Here is some food for thought:
EA Sports has been caught with a patent called "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment" (DDA). The premise of the patent is that when 2 players connect to their server to play against each other, the server gathers data from both players and rates their skill level. Once the server has determined each players skill level, it will "level the playing field" so that the worse player doesn't get frustrated and quit. They need players to not quit because they want them to purchase their player packs for their "Ultimate Team" modes where you purchase packs of virtual cards in hopes of getting virtual superstars to put onto your team (For example, you buy more packs hoping to "pull" a Ronaldo in FIFA so he can be on your team). EA Sports makes millions of dollars off of people buying these virtual cards. So they have gone to great lengths to artificially level the playing field between the highly skilled players and the casual players to increase their profit margins.
This patent is extremely detailed and can be found online. Here is an excerpt from the EA Sports DDA Patent: "Another solution that may be used in some types of competitive video games , such as racing games , is to vary the ability of the user or the user ' s competitor based on the relationship between the user and the user ' s competitor . For example , supposing that the video game is a racing game , the user ' s car may be made faster when the user is doing poorly and may be made slower when the user is doing well . This solution may result in what is sometimes referred to as a “ rubber band effect . ”
So here is some food for thought; If video game companies are already using technology like this to artificially level the playing field between skilled and non-skilled players, Wouldn't it be likely that online poker sites, which are making an exponentially more amount of money, be doing something at least as advanced as this?
