Player Interaction patterns: The structure of interaction between the player, the game system and any other players.
Single player vs game: relies on puzzles or other play structures to create conflict
Multiple individual players vs game (e.g. bingo, roulette, other gambling games): good for noncompetitive players who enjoy an activity in a social arena
Player vs player: focused, head-to-head play
Unilateral competition: 2+ players competing against a single player (tag, dodgeball, Scotland Yard)
Multilateral competition: 3+ players competing against one another (poker, Monopoly, Warcraft 3, etc.)
Cooperative play: 2+ players compete against game system (Shadows Over Camelot).
Team competition: 2+ groups of players compete against one another.
Player Objective categories:
- Capture
- Chase
- Race
- Alignment: abstract games, puzzle games. Bejeweled, Othello, etc.
- Rescue / escape
- Forbidden Act: Twister, Operation, Don't Break the Ice
- Construction
- Exploration
- Solution
- Outwit: gain knowledge to defeat other players
Types of Decisions:
- Hollow: no real consequences
- Obvious: no real decision
- Uninformed: arbitrary choice
- Informed: where the player has ample information
- Dramatic: taps into a player's emotional state
- Weighted: a balanced decision with consequences on both sides
- Immediate: has an immediate impact
- Long-term: whose impact will be felt down the road
Consequences of player decisions
- Reward or punishment
- Anticipation
- Surprise
- Progress
Fun "Killers"
- Micromanagement
- Stagnation
- Insurmountable obstacles
- Arbitrary events
- Predictable paths