Back-to-Back Game Sessions
Playing a game again directly after finishing a game session and swapping the roles players have.
So games are not balanced due to starting players having advantages or simply that the setup gives some players advantages or others. While these imbalances may be intentional to fit thematic requirements or are simply difficult to design away, they can be balanced by playing the games several times so each player gets each type of advantage. Such Back-to-Back Game Sessions may require players to spend more time playing the game to have the intended experience but at the same time can allow different gameplay experiences.
Contents
Examples
In Chess tournaments it is common that players meeting each other play several game instances and that one alternates who starts. This removes the advantage of being the starting player and thereby give a more balanced result. This can be applied to Go tournaments as well even if the komi compensation is intended to remove first player advantages.
The scenarios in Memoir '44 are in several cases not balanced to be aligned to the historical events they depict. The game rules suggest that players play each scenario twice, switching sides between each game instance, to make it possible for players to compare how well they played. The scenarios in Space Hulk are often tilted in the favor of the "genestealer" player and for this reason a fair judgment of how players have succeeded or not can only be done by playing a scenario twice with roles reversed after the first game instance.
Using the pattern
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Back-to-Back Game Sessions
Can Instantiate
Balancing Effects, Meta Games, Role Reversal, Varied Gameplay
Can Modulate
Asymmetric Starting Conditions, Tournaments
Potentially Conflicting With
Relations
Can Instantiate
Balancing Effects, Meta Games, Role Reversal, Varied Gameplay
Can Modulate
Asymmetric Starting Conditions, Tournaments
Can Be Instantiated By
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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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