Difficulty
Learning paths through this topic
How much of the fighting do players do with an empty weapon?
Ammo that is too scarce turns a shooter into a chore, and too plentiful removes every decision. This entry shows how to measure the time spent in a fight with nothing to shoot, using samples that have gaps.
When players are almost dead, do they find healing in time or die first?
Health that exists in the level but is out of reach when it is needed does not help. This entry shows how to find the near-death moments in a health log and measure how they end, without counting flickering around the limit twice.
Does dying very early make players less likely to come back?
How soon the first death happens can shape whether a newcomer returns. This entry explains how to group players by that moment, why players who never died need their own group, and what clock to use.
Is my countdown too tight, or are players just dying?
A level with a timer can fail in two different ways, and fixing the wrong one wastes your time. This entry shows how to separate real time pressure from deaths and from players who simply walked away.
How long should a warning last, judged by how fast players really react?
Picking a warning time from a number in a book ignores your own players. This entry shows how to turn logged reactions into a warning length, and how to treat the guessers and the people who never reacted at all.
Does this weapon reward practice, or is it the same for beginners and experts?
A weapon that everyone handles equally well adds no depth, and one only experts can use shuts out newcomers. This entry shows how to compare groups of players fairly, and why the grouping must not come from the weapon itself.
At what point in a match is the result really decided?
If the winner is clear long before the end, the rest of the match is just waiting for the clock. This entry shows how to find the last moment the result could still have changed, and how to use it across many matches.
Which enemy type is really dangerous, and which only looks it?
Adding up damage by enemy type praises the common ones and the average of rates is thrown off by enemies that die in a blink. This entry shows the fair way to compare how much harm each kind does while it is around.
How wide can a jump gap be before too many players miss it?
Measured success rates for neighbouring gap sizes jump around, so a wider gap can seem easier than a narrower one. This entry shows how to smooth that out without inventing numbers and still get one clear answer.