Visits

Temporary being in a part of a game world that is controlled by another player.

Several games let players have their own parts of the game world where they solely affect what happens. Although this can let them have privacy and creative control, to avoid these areas become to lonely games can support restricted Visits from other players.

Examples

FarmVille and CityVille allow players to go to the farms of other players to whom they are neighbors, and while there they can help with harvesting crops.

Borderlands allows a form of visit in that players can join other players' campaigns and help them solve individual quests without it affecting their own storyline.

Using the pattern

For Visits to be possible, a game must provide some sort of area that is the domain of another players, i.e. a Private Game Space. Visits are simply a form of Movement in games to other players' areas where they have a Limited Set of Actions compared to other parts of the Game World. Action Caps is typically also applied so that the players themselves do need to do most of the actions affecting their games (i.e. maintaining a Value of Effort for them). Being Neighbors, or at least one each others Friend Lists, is typically a requirement for being allowed to make Visits in Massively Single-Player Games such as FarmVille and CityVille; Tutorial Neighbors can be provide to let players be able to make Visits before having any player Neighbors.

Making Visits possible is usually done to provide Social Interaction in a way that limits the risks of Conflicts simply because of the Limited Set of Actions possible. One way of guaranteeing this is to make the Limited Set of Actions only consists of Altruistic Actions. By doing so, they can add Social Interaction to Massively Single-Player Online Games while maintaining Casual Gameplay.

Consequences

Visits are in themselves a form of social activity, and by being so they provide Social Interaction in games. Since they allow players to notice what other players (often those that are Neighbors) have achieved during gameplay, they provide a limit form of Public Player Statistics.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Limited Set of Actions, Movement, Public Player Statistics, Social Interaction

Can Modulate

Game Worlds, Massively Single-Player Online Games, Private Game Spaces

Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

Action Caps, Altruistic Actions, Friend Lists, Neighbors, Tutorial Neighbors

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

New pattern created in this wiki.

References

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Acknowledgements

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