In racing games, the player in first place doesn't have to worry about crashing into other racers, giving them an easier ride than people who are behind.However, if you weren't able to survive when you had good weaponry, you're probably not going to do much better with even worse weapons. In Shoot 'em Ups, it's common to lose your power-ups when you die.This often leads to a situation where once one faction is ahead, it is difficult or impossible for the opponent to catch up, and a significant portion of the game can be just 'mopping up' weaker neighbors. In empire-building or 4X games, a player who successfully conquers more area will have more resources at their disposal, which can enable them to get even further ahead.Examples of unstable equilibria in games include: This is a ubiquitous problem in game design and a difficult one to solve.

In multiplayer, it can mean that any player who takes an early lead quickly amasses such an advantage that they cannot be beaten, rendering the rest of the match pointless for everyone else. For example, in a single-player game, they can create a situation where early advantages accumulate to the point where the game becomes very easy later on, while early mistakes make it harder and harder to recover this can make the game boring for more skilled players and frustrating enough to drive away everyone else. Unstable equilibria are nearly always undesired in games, as they upset the game balance and make the game less fun to play for many players. This causes a pile-up of advantages or disadvantages which can eventually turn into an unstoppable feedback loop of success or failure.Īnother name for this effect is 'snowballing', after the metaphor of a snowball that grows larger and larger as it rolls down a snow-covered hill the larger it gets, the more surface area it has, and thus the more snow it can pick up, making the problem increasingly worse over time. In games, an Unstable Equilibrium occurs when a design feature rewards a well-performing player with advantages that enable the player to perform even better, or punishes a badly-performing player and causes them to do even worse. Murphy's Law: John's Collateral Corollary

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