The Time Versus Skill debate is probably the greatest divide between gamers. Much more emotive than artificial story factions like Alliance vs. Horde, Luxon vs. Kurzicks, Romans vs. Barbarians, Axis vs. Allies, etc.

Sometimes referred to as Grind Versus Skill, it is actually the difference between truly good gamers, and everyone else. The arguments usually revolve around how truly good gamers are unhappy that other players can close the gap on them by simply putting more hours into the game.

Lets look at the parties involved:

The Elite The truly skilled gamers inevitably put in a lot of time into their games. They have deep understanding of the mechanics of the game, know all the maps and skills by hard. They improvise and have better reflexes to fully exploit this knowledge. They are the epitome of both Time invested, and Skills at the game.

The Grinder They have no life outside the game, and spend inhuman hours playing it. They may know as much about the game as The Elite, but they cannot think as deep, or click as fast to play on a level playing field as the Elite. They are the epitome of Time invested in the game.

The Casual Gamer These people are truly casual, spending no more than 2-3 hours a day on games. Most spend much less than that. They just want to experience the game, see new scenary, kill some monsters, and hopefully be able to tackle some higher end content someday. They spend the least Time on the game. Skill level, and understand of the game will vary widely with this group.

The Newbie Everyone is new to the game at some stage. Some bring skills and knowledge of gaming from other games they have played before, and are only inhibited by their levels and equipment, while others might very well be completely new to the genre of gaming.

Some people remain Perma-Noobs due to their inability to think, and their unwillingness to learn. Inability to communicate with the wider game community may be a factor in this, whether it the result of a language barrier or a lack of social skill. They are largely out of this debate, because they are too far away to be any threat to the way The Elite like to play their games.

Different approaches to game design also create a different environment for the gamers:

Carrot on a stick Most subscription based MMORPG use the Carrot on a stick approach. They continually keep players interested by dangling the next bit of cool gear or content just out of reach of the majority of the players. So players have to keep leveling, and getting better equipment before they can enjoy the content.

This approach is meant to slow down the players’ access to new content, so that the developer do not need to continually ship new content to keep the players interested. Time-sinks also means that players will play longer hours, and hopefully be subscribed for a longer period of time.

This is the playground of The Grinder. The going gets a bit tough for The Casual Gamer, who will end up not having as much new content to experience, because of his lower investment in playing Time. The Elite players would be right up there with the Grinders, usually one step ahead.

The level playing field This may or may not be absolutely true. The level playing field may not be quite so level after all, but its usually a distance from the Carrot on a stick approach. Competitive gaming tends to go this way. Real Time Strategy (RTS) games and First Person Shooter (FPS) games all use the level playing field approach. Guild Wars also endeavour to have a level playing field, where there is essentially one single character level and one tier of equipment. The PvP aspect of the game is probably closer to the level playing field ideal.

Players are kept interested because they are competing on their own skill, rather than someone who has an unfair advantage because he spent more time grinding, or if he got lucky with an item drop. Developers are forced to constantly balance the game and to remove any exploits that gamers use.

So what is the problem? It seems that every one have their own space. However, many games, particularly MMORPG try to encompass more than one type of gaming. With PvP gaming, as well as the gaming economy, it is inevitably that one player’s playing style is going to impact the playing life of another player.

Two very straight forward situations are these:

Elite Zones Many games have these elite zones that are really tough and only the The Elite and the top end of Grinders can survive in. Inevitably, elite zones mean phat loot. So for game economic reasons, Elite players would like their zones kept exclusive.

This situation is pulled in the other direction by the fact that the Elite players are a tiny minority of the player base. The vast majority are Grinders and Casual Players, and they too paid money for those zones that they cannot enjoy. The two gaming approach works differently here, the Carrot on a stick method means that everyone can potentially grind their way to any content. While the level playing field developers might be forced to nerf the elite zone so that more players can access it.

If too few players can enjoy a zone, it would inevitably lead to people abandoning all hope of ever playing that zone, which will cause that zone’s little community to dwindle and die, regardless of how phat the loot is. However, a balance needs to be struck when attempting to tone down a really tough zone, because if it gets too easy, the sense of achievement for completing the zone is gone, and with it, any desirability to play it. Its a tug of war between fanning the aspirations to play the content, and rewarding players with a sense of achievement of having tackled it.

PvP This is another form of gaming where the way other players play will make a rude intrusion into your playing. I like to seperate PvP gaming out between World PvP, and Arena PvP.

World PvP is when someone comes up to you and blasts you into four hundred tiny bits while you’re walking around hunting rabbits. I do not have a big problem with power differentials in this form of PvP. Its like real life, if you are mugged by a guy twice your size, it is going to hurt.

Arena PvP is any form of PvP gaming where you enter knowing full well that you’ll be fighting other people. Multiplayer RTS and FPS are included in this. I believe that it is fundamental that Arena PvP have some sort of a level playing field.

It is the same reason why we watch sports. We do not condone performing enhancement of sports to gain a competitive advantage, in the same way that Arena PvP is only really fun and fair if all parties are balanced and fight each other on their own skill.

Ideally, combatants should enter the Arena with equal game skills and equipment, and will have to depend on their wits and skills to win. Developers also need to constantly be on top of the game to have a full awareness of the latest metagame, and how individual game skills are impacting the dynamics. There needs to be an established knowledge of that requires playing skill, and what simply requires button mashing. That difference is what attracts high end PvPers to certain games.

Developers also need to constantly break the current metagame, in order for it to constantly evolve and change. This keeps the competition interesting. It gets boring after a while if people are using the identical tactics to play for months on end, even if that tactic is the epitomy of efficiency and requires high player skill. Therein lies the contradiction. Game balancing is never done, it needs to be constantly undone, and redone.

What about the vast majority of gamers? Who are not at the cutting edge of any game to notice the nuance of a few game balances? We aspire to play like the Elite, while we do not have the skills or investment in time to compete with them. Yet, we paid good money for a game, and feel it within our right to experience as much content as possible.

It is generally a bad idea for any gaming company to ignore the majority gamer, so they tend to have enough content created to interest us. The Elite gamers might find themselves bored not to have greater and greater challenges put before them, and as key influencers and flag bearers for the game, their needs have to addressed as well.