Private Game Spaces

Parts of the game space that only a single player can manipulate directly.

Games can provide parts of their environment so that one player controls what happens there. This can make players feel that they have some security and have the possibility to themselves be in full control of what happens there, even if other players may be allow to visit or help with specific limited activities. Such areas of a game environment are called Private Game Spaces since they belong to individual players and the effects of other players' actions are either non-existent or restricted.

Examples

Probably one of the oldest examples of Private Game Spaces is Roulette. Here each player has his or her stash of chips that other players cannot affect - the only way it is changed is by the player placing bets or receiving winning from the facilitators of the game.

Although players can affect each other indirectly through which actions they choose to perform in the board game Puerto Rico, the specific resources in the colonies developed by each player can be affected by other players (the nearest to this is that resources sometimes must be discarded because other players have fill the capacity of the ships transporting those resources). The card game Race to the Galaxy works on similar principles (unless using the optional military conquest rules from the expansion Rebel vs Imperium).

Ultima Online allows players to purchase houses which are Private Game Spaces as long as their owners retain control of the keys to them.

FarmVille and Mafia Wars are examples of games with Private Game Spaces on social media platforms. However, as part of supporting the social interaction on these platforms, they provide ways of offering presents to each other and helping each other out with chores including involving non-players. This does not void the Private Game Spaces since each player still has complete, or near complete, control of his or her space.

Using the pattern

Naturally, all Single-Player Games are Private Game Spaces even if they allow input from other game instances (as Massively Single-Player Online Games allow).

Analysis Paralysis Turn-Based Games Stimulated Planning Late Arriving Players

Construction Creative Control Visits

Persistent Game Worlds

Consequences

Private Game Spaces allows Stimulated Planning easily since it is typically provides Construction and Creative Control, and players do not need to worry about having to react to other players actions. By the same reasons, Private Game Spaces make it difficult to design Combat and Conflict between players (but see the Rebels vs Imperium expansion of Race for the Galaxy for a limited example). Further, since players do not need to worry about other players, having Private Game Spaces makes it easy to support Drop-In/Drop-Out and Pottering.

Conflict may be difficult for games using Private Game Spaces since players cannot affect each other directly. Even so, Private Game Spaces can easily be used together with Competition: either by having winning conditions based around Construction or Races or by Meta Game aspects such as Game-Induced Player Social Status from comparing Achievements and High-Score Lists.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Construction Creative Control Drop-In/Drop-Out Pottering Stimulated Planning

Can Be Instantiated By

Single-Player Games

Potentially Conflicting With

Combat Conflict

History

New pattern created in this wiki.