Player Killing

The removal of players from active gameplay through active actions.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Games in which the players control only one Avatar each make the death of these very influential for players' experiences and success in the game. As players easily identify with their Avatars, killing them is usually referred to as Player Killing even though it is actually Avatar killing.

Examples

Chess can be seen as an archetypical Player Killing game - the winning condition is to check mate the other player which in principle is the same as showing that one can kill the king. Although not necessary to win, players of Diplomacy and Risk greatly increase their chances of doing so by eliminating other players. In contrast, Monopoly does not have Player Killing even if player can be eliminated from the game. This since the elimination is caused indirectly by other players actions and they have no way of distinguishing between which other players may be effected by their actions.

Category:Tabletop Roleplaying Games such as Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS have Player Killing as soon as it is possible for players to die in them since game masters can be seen as responsible for the deaths in nearly all cases. The exception is when players kill each other which of course is another instance of Player Killing. In Live Action Roleplaying Games all killings tend to be Player Killings since all being that can be killed in these games are played by humans (the rare exception are mechatronic monsters such as the dragon in Dragonbane).

Deathmatch games in First-Person Shooters, found for example in Counter-Strike and Quake III, have Player Killing as the main goal. The more other players the player manages to take out, the more points or "frags" he is rewarded. The players who are killed usually lose their gained special items and abilities and are transferred back to a spawn point. Frag is an example of a Board Game built around the same core gameplay. Although not as common in Massively Multiplayer Online Games, some early examples such as Ultima Online and Genocide allow or even focus exclusively on Player Killing.

Using the pattern

Having or not having Player Killing is always an explicit design choice. Making it possible in games consist of deciding what actions and events can cause

Avatars Characters Units

Designing Player Killing in the game obviously involves deciding the details of Spawning and Penalties involved for being killed. Usually they are mainly Individual Penalties even in games with Team Play, and players receive Decreased Abilities, Ability Losses, and they might lose Ownership of Tools and other items they possess at the time of killing. Other possibilities include forced Downtime or limitations to the number of times a player can respawn due to the use of Lives.

Player Killing can be used as a method of keeping Score in both games with Team Play, as in games with Team Elimination, and without Team Play. Games with Team Play sometimes allow the players to Eliminate their team members, and this can be called unintentional Player Killing. On the other hand, some team-oriented games break Consistent Reality Logic by not having the possibility of Player Killing within the same team in order to avoid internal fighting and possibilities for saboteurs.

Dedicated Game Facilitators

Game Masters Enemies Agents

Traps

Can Be Instantiated By

Ability Losses, Lives

Can Be Modulated By

Permadeath Penalties, Rewards Safe Havens, Spawning

Consequences

Since Player Killing removes players from gameplay it gives them Downtime but can also lead to Player Elimination if combine with Permadeath or the loss of one's last Life. The possibility of Player Killing naturally gives rise to Tension to players, although how intensely this is experienced depends on the actual Penalties involved in dying and the Rewards given for killing. The Tension is usually not as drastic if the Player Killing does not lead to Player Elimination.

In Multiplayer Games, the possibility of Player Killing leads to reciprocal Risk/Reward situations for the players since they are potential or real threats to each other.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Penalties, Tension

with Lives or Permadeath

Player Elimination

with Multiplayer Games

Risk/Reward

Can Modulate

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Can Be Instantiated By

Ability Losses, Lives

Can Be Modulated By

Permadeath, Penalties, Rewards, Safe Havens, Spawning

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

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History

An updated version of the pattern Player Killing that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

Karl Bergström