| rdfs:comment
| - While characters generally gain in power as they gain levels, not all levels are created equal. Sometimes you get a major new ability that makes the game easy. Or you might end up just gaining some small stat increase or a few Hit Points for that level. But hey, at least it's something, right? See also Dynamic Difficulty, Level Scaling, Rubber Band AI, Anti-Grinding. For actual empty game levels/rooms, see Empty Room Psych. Examples of Empty Levels include:
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| abstract
| - While characters generally gain in power as they gain levels, not all levels are created equal. Sometimes you get a major new ability that makes the game easy. Or you might end up just gaining some small stat increase or a few Hit Points for that level. But hey, at least it's something, right? But wait a minute! Those Hit Points don't even add up to one more hit from my enemies. And my stat increase didn't take my sword out of Scratch Damage range. And why did the game start throwing all of these Goddamned Bats at me? I was doing just fine against The Goombas! Gee, the Wizard seems to be enjoying his new spell; maybe I should have put my levels in that. This is the essence of Empty Levels. Many games increase in difficulty as you advance in levels to accommodate your increase in gamer experience and Level Grinding, but this isn't always the case. In mild or temporary cases it may be a sign you haven't done enough Level Grinding. In worse cases the although your characters' stats are indeed increasing with each level, the monsters' stats and abilities are increasing faster, ultimately making you weaker by comparison. This might be a programmer's way to say lay off the grinding. Maybe its only a relative problem, a Wizard gets a different powerful spell each time... a Fighter can poke things with his sword a little better. This is a risk of any game that uses Level Scaling, or similar systems, though is by no means limited to such. If you start getting these late into the game, you have a Parabolic Power Curve. Inversion of Unstable Equilibrium, where doing badly leaves you further behind. That's not to say that this is always a bad trope, especially if one can exploit it by beating the game while avoiding level-ups. Multiple Endings provide a way to reward skilled players that can still win with higher-than-normal levels. Fake Difficulty to the extreme. Big factor in creating the Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards. In rare instances creates an Unwinnable situation. See also Dynamic Difficulty, Level Scaling, Rubber Band AI, Anti-Grinding. For actual empty game levels/rooms, see Empty Room Psych. Examples of Empty Levels include:
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