Lexicology of Balance

Hello again,

Lexicology is the study of the meanings and right uses of words. I love lexicology.

There have been a lot of debates around these forums about the concept of balance. Some people want to do one thing to help balance, others say no that would ruin balance, etcetera. Fun to read.

My question is: what is balance? What do we mean when we use that word? How do we define it? What is a game like when it is balanced?

It seems to me that a game that provides challenge and enjoyment (no rage quits) to users of all skill levels in all the maps and and all the game modes, would be balanced. Methinks that is the goal anyway.

So if that makes sense, and I think you guys already agree with that, from what I can tell from the threads I have read, then weapon balance in particular means that they require skill to use, without becoming frustrating.

Right?

Of course any kind of balance in a game as fast as this will be frustrating at first, everyone else is much faster than you, and you might have a hard time hitting other players as they run about the map several times faster than you!

Anyway, I think a very successful balance will be one that's fun for everyone, easy to pick up but hard to master. No weapon should be way better than another in a specific situation, but a weapon should also never be completely useless in any situation (close-mid range, long range any projectile weapon will be mostly useless, that can't really be fixed).

Yes, playing any game with people who are vastly superior to you will be frustrating no matter what you do. Conceded.

Your phrase, "Easy to pick up, but hard to master," is a good one. That is the defining epitome of a good game. Another aspect, I would propose, is endless discovery. If one can always improve, get better, be challenged, and find the game both familiar and new at the same time, then that is the kind of game one would kill to play (pun intended). Having lots of diverse weapons helps both of these goals, I believe.

Yes, a skilled player ought to be able to get by with practically any weapon (not counting the laser of course, haha). But each weapon ought to have its own private sweet spot, the use for which it was designed, and in which it excels.

Finding those unique sweet spots without making a weapon useless in other situations is difficult, but worthwhile. And I think Xonotic (now that I have tested most of the weapons out in the latest git repo) succeeds almost completely.

(P.S. Speaking of which... can someone tell me the All Weapons cheat so I can test all the weapons?)

(P.S. Speaking of which... can someone tell me the All Weapons cheat so I can test all the weapons?)

(When you start a local game, just use "sv_cheats 1", followed by a map restart "restart" and after spawning the command "impulse 99".)

Thanks!