There are really only two types of multiplayer games. Fair play games where everyone starts with the same stuff, and what I'll call madness games where players can have wildly different powers. Fair play is easy to balance - everyone has the same tools, so if you lose, it's on you. Think chess or a basic FPS where everyone spawns with identical weapons.

Madness games are more interesting but way harder to get right. These are the MMOs, MOBAs, anything where player progression matters. The appeal is obvious - who doesn't want to feel like they've grown stronger? The problem is equally obvious - new players get stomped by veterans with better gear or higher levels.

I've seen developers try everything to fix this. They nerf high-level players when they fight newbies. They boost weak players to match strong ones. They create elaborate matchmaking systems. None of it really works.

The core issue is that these solutions attack the symptoms, not the disease. You end up with systems where progression feels meaningless because the game constantly adjusts your power level. Players grind for months to unlock a powerful ability, only to have it reduced to baseline whenever they actually want to use it competitively.

I'm fairly convinced that true fairness in asymmetric games is impossible without destroying what makes them fun in the first place. But I was wrong.

This isn't about making things harder for casual players. The base ability still works fine for everyone. It's about giving skilled players room to grow without making the game unfair for others.

To address this issue, I propose the concept of a unique challenge that leverages the player's real skills to create unique gameplay experiences. To better understand this concept, let's refer to "The Art of Game Design", chapter 10 of which describes the relationship between a player's skill level and the level of challenge required to maintain their interest in the game.

To illustrate the concept, let's modify Jesse's diagram in this chapter to include the challenge uniqueness axis within the flow channel. It lies there since we:

1. Need to continuously increase the amount of challenge required

2. Aim to avoid monotony and anxiety-inducing gameplay

3. Want more unique experiences to require more of player's real skills

Let's enhance Reaper from OW. Everyone gets access to a teleport ability. Press the button, your character teleports. Basic version works fine for everyone. But what if, during the casting animation, you get a quick-time event? Hit it perfectly, and you skip the windup animation. Get a second QTE? The teleport becomes silent. Nail a third one with frame-perfect timing? You become briefly invisible after appearing.

Same ability for everyone, but demonstrating real skills - reaction time, precision, timing - unlocks enhanced versions on the fly. This isn't about being a better player overall, it's about passing specific skill tests that anyone can practice and improve at.

The key difference is that these aren't emergent skills that develop naturally through gameplay. They're explicit challenges built into the ability itself. Quick-time events, precise input sequences, rhythm challenges, whatever tests the skills you want to reward.

This solves the core problem because the advantages require active skills every single time. You can't just unlock something once and coast on it forever. Want the enhanced teleport? You need to nail those timings every time you use it.

For casuals, the base ability works perfectly well. For skilled players, there's always room to show off and gain meaningful advantages. The beauty is that anyone can practice these unique challenges and improve at them, regardless of their overall game experience or time invested.