Skyrim was getting ready to launch—it was mere weeks away—but former Bethesda producer Jeff Gardiner and the designers were in the midst of a disagreement over balance. This led Gardiner, who also had years of creative and design experience, to take matters into his own hands.
"I had this fight with the designers at the time," says Gardiner. "They wanted to do things through data and simulations. And I was like, 'But the player does things, like backs up and double taps'. And they would run AI simulations, where an NPC and a monster would fight each other, and if over 10 times the simulated player won more than 50%, then it was balanced. But I was like, 'They're not backing up. The AI only does so many things.'"
