In game dev, there’s can be a number of occasions where it’s necessary to break the rules of statistics, physics, the game, etc in order to provide the player a more enjoyable experience. The intent of these mechanics varies wildly, but common goals are…
- alter the experience to be more immersive or exciting
- weight the odds to fall more closely in line to player perception of those odds
- make the game more/less challenging based on the player’s experience thus far
These mechanics are often best reserved for non-competitive games (i.e, games that don’t feature a PvP multiplayer component) as the common goal of these mechanics is to tune things in favor of a specific player’s experience. In a multiplayer setting, this could easily cause the game to favor a single player’s experience or give player(s) an unfair advantage against the other players.