Formal Elements - Players

Players Games designed for players. Without players, games have no reason to exist. When designing a game that you need to consider –How many players does the game require? –How many total players does the game support? –Do various players have different roles? –Do players compete, cooperate, or both?

Number of Players A game designed for one player is different than a game designed for two, four, or 10,000 players. A game designed for a specific number of players has different considerations than a game designed for a variable number of players.

Roles of Players Most games have uniform roles for all players in the game. Some games have more than one role for players to choose between. In Mastermind, one player chooses to be the code- breaker, while the other chooses to be the code-maker. Role Playing Games (RPG’s) have a variety of roles for players to choose between.

Player Interaction Patterns When you design a game, what will be the interaction between a player, the game system and any other players? There are seven major player patterns:

1. Single Player vs Game Most common pattern for digital gaming Includes puzzles and other game structures to create conflict. (solitaire)

2. Multiple Individual Players vs Game Multiple players compete against the game in the company of each other. Action is not directed at each other. No interaction between players is required. Essentially, this pattern is a single-player game played in the company of others. (Race)

3. Player vs Player A game where two players directly compete. Classic structure for strategy games and good for competitive players. One-on-one makes competition a personal contest. The intense competition marks this pattern for focused, head- to-head play. (war)

4. Unilateral Competition Two or more players compete against one player. Examples include tag and dodge ball. Interesting model for combining cooperative and competitive gameplay.

5. Multilateral Competition Game structure in which three or more players directly compete. This pattern is what people think of when they think of multiplayer games. Board games are multilateral for between three – six players usually. (Hearts-Spades)

6. Cooperative Play Two or more players cooperate against the game system. Often found in children’s board games.

7. Team Competition Game structure in which two or more groups compete. Includes soccer, basketball and charades. This game structure can provide fun for fans of the teams as well as the players. (Spades)

Activities: Play games with each type of player interaction. See handout.