Early Elimination

The ending of players' game sessions well in advance of the end of game instances.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Early Elimination is usually considered to be an unwanted feature in multiplayer games with long play time, especially in the case of face to face board or card games, as the eliminated player remains outside the play for the rest of the game instance.

Examples

Example: it is possible, although quite rare, to eliminate one of the players in Magic: The Gathering in the early phases of the game instance.

Example: in Counter-Strike the players can be killed in very early phases of the game round and they remain outside the play for the rest of the round. Some configurations of Counter-Strike, however, allow the eliminated players to observe what is happening during the game.

Monopoly

Risk

Assassin

Mafia

Using the pattern

Early Elimination requires that Player Elimination is possible in a Multiplayer Game, and then that some players can suffer from this well in advance of the game instances ending. An easy way to introduce Early Elimination is to make the possibilities to complete Eliminate goals present from the beginning of gameplay, e.g. through using Permadeath. Counter-Strike is an example of this where one well-placed shot from an enemy players at once can Eliminate a player.

The available actions do not have to instantly Eliminate players. The same can be achieved if the effects of harmful actions can be stacked or accumulated in a short time in such way that the player is taken out of the game.

Early Elimination, however, does not require that the fulfillment of Eliminate goal can take place in the early phases of the game. For example, Monopoly has Early Elimination because it is possible to Eliminate players while there is still potentially hours of remaining play time although more than an hour can already have passed. In case of Monopoly this amount of possible Downtime in social play is often far too long. The length of the possible Downtime is ultimately what matters and has different consequences depending on if the game is played in face to face situation with friends or anonymously over the net. Some of the downsides of Early Elimination can be avoided by setting known Time Limits for the game instances and letting the players modify this Time Limit according to their needs. Another way is to let the Eliminated players participate in the game in some manner, for example, as Spectators or as neutral Enemies for the rest of the players.

Can Be Instantiated By

Player Kicking

Can Be Modulated By

Time Limits

Limited Gameplay Time

Last Man Standing

Consequences

Early Elimination is, in one sense, just a more drastic version of Player Elimination. Early Elimination has similar effects on Tension as Player Elimination in Multiplayer Games, but can lead to longer period of Downtime and make it difficult to keep the affect players interested in the game instances as a whole.

The effect, of course, depends on the average play time of each game instance. Games with naturally short game instances, e.g. through using Time Limits to create Limited Gameplay Time, may have Early Elimination without players seeing the resulting Downtime as a big problem. This is especially true for games that are played in many rounds, as for example Counter-Strike does.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Downtime, Tension

Can Modulate

Multiplayer Games, Player Elimination

Can Be Instantiated By

Eliminate, Last Man Standing, Permadeath, Player Kicking

Can Be Modulated By

Limited Gameplay Time, Time Limits

History

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

Acknowledgements

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