Unlocking

The act of getting access to additional abilities or game-related content.

See the Gamasutra article Aesthetics of Social Games for more details.

Examples

Players of Tabletop Roleplaying Games such as Dungeons & Dragons could unlock new powers and skills by gaining character levels. This is also found in but may here take the form of development trees, as for example in the Dragon Age series. Similar trees exist in First-Person Shooters such as Borderlands and Dead Island.

Super Mario series

CityVille

Empires & Allies

Using the pattern

Development Trees, linked for example to Powers, Skills, or Technologies,

Can Be Instantiated By

Abstract Player Construct Development, Achievements, Character Development, Character Levels, Development Trees, Neighbors, Purchasable Game Advantages

Consequences

Since Unlocking is the act of gaining access to something preordained, this can easily be felt as a Reward than gives Value of Effort to the actions leading up to the Unlocking; an exception to this if the Unlocking is a result of an Purchasable Game Advantages. Knowing about the possibility of Unlocking something makes it possible to Anticipation about this and can motivate both Grinding and Player-Planned Development.

Sidegrades is a specific type of game content acquired by Unlocking that instead of directly improving players abilities give them a greater Freedom of Choice.

Can Modulate

Unlocking are often applied to control how Powers, Privileged Abilities, Vehicles, and Weapons are introduced into gameplay. They can also be used to open up Levels to players.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Anticipation, Grinding, Player-Planned Development, Rewards, Sidegrades, Value of Effort

Can Modulate

Levels, Powers, Privileged Abilities, Vehicles, Weapons

Can Be Instantiated By

Abstract Player Construct Development, Achievements, Character Development, Character Levels, Development Trees, Neighbors, Purchasable Game Advantages

Can Be Modulated By

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Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

New pattern created in this wiki. However the concept was first described in the Gamasutra article Aesthetics of Social Games by Aki Järvinen.

Acknowledgements

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