The barrier to entry is low, anyone can play this game and get enjoyment out of it. The game everyone seeks to make, but that requires the most effort on the development studio’s part, is the low skill floor and high skill ceiling. A lower skill floor means a wider audience which means more copies sold and more money for the studio and publisher. These games will certainly still make money, though, and that’s why we see more of this kind than of the previous. Really hardcore players will learn in advance of the low skill ceiling and never buy the game to begin with. Unless, of course, they happen to find it fun enough regardless of not being that much better than the inexperienced players. With the low skill ceiling the hardcore dedicated players have little reason to stick around. Arcade games are the best example, they’re made to be just fun enough to play, and easy enough that even a child could enjoy them. The Range, low skill floorĪ low skill floor and a low skill ceiling is where casual games and arcade games lie. A hard game isn’t always a fun game, despite what you think a game should be it is the fun games that sell the best. I can’t speak to to pros and cons of this, except that it seems obvious to me that selling to fewer people will make less money. Perhaps they want to actively push away those that would punish their teammates due to a strong reliance on proper teamwork and individual performance. Perhaps they want the game to be well known for only involving the most dedicated of skilled players. There are numerous reasons a developer might choose this set on purpose. There are few reasons for a hardcore gamer obsessed with competition (of which there are quite a few, and their money is as good as anyone else’s) will start or continue playing.Ī high skill floor and a high skill ceiling is not nearly as bad as the previous example, but probably will have a harder time making money. The game is difficult to play or learn, and putting extra time into it yields little extra performance. The Range, high skill floorĪ high skill floor and a low skill ceiling is the worst possible set of these attributes. A high skill ceiling means that there is a clear difference between the run-of-the-mill player and those that dedicate large chunks of their life to this particular section of the video game medium. There isn’t much incentive to go from good to great. Maybe try to play other easier games first to get a handle on the mechanics of this genre of game.Ī low skill ceiling means that despite putting a lot of time into the game you’re only marginally better than those who are average. A high skill floor means you probably should expect to either have a hard time as you learn how to play. The ExtremesĪ low skill floor means it is an easy game to get a grip on. With a high skill ceiling the sky’s the limit. Have you ever watched a professional Starcraft player’s Actions Per Minute (APM) reach the hundreds? Have you ever poured enough of your free time into a game that a player on the other team insists you’re cheating? These are all symptoms of a game with a high skill ceiling. Have you watched pro players on new accounts just devastate an enemy team of new players? That, though a dick move, showcases the game’s skill ceiling. With all the time in the world how much is there to learn and master? How much advantage does that time and effort in practice give you? Skill ceilings are the limit (or lack thereof) on how good you can get at the game given enough practice. It’s not that you can’t play the game under this skill floor, but you’ll probably be unusually frustrated as the developers intended you to effortlessly be able to participate in a way that is clearly not-so-effortless for you. The skill floor is the skill-gate to the game, the barrier to entry. This is the developers saying “you must be this tall to ride this ride.” This is the status quo that the developers have modeled the game around, and if you’re not good enough to meet this floor you’re going to have a hard time. Skill floors, to start, are the bare minimum amount of skill with that game (or sub-category within the game, see class shooters ala TF2) to participate in the game effectively. I’ve mentioned it briefly before, but I wanted to give a quick summary on what a skill ceiling and skill floor are. A term I think most everyone should familiarize themselves with, the meta analysis of ranges of skill for a particular video game.
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