Unwinnable Games - Revision history

Staffan Björk at 10:21, 15 March 2023

2023-03-15T10:21:38Z

Staffan Björk at 09:22, 8 March 2023

2023-03-08T09:22:28Z

Staffan Björk: /* Consequences */

2023-03-08T09:19:47Z

‎Consequences

Staffan Björk: /* Relations */

2023-03-08T09:18:08Z

‎Relations

Staffan Björk: /* Using the pattern */

2022-10-11T08:27:12Z

‎Using the pattern

Staffan Björk at 08:24, 11 October 2022

2022-10-11T08:24:19Z

Staffan Björk at 08:32, 21 September 2016

2016-09-21T08:32:58Z

Staffan Björk at 13:40, 26 July 2016

2016-07-26T13:40:49Z

Staffan Björk: /* Can Be Modulated By */

2016-07-08T16:46:51Z

‎Can Be Modulated By

Staffan Björk at 13:00, 20 August 2015

2015-08-20T13:00:20Z

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 Games may be unwinnable to specific people because of lack of time, interest, or competence. This is however more a question of the players' possibilities than the design of a game, and when it is an effect of the design (rather than say the people not being the targeted audience) it is often seen as a problem with that design. [[Unwinnable Games]] in contrast are games whose system is design so that their is no winning condition and no players regardless of skills and devotion can achieve a certain game state designated as the winning one. Both [[Multiplayer Games]] and [[Single-Player Games]] can be [[Unwinnable Games]].
-Three main - and compatible - ways of creating [[Unwinnable Games]] are [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]], [[Continuous Goals]], and [[Grinding]]. [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]] ensure that players at some point will lose due to not having enough competence (given that the game system can provide challenges beyond any player's competence). [[Continuous Goals]] that are necessary for continued gameplay rely on players at some time failing in competence or attention to a goal (e.g., a [[Survive]] goal for a player's [[Focus Loci]]). [[Grinding]] that lets players continuously do actions for little or no progress in the game, relying primarily on players losing interest in the gameplay and quitting for being unwinnable.
+Three main - and compatible - ways of creating [[Unwinnable Games]] are [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]], [[Continuous Goals]], and [[Grinding]]. [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]] ensure that players at some point will lose due to not having enough competence (given that the game system can provide challenges beyond any player's competence). [[Continuous Goals]] that are necessary for continued gameplay rely on players at some time failing in competence or attention to a goal. A common design solution for this is a [[Survive]] goal related to players' [[Focus Loci]]. [[Grinding]] that lets players continuously do actions for little or no progress in the game, relying primarily on players losing interest in the gameplay and quitting for being unwinnable.
 There are two typical reasons for creating [[Unwinnable Games]]. The first reason is that one may wish to reinforce the [[Replayability]] by not making it possible to ever beat the game completely. In this case there exists enforced end conditions, e.g. by strict [[Time Limits]] or [[Steadily Decreasing Resources]] and to make it possible to compare ones performance with earlier game session there typically also exists [[Trans-Game Information]] (e.g. [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) so that [[Meta Games]] are possible. The second reason is to create [[Never Ending Stories]], that is, games without any end condition at all. Common in [[Roleplaying]] games, these games cannot have a winning condition for the whole game but instead needs to provide incentives to play in other ways. This is typically done through offering smaller local goals, either [[Ephemeral Goals]] or [[Player-Defined Goals]], or simple through the [[Social Interaction]] offered by the game or play activity. An issue with non-ending games is how to balance increased [[Gameplay Mastery]] and [[Improved Abilities]] with challenges so that the [[Challenging Gameplay]] is maintained. [[Red Queen Dilemmas]] is a possible solution to this by adding the difficulty as players gain more power to influence the game. However, non-ending games are incompatible with [[Time Limited Game Instances]] but this may not be a problem if [[Game Pauses]] are used since then the game and play sessions can be regulated instead.
@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 [[Grinding]],
 [[Time Limits]],
-[[Steadily Decreasing Resources]]
+[[Steadily Decreasing Resources]],
 === Can Be Modulated By ===

