Game balance

To me one of the most important features in a multi-player game is that it should have a good balance between the players.Nielsen says that having balance in a video game "means that winning a game should be a function of player skill plus any element of randomness or luck that the game employs, but should be unrelated to the game's initial conditions." He goes on to use the example of Rock-Paper-Scissors in which no one players choice can dominate both of the other players. Each choice has a strength and a weakness which allows the game to have a great balance between players but often with more complex games balance becomes more difficult. The more variables one adds into a game the more different player strategies occur. This is often seen in real-time strategy like Age of Empires or Civilization. As more strategies are made available to the player you need to make sure that there is balance between them otherwise you will have what Nielsen called a "dominate strategy" which was when there is only one strategy which is the best to choose, regardless what strategy the other players choose. With only one real strategy to the game it becomes boring because the challenge is taking out the game. There is only one real choice left to the player and this takes the fun out of it.

For me I have seen the use of game balance a lot in 1st person shooters in todays modern gaming. Most games rely on the multiplayer maps and character classes to be evenly balanced otherwise the game becomes boring or not fun for the player who chooses not to use the dominate strategy. For example when i was playing the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2 there was balancing issues with where the weapons were located. If you were on the Villains team you would have easier access to the more powerful weapons, like the grenade launcher, on a few of the maps. Also some maps were designed that one team would have the high ground on another giving them a distinct advantage. This lack of balance made the game  not very enjoyable and when it came time for the retail version to come out these balance issues were fixed and made the game a lot more competitive and thus much more fun.

Have you ever played a game where the balance was off? Was the fun of being on the dominate side of the balance worth occasionally having to play with a disadvantage? Would you even want to play a game if you knew you were at a disadvantage?