Individual Rewards

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

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

in single-player games the rewards are naturally Individual Rewards. In Tetris it is the player who performs the actions and fills in the rows who gets the reward.

Example: in Diplomacy the player who is performing the attack command will be able to conquer the area even though there might be several other players supporting this action with their own armies.

Using the pattern

Like other types of Rewards, designing Individual Rewards requires deciding on what specifically makes up the Rewards and when they should be given. Quite naturally, all Rewards in Single-Player Games are Individual Rewards but they can be used for various reasons in Multiplayer Games. First, they can increase Competition or Conflicts by giving clear indications between the difference of winning or losing specific gameplay activities. They can also decrease motivation or make more complex Collaborative Actions, Cooperation, and Mutual Goals.

For apparent reasons, the same Rewards cannot both be Individual Rewards and Shared Rewards. However, Altruistic Actions can make Shared Rewards into individual ones if players can renounce their right to parts of the Shared Rewards.

Consequences

Rather obviously, Individual Rewards is a type of Reward. Individual Rewards can cause Social Dilemmas if a player can see that others, or a collective, could have greater benefit of the Rewards than the player could have. One such example is games in which there exists Teams but team members are in Races with each other over Individual Rewards, this not only causes Social Dilemmas but also Internal Rivalry.

When combined with Delayed Effects of Collaborative Actions, Individual Rewards give rise to Delayed Reciprocity.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Rewards, Social Dilemmas

with Collaborative Actions and Delayed Effects

Delayed Reciprocity

with Races and Teams

Internal Rivalry

Can Modulate

Collaborative Actions, Competition, Conflicts, Cooperation, Mutual Goals, Single-Player Games

Can Be Instantiated By

Altruistic Actions

Can Be Modulated By

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Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Shared Rewards

History

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

Acknowledgements

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