Committed Goals

Goals that players have entered a form of contract to try and fulfill.

Although most games have many goals in them, players do not have to accept or strive to complete all of them. However, there are goals that players need to strive towards. This might be because they are forced to or because they will suffer some form of penalty if the goals are not completed. Such goals are Committed Goals. Another type of Committed Goal occur when players have to choose between a number of goals to try and complete; here the commitment is based on the fact that players have chosen so they cannot succeed with other goals and thereby committed themselves to the chosen goals.

Examples

The winning conditions of games such as Chess or Go are Committed Goals that players have to strive for; if they are not working toward these conditions, they are not playing the game.

In the board game Ticket to Ride, players can commit to building a railway line between cities. Once committed, the player will at the end of the game either receive a certain amount of points if successful or be penalized by the same amount if the line is not completed. A similar example can be found in the trick-based card game Bridge.

Using the pattern

Either suffer a penalty or have forsaken the chance to fulfill other goals.

Can Modulate

Betrayal, Closure Points, Internal Conflicts, Player-Decided Distributions

Can Be Instantiated By

Factions, Investments, Loyalty

Betting together with Extra-Game Consequences

Collaborative Actions together with Shared Penalties

Ephemeral Goals together with Penalties

Can Be Modulated By

Negotiation, Risk/Reward, Trade-Offs, Unknown Goals

Potentially Conflicting With

Pottering

Consequences

Can Instantiate

Delayed Reciprocity, Enforced Agent Behavior

with Quests

Penalties, Risk/Reward

with Secret Goals

Gain Information

Relations

Can Instantiate

Delayed Reciprocity, Enforced Agent Behavior

with Quests

Penalties, Risk/Reward

with Secret Goals

Gain Information

Can Modulate

Betrayal, Closure Points, Internal Conflicts, Player-Decided Distributions

Can Be Instantiated By

Factions, Investments, Loyalty

Betting together with Extra-Game Consequences

Collaborative Actions together with Shared Penalties

Ephemeral Goals together with Penalties

Can Be Modulated By

Negotiation, Risk/Reward, Trade-Offs, Unknown Goals

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Pottering

History

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

Acknowledgements

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