Games for Good

Characteristics of a balanced game include:

• if the player has optional routes to victory no one strategy will produce a guaranteed win ahead of the others (no dominant strategy). Player choices should be based on their personal preferences not on which choice is likely to create victory.
• the game provides reasonable choices/strategies.
• players must perceive the game to be fair
• game is not too easy and not too hard
• there is a balance of power between the players
• player skill affects the outcome of the game more than any other factor (chance should be used sparingly). Chance can be balanced by:
  • using it frequent challenges with small risks and rewards
  • allowing the player to choose actions to use the odds to their advantage – this gives experienced players the opportunity to learn about the odds and use them to make good decisions
  • allowing the player to choose levels of risk. 
• any player who falls behind gets the opportunity to catch up
• the game should not end in a stale-mate (or at least not too often)
• there should be no sudden changes in game’s difficulty
• consideration of player time required when particular choices/strategies are made/used
• the game shouldn’t ask the player to make critical decisions without adequate information
• consideration of skill balance across levels

Ways to balance stronger strategies with weaker ones include (transitive relationships):

• imposing direct costs on using each strategy (eg. superior strategies cost more)
• imposing hidden costs on using each strategy (eg. giving a ferrari a smaller fuel tank).

Intransitive Relationships (such as those in rock, paper scissors) can provide balance to a game.

Objects within the game that the player control should have unique game roles. This allows for more interesting decisions to be made. Success can depend on using the appropriate objects in the appropriate combinations.

A game can have positive achievement – when the achievement causes changes of state to make the next part of the game eaiser (eg. speed bursts, powerups):

• don’t provide too much power
• raise the difficulty level as the player proceeds
• allow collusion against the leader
• use chance to reduce the size of player rewards.

One way to balance games is to use symmetry – what one player gets, all players get (each player starts with the same resources to face the same challenge to try to meet the same victory condition)

Virtual worlds are intrinsicly unbalanced. Long-time players accumulate more resources. Must give new players a chance to earn resources.