Exercise 3.3: Interaction Patterns

Each game has a unique interaction pattern. Some possible interaction patterns are single person vs. game, multiple individual players vs. game, player vs. player, unilateral competition, multilateral competition, cooperative play, and team competition.

Single player vs. game interaction is when one player tries to win a game individually with no additional players. A game with this interaction is solitaire. The original version of this game can be played with no more than one player. This player organizes a deck of cards into various piles, and tries to play cards into the center in numerical order. If all of the cards are played, the player wins. If the player gets stuck, the game wins.

Multiple individual players vs. game interaction is an interaction in which single players try to beat a game, but they do not compete against each other. An example of this type of interaction in a game is bingo. Each player tries to make a row of five squares at the same time, but they do not impact other player’s boards. However, there is still one winner.

When exactly two players compete against each other, they experience player vs. player interaction. An example of this type of game is chess. Each player tries to claim their opponent’s King while protecting their own. Games like this have exactly one winner, it is impossible for the game to win.

The game Scotland Yard is an example of unilateral competition. This is when all players team up against one player. In Scotland Yard, Mr. X is on his own, and all of the other players try to beat him. Either Mr. X or the other players must win, the game cannot.

Multilateral competition is when more than two players play directly against each other. An example of a game like this is monopoly. All of the players try to gain the most money by the end of the game. There is exactly one winner in multilateral competition.

In some games, all players work together to beat the game. One of these games is Super Mario Bros. All of the players work together to beat each level and save the princess. If they save her, the players win. If the players all run out of lives, the game wins.

The last game interaction is team competition. Many sports, like field hockey, use this interaction. In field hockey, each team tries to score more goals than the other, and attempts to block shots from the other team. The team to score the most goals wins, and the game cannot win.

Although all of these game interactions are very different, they all make great games. Different interactions make games much more interesting and diverse.