Read the original post at:
http://blog.wolfire.com/2009/09/character-stats-vs-player-skill/
The goal of almost all game designers is to make games that are fun. A common method for giving the player a “fun experience” is to let him start out in a world as an inexperienced noob and then let his character blossom into one of the greatest and most powerful beings in all the land. This sounds like a solid idea, but what mechanics can be used to convey this transition to the player? There are two choices: schedule rewards that will upgrade the player’s character stats or give the player analog control over part of the game and encourage him to actually develop some game play skills.
Character stat improvement schedules
Growing up I poured at least 100 hours into Diablo and its stat boosting reward schedule. All I had to do was click on enemies to kill them and at regular intervals my character’s stats would go up. Throughout my whole experience this mechanic never changed. The only brain stimulation I got was determining what character attributes I should pump up first and trying to figure out if a new fancy sword that had popped out of an enemy was actually better than my old fancy sword.
http://cdn.wolfire.com/blog/john/Diablo.png
Unreal Tournament also grabbed at least 100 hours of my childhood. Just like Diablo, UT required me to click on enemies to kill them. However, instead of making my strikes easy and automatic, UT gave me direct analog control over my aim and movement. The game actually made me line up the attacks myself. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but as I played more, I could feel myself actually getting better at the arbitrary art of killing enemies.
http://cdn.wolfire.com/blog/john/UT.png