justerats

Justerats is a term used in certain online communities and speculative fiction to denote a method of making precise, incremental adjustments to a system—such as a game mechanic, a narrative structure, or a simulation—to achieve stability, balance, or coherence.

Origin and etymology are uncertain. The coinage seems to have emerged in online forums in the 2010s, likely as a portmanteau of "adjust" and "rates" or "ratios," though no authoritative record confirms a single source.

Applications are varied. In tabletop gaming, justerats can describe on-the-fly adjustments to encounters or rules to maintain challenge without causing disruption. In simulations and modeling, the term refers to small, iterative parameter updates that counteract drift or bias. In narrative fiction, writers use the concept metaphorically to describe minor edits or pacing adjustments that refine a storyline without altering core events.

Reception and status: Because it is used primarily in informal contexts, justerats is not widely recognized in formal industry or academic literature. It functions as niche jargon within hobbyist design communities and fan wikis.

See also: calibration, parameter tuning, balance patches.