skill ceiling
noun1
Video games The amount of skill required to master some activity (especially a game or character); the maximum possible skill.
- Coordinate term: skill floor
- Chess has an extremely high skill ceiling. Even the best chess-playing programs are constantly being improved.
4 more examples
- A fighting game with a low skill ceiling will quickly get boring after one masters its mechanics.
- Among 10 and 11-year-old children, boys' games have a higher 'skill ceiling', and are more competitive and longer-lasting than those of girls.1984, Peter K. Smith, editor, Play in Animals and Humans, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, NY: Basil Blackwell, →ISBN, page 284:
- There's an old game design maxim: good games take minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. Another way to say this is "low skill floor, high skill ceiling."2009, Steve Swink, Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation, Boca Raton, F.L.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 302:
- The really fantastic thing about this "visible suits" idea is that it would have a negligible effect upon the skill floor – the additional information would not have to be used, whereas its effect on the skill ceiling would be considerable.2010 August 18, Markgm, “game theory and design”, in alt.math.recreational (Usenet):