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======Soft Gate======
{{:patterns:badass_corrosive_skag.png?direct&}}
[[games:borderlands|Borderlands]]
=====Description=====
Soft gates are a method of directing the player's movement in a "soft" manner. Rather than relying on physical [[patterns:blockade|blockade]]s or [[patterns:abstract_wall|abstract wall]]s such as the environment, invisible barriers, or literal gates, a soft gate exploits the player's expected statistics or abilities. Soft gates often take the form of areas guarded by impossibly difficult monsters for a low-level character. By placing such difficult enemies at end of game areas, the player can be forced to follow a more controlled path through the game.
Another purpose for a soft gate may be to slow down the pace of an RPG to flesh out the storyline by requiring the player to complete [[patterns:sidequest|sidequests]]. These types of gates often occur within [[patterns:hub|hubs]] or [[patterns:city|cities]] where there are a lot of opportunities to find story-related quests.
=====Variables and Affordances=====
* **Forced vs. Non-forced Interaction**: can the player run away from the enemies, or is the encounter forced
* **Protecting Area**: the area protected by the soft gate
* **Criteria**: what ability or level the player must attain before defeating the soft gate
=====Examples=====
* [[games:fallout3|Fallout 3]]. Areas intended for the end of the game, such as vault 112 (//protecting area//), are surrounded by difficult enemies rather than physical walls. These encounters are //not forced// as the player can run away from enemies in the area, although running may be challenging. The player can come back and defeat these monsters at a high enough level (//criteria//).
=====Related Patterns=====
* [[patterns:unwinnable_fight|Unwinnable Fight]]. Instances where the player is below the intended level of soft gates can turn into unwinnable fights.
=====Quest-Level Relationship=====
* [[patterns:linear_hub_pattern|Linear Hub Pattern]]. Soft gates can turn a diamond superstructure into a linear hub pattern while retaining some emergent qualities and without the designer needing to hard-code quest restrictions. Soft gates instead persuade the player with threat of death to follow a linear path in an open world.
===== Acknowledgments =====
The inspiration for identifying this pattern came from TV Tropes's [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeefGate|Beef Gate]].