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 When players notice that games are unwinnable they may see this as revealing an [[Exaggerated Perception of Influence]] in the game design. This may cause them to stop playing (which in a sense was the intention with the serious games mentioned in the previous paragraph since this would make the point that one should stop with the activity portrayed) but may also cause players to set up their own [[Player-Defined Goals]] that they consider win (and end) conditions. Regardless of when and why players stop playing [[Unwinnable Games]], they do so by [[Surrendering]] (to the game design).
-Although [[Narration Structures]] can support players the gameplay structure in [[Unwinnable Games]], the narrative aspects are likely to not attract interest unless they change in significant ways between game sessions. More specifically, [[Predetermined Story Structures]] are difficult to have in [[Unwinnable Games]] since their content is limited and this may be exhausted by sufficiently long gameplay and [[Main Goals]] and [[Main Quests|Quests]] are in direct conflict with [[Unwinnable Games]] since completing these are ways of ''winning'' the game even if gameplay continues afterwards. That said, [[Main Goals]]
+Although [[Narration Structures]] can support players the gameplay structure in [[Unwinnable Games]], the narrative aspects are likely to not attract interest unless they change in significant ways between game sessions. More specifically, [[Predetermined Story Structures]] are difficult to have in [[Unwinnable Games]] since their content is limited and this may be exhausted by sufficiently long gameplay and [[Main Goals]] and [[Main Quests|Quests]] are in direct conflict with [[Unwinnable Games]] since completing these are ways of ''winning'' the game even if gameplay continues afterwards. That said, [[Main Goals]] are can be useful to give players motivation on what actions should be attempted in [[Unwinnable Games]], especially if there are ways of measuring or comparing who far players have come towards reaching the [[Main Goals]] (e.g. by having [[Scores]]).
 [[Unwinnable Games]] may be seen as a rather easy way to avoid having a [[Predictable Winner]] at any point in a game, but this is not strictly true. First, the [[Predictable Winner]] may be nobody as the [[Tic-Tac-Toe]] example shows and second players may set up their own winning conditions between themselves, e.g. who can get the highest [[Scores|Score]] in a game of [[Pac-Man]] (so [[Scores]] can be used to modulate [[Unwinnable Games]]). Even so, [[Unwinnable Games]] can be used as part of a design strategy to make players less likely to identify any specific player as being able to reach the winning conditions set up by a game.
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 [[High Score Lists]],
 [[Illusionary Rewards]],
 [[Meta Games]],
 [[Player-Defined Goals]],

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 When players notice that games are unwinnable they may see this as revealing an [[Exaggerated Perception of Influence]] in the game design. This may cause them to stop playing (which in a sense was the intention with the serious games mentioned in the previous paragraph since this would make the point that one should stop with the activity portrayed) but may also cause players to set up their own [[Player-Defined Goals]] that they consider win (and end) conditions. Regardless of when and why players stop playing [[Unwinnable Games]], they do so by [[Surrendering]] (to the game design).
-Although [[Narration Structures]] can support players the gameplay structure in [[Unwinnable Games]], the narrative aspects are likely to not attract interest unless they change in significant ways between game sessions. More specifically, [[Predetermined Story Structures]] are difficult to have in [[Unwinnable Games]] since their content is limited and this may be exhausted by sufficiently long gameplay and [[Main Quests]] are in direct conflict with [[Unwinnable Games]] since completing the [[Main Quests]] are ways of ''winning'' the game even if gameplay continues afterwards.
+Although [[Narration Structures]] can support players the gameplay structure in [[Unwinnable Games]], the narrative aspects are likely to not attract interest unless they change in significant ways between game sessions. More specifically, [[Predetermined Story Structures]] are difficult to have in [[Unwinnable Games]] since their content is limited and this may be exhausted by sufficiently long gameplay and [[Main Goals]] and [[Main Quests|Quests]] are in direct conflict with [[Unwinnable Games]] since completing these are ways of ''winning'' the game even if gameplay continues afterwards. That said, [[Main Goals]]
 [[Unwinnable Games]] may be seen as a rather easy way to avoid having a [[Predictable Winner]] at any point in a game, but this is not strictly true. First, the [[Predictable Winner]] may be nobody as the [[Tic-Tac-Toe]] example shows and second players may set up their own winning conditions between themselves, e.g. who can get the highest [[Scores|Score]] in a game of [[Pac-Man]] (so [[Scores]] can be used to modulate [[Unwinnable Games]]). Even so, [[Unwinnable Games]] can be used as part of a design strategy to make players less likely to identify any specific player as being able to reach the winning conditions set up by a game.

@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 [[Exaggerated Perception of Influence]],
 [[Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses]],
 [[Main Quests]],
 [[Predetermined Story Structures]],

