View source for Anonymous Actions

[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Action Patterns]]
[[Category:Information Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Needs references]]
[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
[[Category:Staffan's current workpage]]
''Actions that cannot be unconditionally linked to a specific player.''


This pattern is a still a stub.

=== Examples ===


[[Apples to Apples]]

[[ESP Game]]

[[Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game]]

passing notes in roleplaying games such as [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 

== Using the pattern ==
A requirement for [[Anonymous Actions]] is that there is an [[Uncertainty of Information]] about which player made an action. A common way of supporting this to have several players performing [[Collaborative Actions]] through placing [[Cards]] or [[Chips]] since then they may unsure about who contributed with which game elements, an example of this can be found in the skill resolution system of [[Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game]]. This can be also be achieved through adding [[Randomness|Random]] actions provided by the game system ([[Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game]] does this also through the ''destiny deck'').

There are two main reasons for including [[Anonymous Actions]] in games. One is making [[Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties]] be based solely on an action (e.g. which card on played in [[Apples to Apples]]) rather than the players' relative positions. Another is to allow [[Betrayal|Betrayals]] to go unnoticed or possibly repeated, and can also allow [[Traitors]] to not only have to work through [[Stealth]].

In games with [[Unmediated Social Interaction]], players can reveal themselves as the source of [[Anonymous Actions]] unless the take care with what they say and how the show their emotions to events taking place. This may make the pattern difficult to combine with [[Unmediated Social Interaction]] but if [[Penalties]] are linked to revealing oneself (as for examples is the case for [[Traitors]] in games such as [[Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game]] or [[Shadows over Camelot]]) this makes [[Roleplaying]] a prerequisite for [[Game Mastery]].

=== Interface Aspects ===
While [[Cards]] and [[Chips]] show how [[Anonymous Actions]] can supporting in [[Self-Facilitated Games]], the use of [[Dedicated Game Facilitators]] such as [[Game Masters]] can allow for complex and improvised actions to be [[Anonymous Actions]] through providing interfaces specifically for this purpose. 

== Consequences ==
Since it is more difficult for players to associate actions with players and thereby their strategies in the game, [[Anonymous Actions]] makes games have less [[Predictable Consequences]].

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
-

==== with [[Unmediated Social Interaction]] and [[Penalties]] ====
[[Roleplaying]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Betrayal]], 
[[Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties]], 
[[Traitors]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
[[Game Masters]], 
[[Dedicated Game Facilitators]], 
[[Randomness]], 
[[Uncertainty of Information]]

[[Collaborative Actions]] together with [[Cards]] or [[Chips]]

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
-

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Predictable Consequences]], 
[[Unmediated Social Interaction]]

== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki.

== References ==
-

== Acknowledgements ==
Jonas Linderoth