Level Caps

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGS) usually feature a way of improving the abilities of one who is playing as a fictional character. This usually involves performing various in-game tasks ranging from defeating enemies, to harvesting resources or performing quests. Generally, one's level, or a rough estimate of the abilities of their character is directly tied to how much effort the put into improvement. The more you play, the better your character gets. Some of these games allow people to combat other players, which, obviously, provides massive advantages to whoever it is that is the highest level, since their strength and other relevant stats tend to be tied to their current player's level. It all seems fair at first glance, you get rewarded for what you accomplish. Let's look a bit closer at things here.

New players who are late to begin playing the MMORPG, can become dominated by other players who are a much higher level than they are in an arena where combat is unrestricted. Perhaps a few high level characters group together and form a gang, and that gang decides to derive amusement from disrupting the gameplay of others. Well, there are a few countermeasures to this behavior. One way to partially address the issue, is in using level caps, or the existence of a maximum level any one player can reach. If this is done, it can serve to leave a maximum level of division between old and new players so as to give the new ones a bit more of a chance. Perhaps now, gangs of new players can band together and defend themselves against the more predatory among them. This solution, however, may discourage players from playing the game once they have reached a maximum level and finished all of the gameplay elements. Another potential solution is to allow for a system of reporting to prevent the abuse from one group of high level individuals towards another. This solution demands the use of power in the form of banning or otherwise punishing bad actors, in order to curb the behavior. A drawback to this approach, especially in the subscription-based model for paying for the game, is that top subscribers can be lost. If everyone who plays is charged the same monthly fee, however, this problem also dissipates. Yet one other solution is to simply restrict game combat to certain areas or only allow for it if both parties agree. This solution would seem to be the optimum solution in terms of keeping engagement up with limited enforcement necessary. It could be written into the game.

People play games because they provide a form of entertainment. I doubt people would want to play very much if every time they started to do so, some behemoth comes up and stomps them before they even have a chance to establish themselves. This is one of the primary complaints in a game like Rust, where you are spawned into a competitive world where others who have been playing and accumulating resources for much longer have a massive edge against you.
So, do we need level caps?

image created with help from LeonardoAI