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 Games may be unwinnable to specific people because of lack of time, interest, or competence. This is however more a question of the players' possibilities than the design of a game, and when it is an effect of the design (rather than say the people not being the targeted audience) it is often seen as a problem with that design. [[Unwinnable Games]] in contrast are games whose system is design so that their is no winning condition and no players regardless of skills and devotion can achieve a certain game state designated as the winning one. Both [[Multiplayer Games]] and [[Single-Player Games]] can be [[Unwinnable Games]].
-Three main - and compatible - ways of creating [[Unwinnable Games]] are [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]], [[Continuous Goals]], and [[Grinding]]. [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]] ensure that players at some point will lose due to not having enough competence (given that the game system can provide challenges beyond any player's competence). [[Continuous Goals]] that are necessary for continued gameplay rely on players at some time failing in competence or attention to a goal. [[Grinding]] that lets players continuously do actions for little or no progress in the game, relying primarily on players losing interest in the gameplay and quitting for being unwinnable.
+Three main - and compatible - ways of creating [[Unwinnable Games]] are [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]], [[Continuous Goals]], and [[Grinding]]. [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]] ensure that players at some point will lose due to not having enough competence (given that the game system can provide challenges beyond any player's competence). [[Continuous Goals]] that are necessary for continued gameplay rely on players at some time failing in competence or attention to a goal (e.g., a [[Survive]] goal for a player's [[Focus Loci]]). [[Grinding]] that lets players continuously do actions for little or no progress in the game, relying primarily on players losing interest in the gameplay and quitting for being unwinnable.
 There are two typical reasons for creating [[Unwinnable Games]]. The first reason is that one may wish to reinforce the [[Replayability]] by not making it possible to ever beat the game completely. In this case there exists enforced end conditions, e.g. by strict [[Time Limits]] or [[Steadily Decreasing Resources]] and to make it possible to compare ones performance with earlier game session there typically also exists [[Trans-Game Information]] (e.g. [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) so that [[Meta Games]] are possible. The second reason is to create [[Never Ending Stories]], that is, games without any end condition at all. Common in [[Roleplaying]] games, these games cannot have a winning condition for the whole game but instead needs to provide incentives to play in other ways. This is typically done through offering smaller local goals, either [[Ephemeral Goals]] or [[Player-Defined Goals]], or simple through the [[Social Interaction]] offered by the game or play activity. An issue with non-ending games is how to balance increased [[Gameplay Mastery]] and [[Improved Abilities]] with challenges so that the [[Challenging Gameplay]] is maintained. [[Red Queen Dilemmas]] is a possible solution to this by adding the difficulty as players gain more power to influence the game. However, non-ending games are incompatible with [[Time Limited Game Instances]] but this may not be a problem if [[Game Pauses]] are used since then the game and play sessions can be regulated instead.

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == Using the pattern ==
-Games may be unwinnable to specific people because of lack of time, interest, or competence. This is however more a question of the players' possibilities than the design of a game, and when it is an effect of the design (rather than say the people not being the targeted audience) it is often seen as a problem with that design. [[Unwinnable Games]] in contrast are games whose system is design so that their is no winning condition and no players regardless of skills and devotion can achieve a certain game state designated as the winning one. The two main ways of creating [[Unwinnable Games]] are [[Ever Increasing Difficulty]] to ensure that players at some point lose or [[Grinding]] that lets players continuously do actions for little or no progress in the game, but it may be more important considering why a game should not be possible to win. Both [[Multiplayer Games]] and [[Single-Player Games]] can be [[Unwinnable Games]].
+Games may be unwinnable to specific people because of lack of time, interest, or competence. This is however more a question of the players' possibilities than the design of a game, and when it is an effect of the design (rather than say the people not being the targeted audience) it is often seen as a problem with that design. [[Unwinnable Games]] in contrast are games whose system is design so that their is no winning condition and no players regardless of skills and devotion can achieve a certain game state designated as the winning one. Both [[Multiplayer Games]] and [[Single-Player Games]] can be [[Unwinnable Games]].
 There are two typical reasons for creating [[Unwinnable Games]]. The first reason is that one may wish to reinforce the [[Replayability]] by not making it possible to ever beat the game completely. In this case there exists enforced end conditions, e.g. by strict [[Time Limits]] or [[Steadily Decreasing Resources]] and to make it possible to compare ones performance with earlier game session there typically also exists [[Trans-Game Information]] (e.g. [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) so that [[Meta Games]] are possible. The second reason is to create [[Never Ending Stories]], that is, games without any end condition at all. Common in [[Roleplaying]] games, these games cannot have a winning condition for the whole game but instead needs to provide incentives to play in other ways. This is typically done through offering smaller local goals, either [[Ephemeral Goals]] or [[Player-Defined Goals]], or simple through the [[Social Interaction]] offered by the game or play activity. An issue with non-ending games is how to balance increased [[Gameplay Mastery]] and [[Improved Abilities]] with challenges so that the [[Challenging Gameplay]] is maintained. [[Red Queen Dilemmas]] is a possible solution to this by adding the difficulty as players gain more power to influence the game. However, non-ending games are incompatible with [[Time Limited Game Instances]] but this may not be a problem if [[Game Pauses]] are used since then the game and play sessions can be regulated instead.
@@ Line 58: / Line 60: @@
 === Can Be Instantiated By ===
-[[Ever Increasing Difficulty]], [[Grinding]], [[Time Limits]], [[Steadily Decreasing Resources]]
+[[Continuous Goals]],
 === Can Be Modulated By ===

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 [[Never Ending Stories]],
 [[Replayability]],
 [[Surrendering]],
 [[Unwinnable Game States]]

