Always Vulnerable
The situation where players resources in game instances can be threatened even when they are not playing.
This pattern is a still a stub.
Note: This pattern is not about players always being vulnerable when they are playing; it is about players being vulnerable even when they are not playing.
Contents
Examples
Players resource in Eve Online and their villages in Travian can be attacked even if the players themselves are not logged onto these games. This can also happen in Empires & Allies but the effects are less severe and can be avoided through having declared "neutrality."
Always Vulnerable may occur in Tabletop Roleplaying Games. This is however not so much a question of which particular game system is being used as how game masters handle the question of how to treat the characters of players who are missing a session. Some game masters fudge events so that they cannot die (but perhaps do not get as much rewards as the others) while others let them be in the same amount of danger as the characters of present players.
Using the pattern
Can Be Instantiated By
Can Modulate
Combat, Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Multiplayer Games, Tick-Based Games
games where a player's character, country, etc. is possible to attack even when the player is not playing, e.g. Eve Online
There are two versions of this pattern. One is that players Characters, Units, Investments, etc. can be threaten when other players have play sessions in the game instance. The other is that all players have their Characters, Units, Investments, etc. threatened regardless of if anybody else is playing at all.
Potentially Conflicting With
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Games that make players be Always Vulnerable also are Attention Demanding in that players that do not keep aware of the ongoing gameplay are likely to suffer negative consequences. This easily makes players experience Tension. For games where one cannot play all the time the server, this makes Always Vulnerable lead to Encouraged Return Visits.
Relations
Can Instantiate
Attention Demanding, Encouraged Return Visits, Tension
Can Modulate
Combat, Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Multiplayer Games, Tick-Based Games
Can Be Instantiated By
Can Be Modulated By
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Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
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