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

A first decisions regarding the design of Handicap Systems is if they are intended to be voluntary or not. Difficulty Settings is an example of the former while Dynamical Difficulty Adjustment an example of the latter.

There are several different types of specific advantages or disadvantages Handicap Systems can provide.

Health Resources

While these can be applied on players, they can also be applied on Enemies to provide twice the possible range of the Handicap Systems. In addition to this, game designs have the option of changing the gaming skills of AI Players and Algorithmic Agents

Providing Handicap Systems 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

Player/Character Skill Composites

Regardless of the existence or not of Handicap Systems, players may of course make self-imposed limitations to balance themselves against each other. While this is always possible in how well players tried to execute actions, in Self-Facilitated Games this can also be changes in rules or setup.

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.

Handicap Systems provide Balancing Effects and can by this give all players a perceived chance of being able to win, even if this may be an Exaggerated Perception of Influence. If the support given by Handicap System are gradually lowered as players become more skillful, their use can provide Smooth Learning Curves for players to achieve Game Mastery.

Voluntary Handicap System are an example of Player Decided Rule Setup.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Balancing Effects, Casual Gameplay, Challenging Gameplay, Exaggerated Perception of Influence, Meta Games, Player Decided Rule Setup, Smooth Learning Curves, Trans-Game Information

with Meta Games

Score

with Multiplayer Games

Player Balance, Team Balance

Can Modulate

AI Players, Algorithmic Agents

Can Be Instantiated By

Difficulty Settings, Dynamical Difficulty Adjustment, Self-Facilitated Games

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.