Practical Game Design

Rubberbanding

Rubberbanding systems are designed to keep contestants close together, to wrap an imaginary rubber band around them. They try to maintain an optimal level of challenge for each player by creating a negative feedback loop and adjusting in-game variables in real time. You can view rubberbanding as a systematic equivalent of Robin Hood; it helps those who struggle while providing an extra challenge to those who dominate. It can be done with players being well aware of the process or in total secret.

Most racing games do their best to cover their tracks and create an illusion of a tight and fair race. In Burnout, Need for Speed and countless other games, an invisible rubber band controls the speed of NPC drivers, linking their performance ...