Game Mastery.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Casual Gameplay, Challenging Gameplay, Meta Games, Trans-Game Information

with Meta Games

Score

with Multiplayer Games

Player Balance, Team Balance

Can Modulate

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Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

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Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Symmetry

History

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