IRC ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: GAME BALANCE

I would like to be on the panel if my schedule allows.

I *used* to average fifteen posts a day, son. Also I think I know a thing or two about game balance, having done it (obviously, non-professionally) for about ten years across at least four distinct genres of games, i.e. video games, table top games, LARP, and CCGs.

Oh you meant the IRC. Yes I see your point. Was my baseless assumption that it's rarely used for anything official...wrong?

Aw, darn, I thought this was at 3:30 PM EST. I should have read more carefully. I was all ready to attend, but now I won't be able to.

Hey Brickroad, are you done with that article yet?

"Grinding" was addressed in the article. I've always found grinding to be a curious game mechanic. In action or adventure titles, the player is free to pass up enemies (jump over, run around, generally avoid) and that person looses nothing for skipping a fight save the possibility of some dropped item (heart, coin, so forth).

What makes grinding so frustrating is that it's entirely passive. A "level up" is an obscure concept without tangible results (a single level up seldom brings immediately visible change in battle skill). In Zelda, when you go into a dungeon and open a chest with a new sub-weapon or heart piece, it's tangible. The player can immediately see the results of his or her work and feels that efforts have been rewarded. RPGs might do better to adapt the concept. Instead of making copious battles a mandatory process in order to beat the game, itemize stat growth in the form of optional quests. Make that stat growth tangibly large so that the player can immediately see the fruit of their labor.

Of course, quests may involve going to a place where the player will need to fight enemies but the difference is that the player has specifically made the decision to pursue that course instead of being forced to.

Just a thought.