Actor Detachment

The one-sentence "definition" that should be in italics.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Single-player games such as Solitaire naturally has Actor Detachment, and this goes for Puzzles such as Ostomachion, Tangram, and Jigsaw Puzzles as well. Similarly Computer Games do also in many cases support Actor Detachment. The early Arcade Games such as Pac-Man or Space Invaders do this by being single-player games where players compete against previous players for positions on high score lists. Other Computer Games, e.g. Counter-Strike, the Quake series and World of Warcraft, do this by letting players compete against or cooperate with each other over the internet.

Using the pattern

There are two main issues games can deal with to support Actor Detachment. The first is to avoid making skills, knowledge, or other aspects from outside the game affect the game. The second is to limit players ability to know much about each other to avoid this influencing their perception of each other. While specific gameplay challenges in any games can be problematic regarding Actor Detachment, those based on Player Physical Prowess, Real Life Activities Affect Game State or Real World Knowledge Advantages more or less guarantee this problem.

Somewhat paradoxical, Gameplay Mastery can support Actor Detachment. This since gameplay stressed some type of skill or knowledge, and this removes focus from other aspects of the players. This mastery can be shown through Game-Based Social Statuses, but any type of social statuses that derives from players' relations to a game can help with instantiating the pattern.

The easiest way to make players not know about each other is to have Enforced Player Anonymity. Other forms of Player Anonymity can work, i.e. use of Anonymous Actions and Possibility of Anonymity, but this makes the presence of the pattern a player choice. Likewise, the use of any form of Communication Channels can make a player voluntarily or involuntarily let other players know more about him- or herself.

Interface Aspects

Games with Mediated Gameplay more easily support Actor Detachment since the identities of players are more easily hidden but this advantage can easily be removed by the use of Communication Channels such as Chat Channels. In contrast, Unmediated Social Interaction may make Actor Detachment more difficult since players cannot avoid knowing more about each other.

Consequences

By minimizing the effects between players not directly related to gameplay expertise, Actor Detachment increases the Social Adaptability of a game.

Relations

Single-Player Games AI Players

Can Instantiate

Social Adaptability

Can Modulate

-

Can Be Instantiated By

Anonymous Actions, Enforced Player Anonymity, Game-Based Social Statuses, Gameplay Mastery, Mediated Gameplay, Player Anonymity, Player Physical Prowess, Possibility of Anonymity

Can Be Modulated By

-

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

Chat Channels, Communication Channels, Real Life Activities Affect Game State, Real World Knowledge Advantages, Unmediated Social Interaction

History

New pattern created in this wiki. However, the concept was developed by Linderoth et al. in 2006.