Gameplay balancing
The concept of gameplay balancing goes far beyond the qualities of individual objects and characters, and into the nature of play itself. Let’s take a look at a classic example of a game with a flawed design: tic-tac-toe. Why is it flawed? The starting player can never lose. All they need to do is put their mark in the middle. This is a failure of both the design of the rules and the game’s balance itself.
The game has a single, dominant strategy, and once you figure it out or run into it, you’re incentivized to replicate it. The presence of a dominant strategy drastically reduces a player’s options. Once introduced to the play pattern, it narrows down the possibility space and causes the game to lose most of its appeal. A wide possibility space is a defining feature of a well-balanced game, which, in turn, helps keep the game engaging for a long time.