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 == Consequences ==
-At first glance it can seem strange that one can have games which cannot win since it removes what is typically the reason for activities to become meaningful in them. While other reasons for playing games exists, many games can however be the basis for [[Meta Games]] through [[Trans-Game Information]] (such as [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) or [[Progress Indicators]] and can then still provide meaningful gameplay concerned with measuring how well one has performed. When [[Unwinnable Games]] allow this kind of gameplay, they somewhat paradoxically promote [[Replayability]]. Sometimes realizing the unwinnable nature of a game is an intention in the design; the [[:Category:Serious Games|Serious Game]] [[September 12th]] uses the impossibility of winning it to argue the futility in the struggle thematized by the game and the (earlier) movie War Games appropriates [[Tic-Tac-Toe]] to make a similar argument. Providing [[Illusionary Rewards]] can also make parts of [[Unwinnable Games]] meaningful since players may appreciate these challenges even if they are not affecting the game state.
+Every game state in an [[Unwinnable Games|Unwinnable Game]] is a [[Unwinnable Game States|Unwinnable Game State]]. At first glance it can seem strange that one can have or would want games which cannot be won since it removes what is typically the reason for activities to become meaningful in them. While other reasons for playing games exists, many games can however be the basis for [[Meta Games]] through [[Trans-Game Information]] (such as [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) or [[Progress Indicators]] and can then still provide meaningful gameplay concerned with measuring how well one has performed. When [[Unwinnable Games]] allow this kind of gameplay, they somewhat paradoxically promote [[Replayability]]. Sometimes realizing the unwinnable nature of a game is an intention in the design; the [[:Category:Serious Games|Serious Game]] [[September 12th]] uses the impossibility of winning it to argue the futility in the struggle thematized by the game and the (earlier) movie War Games appropriates [[Tic-Tac-Toe]] to make a similar argument. Providing [[Illusionary Rewards]] can also make parts of [[Unwinnable Games]] meaningful since players may appreciate these challenges even if they are not affecting the game state.
 When players notice that games are unwinnable they may see this as revealing an [[Exaggerated Perception of Influence]] in the game design. This may cause them to stop playing (which in a sense was the intention with the serious games mentioned in the previous paragraph since this would make the point that one should stop with the activity portrayed) but may also cause players to set up their own [[Player-Defined Goals]] that they consider win (and end) conditions. Regardless of when and why players stop playing [[Unwinnable Games]], they do so by [[Surrendering]] (to the game design).
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 == Relations ==
 === Can Instantiate ===
-[[Never Ending Stories]], [[Replayability]],
+[[Never Ending Stories]],
 [[Serious Games]],
-[[Surrendering]]
+[[Surrendering]],
 ==== with [[Multiplayer Games]] ====

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 [[Meta Games]],
 [[Player-Defined Goals]],
 [[Red Queen Dilemmas]],
 [[Scores]],

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 There are two typical reasons for creating [[Unwinnable Games]]. The first reason is that one may wish to reinforce the [[Replayability]] by not making it possible to ever beat the game completely. In this case there exists enforced end conditions, e.g. by strict [[Time Limits]] or [[Steadily Decreasing Resources]] and to make it possible to compare ones performance with earlier game session there typically also exists [[Trans-Game Information]] (e.g. [[Achievements]] or [[High Score Lists]]) so that [[Meta Games]] are possible. The second reason is to create [[Never Ending Stories]], that is, games without any end condition at all. Common in [[Roleplaying]] games, these games cannot have a winning condition for the whole game but instead needs to provide incentives to play in other ways. This is typically done through offering smaller local goals, either [[Ephemeral Goals]] or [[Player-Defined Goals]], or simple through the [[Social Interaction]] offered by the game or play activity. An issue with non-ending games is how to balance increased [[Gameplay Mastery]] and [[Improved Abilities]] with challenges so that the [[Challenging Gameplay]] is maintained. [[Red Queen Dilemmas]] is a possible solution to this by adding the difficulty as players gain more power to influence the game. However, non-ending games are incompatible with [[Time Limited Game Instances]] but this may not be a problem if [[Game Pauses]] are used since then the game and play sessions can be regulated instead.
-While [[Unwinnable Games]] cannot end due to completing the game, they can have [[Game Over]] through dying, in fact this is common in many early examples of using the pattern.
+While [[Unwinnable Games]] cannot end due to completing the game, they can have [[Game Termination Penalties]] and [[Game Over]] through dying, in fact this is common in many early examples of using the pattern.
 One design possibility that is more suitable to [[Unwinnable Games]] than others is that of [[Entitled Players]]; it is less problematic to trust players with powers affecting how the game is played if they have less reason to misuse that power.
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 [[Game Pauses]],
 [[Game Over]],
 [[High Score Lists]],
 [[Illusionary Rewards]],