Difference between revisions of "PvP"

Revision as of 10:18, 31 October 2012

Gameplay where players are in active conflict with each other.

One of the most common ways of creating challenges for players is to make them play against other players. Somewhat surprising, this has been so common in games that no term has been needed for this, instead concepts such as team-based or cooperation games have been introduced. It was first with the advent of massively multiplayer online games that a need to distinguish between combat against the other players and against the "environment" was needed, and the terms PvP ("player versus player") and PvE ("player versus environment") was coined.

Note: PvP began being used as a concept to describe optional gameplay in massively multiplayer online games. While this means that PvP has assumptions of being optional and being combat-related, this pattern describes the concept based only around the core definition.

Examples

The concept of PvP gameplay originated in Massively Multiplayer Online Games such as Kingdoms, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft. How much these focus on PvP naturally varies, see Eve Online and Genocide for examples of games that heavily focus upon PvP.

Other games where it is easy to perceive players as fighting each other include those where they control avatars or characters locked in some violent conflict. Examples of such games include First-Person Shooters such as the Doom and Team Fortress series, Real-Time Strategy Games such as Defense of the Ancients and Travian. Multiplayer version of Diablo II also has PvP, as can the games Assassin and Paranoia.

Wikipedia^[1] and GiantBomb^[2] have pages dedicated to the concept of PvP.

Using the pattern

The concept of PvP began being used to differentiate different types of Combat in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. For obvious reasons, PvP is an option for Multiplayer Games rather than Single-Player Games. It requires players to be in some type of confrontation or Conflicts against each other where Combat is the typically case. However, one could argue games with Races or where players have the option of Betrayal could be a form of PvP. In its use in Massively Multiplayer Online Games, PvP has connotations of providing Optional Goals and causing Player Killing. However, from the description of this pattern these effects depend on the underlying patterns that determine the actual gameplay activities that create the pattern.

PvP and PvE can co-exist in games although most games have gameplay tilted more toward one or the other. In fact, for their everyday usage it has been argued that PvP requires PvE as a contrast^[3]. Even so, games designed primarily for one or the other can in most cases be modulated by the other. Defense of the Ancients and Republic of Rome are examples of games with mainly PvP gameplay but with some PvE aspects.

On a basic level, PvP works against Cooperation, but these patterns can be combined rather easily through for example Teams.

In games with Unmediated Social Interaction, Backseat Players typically do not work well with PvP gameplay. This since the extra help can seem to disrupt Player Balance and that the Backseat Player may have information that the playing opponent may not have.

Consequences

While the specific actions that create PvP gameplay can have Tension, the pattern itself can also be assumed to create Tension since it pits players against each other.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Tension

Can Modulate

Multiplayer Games, PvE

Can Be Instantiated By

Betrayal, Combat, Conflicts

Can Be Modulated By

PvE, Teams

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

Cooperation, Single-Player Games

Backseat Players in games with Unmediated Social Interaction

History

New pattern created in this wiki.

References

1. ↑ Wikipedia entry for PvP.
2. ↑ Page on the GiantBomb web site for PvP.
3. ↑ Bartle, R. (2003). Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders. pp. 407. ISBN 0-1310-1816-7.

Acknowledgements

Karl Bergström