Playing with Others

December 14, 2021

based on:

chapter twentyone of The art of game design: a book of lenses by Jesse Schell

Making an online game is hard, you have to compensate for lag, and try to predict what payers will do before they do them, all so the players feel like they are actually playing together. But that doesn't mean it's not worth doing, humans are social creatures, we need to interact with each other in order to not feel lonely and be happy. In the book, Schell gives us plenty of reasons why humans like playing with or against each other.

1. Competition

• People like to compete, it is fulfilling when you win against another person, its why sports like football and darts are so popular, people like being better than others

2. Collaboration

• People also enjoy helping each other, and overcoming challenges with people, personally, I think it adds a layer of safety, escape rooms are a great example, with more people the information can be distributed amongst the players if one person played they may feel overwhelmed and helpless

3. Meeting up

• Socially, games are great if you can talk to each other, they offer talking points and allow you to have fun while interacting with others, it may also provide easy access to someone far away, people who live in different places can not easily meet up every week for coffee, so games provide a portal to interact with each other.

4. Exploring our friends

• Games offer an insight into how our friends think and act outside of conversations, you get to see how well they deal with stress and puzzles, which is often a side you don't see if having a normal conversation

5. Exploring ourselves

• like above, games test how you act with others in stressful or confusing situations, do you work well with others? You can easily find out by playing with other people, and if you notice you do not work well with others then you can try improve yourself

So although multiplayer games may be a headache to make, it is important to see why they are made, and how this can benefit your game.

references:

Brzezinshi, J. 2009, Schell, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses.(Brief article), American Library Association CHOICE.