Rii
Rear Admiral
The Blue (or "Spiny") Shell is one of the most controversial items in Mario Kart. Penny Arcade's take illustrates conventional wisdom on the issue: it's unfair. For some, this represents a flaw in the game, for others it's but one expression of a multiplayer philosophy encouraging competition between players regardless of skill level.
Some recent experiences with another weapon-based racer, Wipeout HD, have led me to question both of these positions and propose a third: that in its own, imperfect way, the Blue shell actually makes for a more balanced game.
At the core of any multiplayer racer is a positive feedback loop. A player in first position merely has to drive to the track, whereas those behind him must drive both to the track and to the other players on it. There are exceptions to this both when the player leading does so by a very small or very large (i.e. he's lapping some of the other players) margin, but the point remains: gaining an early lead is disproportionately beneficial over the long-term.
Positive feedback isn't a bad thing, which is fortunate as it's almost impossible to eliminate entirely. Even games and sports which eschew positive feedback in their design are subject to it in the form of player/team morale. Too large a degree of positive feedback in the game, however, can significant impact how enjoyable and meaningful the latter parts of it are. If the game is essentially decided at half-time, why bother playing the other half?
Weapons-based racers inherit the positive feedback effects common to all multiplayer racers, and significantly strengthen those effects by adding weapons to the mix. Whereas a player in first position must deal only with incoming fire from his nearest opponent, and can focus all of his own weapon deployments on enemies to the rear, players in the middle of the pack must deal, and deal with, fire from both directions. The chaos for such players is multiplied not only directly through the presence of multi-target or area-of-effect weapons, but indirectly through a significantly increased potential for collision resulting from the unpredictable behaviour of other players in reacting to and being affected by the weapons fire around them.
The upshot of all this is that Wipeout features an unusually large degree of positive feedback. The regularity with which first place finishes first by a bloody long way is conspicuous, and can't be entirely attributed to skill on account of the fact that the player finishing first will often change from race to race even amongst the same group of players. This is an indication of an unhealthy degree of positive feedback in the game.
The Blue Shell and rank-sensitive item system in Mario Kart, rather than unbalancing the game as is generally perceived, actually works to compensate for this effect to ensure a more balanced and engaging game where the outcome doesn't necessarily hinge on the first half-lap of the race. The recent alteration of the Blue Shell to include an area-of-effect explosion also makes for better game balance, as it prevents a player leading only by a slight degree from being unduly singled out, and provides a skill-based mechanism on the part of both first and second place by which they're able to attempt to respectively ensure and avoid a collective fate.
All hail the Blue Shell!
So, who wants to do a study investigating the correlation between early and final race leaders across various types of racing games and real world motorsports?
Some recent experiences with another weapon-based racer, Wipeout HD, have led me to question both of these positions and propose a third: that in its own, imperfect way, the Blue shell actually makes for a more balanced game.
At the core of any multiplayer racer is a positive feedback loop. A player in first position merely has to drive to the track, whereas those behind him must drive both to the track and to the other players on it. There are exceptions to this both when the player leading does so by a very small or very large (i.e. he's lapping some of the other players) margin, but the point remains: gaining an early lead is disproportionately beneficial over the long-term.
Positive feedback isn't a bad thing, which is fortunate as it's almost impossible to eliminate entirely. Even games and sports which eschew positive feedback in their design are subject to it in the form of player/team morale. Too large a degree of positive feedback in the game, however, can significant impact how enjoyable and meaningful the latter parts of it are. If the game is essentially decided at half-time, why bother playing the other half?
Weapons-based racers inherit the positive feedback effects common to all multiplayer racers, and significantly strengthen those effects by adding weapons to the mix. Whereas a player in first position must deal only with incoming fire from his nearest opponent, and can focus all of his own weapon deployments on enemies to the rear, players in the middle of the pack must deal, and deal with, fire from both directions. The chaos for such players is multiplied not only directly through the presence of multi-target or area-of-effect weapons, but indirectly through a significantly increased potential for collision resulting from the unpredictable behaviour of other players in reacting to and being affected by the weapons fire around them.
The upshot of all this is that Wipeout features an unusually large degree of positive feedback. The regularity with which first place finishes first by a bloody long way is conspicuous, and can't be entirely attributed to skill on account of the fact that the player finishing first will often change from race to race even amongst the same group of players. This is an indication of an unhealthy degree of positive feedback in the game.
The Blue Shell and rank-sensitive item system in Mario Kart, rather than unbalancing the game as is generally perceived, actually works to compensate for this effect to ensure a more balanced and engaging game where the outcome doesn't necessarily hinge on the first half-lap of the race. The recent alteration of the Blue Shell to include an area-of-effect explosion also makes for better game balance, as it prevents a player leading only by a slight degree from being unduly singled out, and provides a skill-based mechanism on the part of both first and second place by which they're able to attempt to respectively ensure and avoid a collective fate.
All hail the Blue Shell!
So, who wants to do a study investigating the correlation between early and final race leaders across various types of racing games and real world motorsports?
I deploy them as a barrier, and if I can't ram some sucker who is trying to pass me, I'll just whack his ass from the rear.
