4.1. Players & Interactions¶

How many players does the game support? Must it be an exact number (4 players only), or a variable number (2 to 5 players)? Can players enter or leave during play? How does this affect play? What is the relationship between players: are there teams, or individuals? Can teams be uneven?

The most obvious distinction in video games is single-player vs multi-player. But we can also distinguish variations within these broad categoies:

• Solitaire (1 player vs. the game system). Examples include the card game Klondike (sometimes just called “Solitaire”) and the video game Minesweeper.
• Separate individuals against the system. A series of players all competing against the game system in an independent fashion. The casino game Blackjack is an example, where the “House” is playing as a single player against several other players, but those other players are not affecting each other much and do not really help or hinder or play against each other.
• Head-to-head (1 player vs. 1 player). Chess and Go are classic examples - most fighting games in the vein of Street Fighter are modern versions.
• PvE (multiple players vs. the game system). This is common in MMOs like World of Warcraft. Some purely-cooperative board games exist too, such as Knizia’s Lord of the Rings, Arkham Horror, and Pandemic.
• One-against-many (1 player vs. multiple players). The board game Scotland Yard is a great example of this; it pits a single player as Mr. X against a team of detectives. In video games, Evolve uses this idea to pit a team of hunters against a player controlling a monster.
• Free-for-all (1 player vs. 1 player vs. 1 player vs. …). Perhaps the most common player structure for multi-player games, this can be found everywhere, from board games like Monopoly to “multiplayer deathmatch” play in first-person shooter video games.
• Team competition (multiple players vs. multiple players [vs. multiple players…]). This is also a common structure, finding its way into most team sports, card games like Bridge and Spades, team-based online games like “Capture the Flag” modes from first-person shooters, and numerous other games.
• Predator-Prey. Players form a (real or virtual) circle. Everyone’s goal is to attack the player on their left, and defend themselves from the player on their right. The college game Assassination and the trading-card game Vampire: the Eternal Struggle both use this structure. In the card game Magic, a variant called Five-pointed Star features 5 players and makes the goal to eliminate both of the players who are not on either side of you.

Player Interaction

Within each category of multi-player game, we can also describe the ways in which players can interact:

• Direct conflict (“I attack you”)
• Negotiation of partnerships (“If you support me to enter the Black Sea, I’ll help you get into Cairo next turn”)
• Trading (“I’ll give you a Wood in exchange for your Wheat”)
• Information sharing (“I looked at that tile last turn and I’m telling you, if you enter it a trap will go off”)

Needlessly to say, a free-for-all game where players can directly attack each other like Quake 3 Arena is very different from a free-for-all where players can generally only interact by trading and negotiating like in Settlers of Catan.