LogFAQs > #980105012

You see this frequently in discussions on competitive games with different characters/classes.

If what they're trying to say is that the character has an accessible set of moves or abilities, aka they're "easy to pick up", then that character has a low skill floor. They're describing the minimum level of competency to be effective in most encounters.

A healer in a class-based team game usually has a low skill floor because your basic function to heal teammates is usually easy to do and understand while also positively contributing to a fight. A marksman/sniper usually has a high skill floor because you're often only effective when landing critical hits, which takes a higher level of initial skill to be consistent at.

A skill ceiling is the upper limit of a character's ideal movement, abilities, etc. A high skill ceiling is often described as "hard to master". While not always the case, a character/class with a high skill ceiling rewards the time and effort put into mastering those skills with a higher overall effectiveness versus a character with a lower skill ceiling.

Characters/classes with high aerial mobility usually have a high skill ceiling since the extra dimension of movement takes more spatial reasoning and insight versus a character that primarily moves on the ground. Mastery of that mobility puts you at an advantage over grounded targets by giving more angles of attack and evasion.

Anyway that's my rant. Thanks for listening. Feel free to comment.