Dedicated Game Facilitators

Programs, machines, or people who perform book-keeping actions and/or control various agents to provide gameplay to players.

All games require some effort to maintain and update the game state. This may be as easy as tallying scores but may also require extensive preparing, the management of information that should be hidden from all players, the impartial judging or performing of actions, and resolving complex algorithms during gameplay. Since letting players perform these may distract from the gameplay and may be difficult or impossible to do (e.g. managing secret information) a common solution is to assign these activities to other people, giving them roles as umpires, referees, judges, or game masters. With the advent of computers, these have also been

Examples

The umpire or referees of sports are all examples of people acting as Dedicated Game Facilitators. In many cases (e.g. Soccer and Ice Hockey) these referees are supposed to ensure that the rules are being followed, but for others (e.g. Boxing and Figure Skating) the referees also have to grade performances to determine winners. Although not part of the definitions of board games and card games such as Chess, Go, Contract Bridge, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Magic: The Gathering, referees are used in tournaments and organizations take responsibilities of maintaining 'official' tournament rules and providing referees.

All computer or console based games have the computer as a Dedicated Game Facilitators (see the categories of computer and console games on this wiki for examples). For computerized versions of existing card or board games, these Dedicated Game Facilitators show the trans-medial nature of games. The work load is shared between many computers in the case of online games, typically with one server in control of maintaining and updating the game state and many clients showing the game state to the players and collecting input from them to pass on to the server (e.g. Ultima Online and World of Warcraft]. Although this seems to put the main workload on the server (except for the graphical presentation), clients used for real-time online games such as the Counter-Strike series, the Quake series, and the Left 4 Dead series include advance prediction systems to be able to show where opponents are predicted to be in order to avoid having lag. The AI and Music directors used in the Left 4 Dead series can be seen as a Dedicated Game Facilitators distinct from the game system itself even if it is part of the same code since it acts upon the game system as if it is another system.

Game masters in roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS, Basic Role-Playing, and the Storytelling System are another type of Dedicated Game Facilitators. These need to be knowledgeable in both the rules of the game and the fictive world in which the gameplay occurs, as well as handle all characters and monsters not under the players' control. Computer-based roleplaying games such as The Witcher or the Fallout series replace people with computers (quite logical since the computer already needs to be a Dedicated Game Facilitator for the underlying support such as maintaining the game state). For the complex events that can occur in massively multiplayer online games such as Ultima Online and World of Warcraft, it is typical to have both computers and people involved in the game facilitation so their are human game masters to help handle rare exceptions or social conflicts.

Using the pattern

The primary choices when designing Dedicated Game Facilitators is what functionality these should facilitate and whom should be the facilitators.

One very common task for Dedicated Game Facilitators concerns information handling. This can be keeping track of all information of the game state (including that of Characters) simply so players' can have Imperfect Information but can also be keeping track of Secret or Unknown Goals. For games whose gameplay is spread over many, not necessarily overlapping play sessions, Dedicated Game Facilitators can also be responsible for storing and restoring game state to provide Save-Load Cycles or to make sure [[Persistent Game Worlds] exist. The information handling can also be to provide the Storytelling necessary (possibly through the use of Cut Scenes) to unfold Narration Structures as planned so Surprises and Betrayals other wanted effects occur.

Another common task for Dedicated Game Facilitators is to handle as much Excise as possible. This may be all the updates that need to be made as a new turn, phase, or round begins in Turn-Based Games, but it may also be keeping track of when those update should be made as is needed in Real-Time Games and Tick-Based Games and thereby ensuring that The Show Must Go On. Related to this is the storing of planned player actions, keeping track of these are necessary for Asynchronous Games and Tick-Based Games, and typically also require the use of Dedicated Game Facilitators. For Multiplayer Games this can include hindering players to act out of turn, thereby guaranteeing Turn Taking is done according to design.

Controlling Enemies and Non-Player Characters to provide opponents in Conflict or Combat situations is another frequent task for Dedicated Game Facilitators, especially in Single-Player Games. Although from a technical perspective this may be the case (as for example in the Need for Speed series and the Left 4 Dead series), game designers may wish to design the Enemies and NPCs so that they appear to be independent Agents.

As a non-player, Dedicated Game Facilitators are in the position of being trusted third parties. This allows them to function as safe sources to store resources involved in Betting or be impartial when generating results using Randomness (as is typically the case for Roulette).

Both computers and humans can used as Dedicated Game Facilitators. Additionally, the workload can be shared between many computers (as for example in online games such as the Quake series and World of Warcraft), many humans (most common for Live Action Roleplaying games such as Prosopopeia), or a combination (as for Ultima Online or World of Warcraft). While computers can easily handle large data amounts and complex calculations, the use of humans can allow Evolving Rule Sets, improvised Storytelling and Never Ending Stories. Human game facilitators are also a way of providing Creative Control to people who are not players.

Game Masters are one specific form of Dedicated Game Facilitators. These are used in Roleplaying games to describe the Game Worlds as the Player Characters can perceive them, to decide the actions of Enemies and Non-Player Characters, and to resolve all Agents' actions and provide Effect Descriptions for these. They also have the responsibility of storing information about the specific game world instances so that Persistent Game Worlds can be maintained.

For computer-based Roleplaying games, the distinction between these tasks and the others common to any computer-based game is typically not done and therefore the mention of Game Masters becomes redundant for them. The exception is when people and computer share responsibility of facilitating the games (e.g. DragonMud, Kingdoms, the Neverwinter Nights series, Ultima Online and World of Warcraft), in these cases Game Masters are people responsible for adapting the Narration Structures to unforeseen events and resolving conflicts regarding rules or social interactions.

, Smooth Learning Curves, Communication Channels, Balancing Effects,

, Experimenting, Downtime, Synchronous Games, , Replayability

Downtime, Self-Facilitated Games, Public Information

Zero-Player Games

Consequences

Dedicated Game Facilitators with the control of the game state can easily enforce Ultra-Powerful Events.

History

A revised version of the pattern Dedicated Game Facilitators that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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