Anonymous Actions
Actions that cannot be unconditionally linked to a specific player.
This pattern is a still a stub.
Contents
Examples
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
passing notes in roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons
Using the pattern
A requirement for Anonymous Actions is that there is an Uncertainty of Information about which player made an action. A common way of supporting this to have several players performing Collaborative Actions through placing Cards or Chips since then they may unsure about who contributed with which game elements, an example of this can be found in the skill resolution system of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. This can be also be achieved through adding Random actions provided by the game system (Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game does this also through the destiny deck).
There are two main reasons for including Anonymous Actions in games. One is making Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties be based solely on an action (e.g. which card on played in Apples to Apples) rather than the players' relative positions. Another is to allow Betrayals to go unnoticed or possibly repeated, and can also allow Traitors to not only have to work through Stealth.
In games with Unmediated Social Interaction, players can reveal themselves as the source of Anonymous Actions unless the take care with what they say and how the show their emotions to events taking place. This may make the pattern difficult to combine with Unmediated Social Interaction but if Penalties are linked to revealing oneself (as for examples is the case for Traitors in games such as Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game or Shadows over Camelot) this makes Roleplaying a prerequisite for Game Mastery.
Interface Aspects
While Cards and Chips show how Anonymous Actions can supporting in Self-Facilitated Games, the use of Dedicated Game Facilitators such as Game Masters can allow for complex and improvised actions to be Anonymous Actions through providing interfaces specifically for this purpose.
Consequences
Since it is more difficult for players to associate actions with players and thereby their strategies in the game, Anonymous Actions makes games have less Predictable Consequences.
Relations
Can Instantiate
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with Unmediated Social Interaction and Penalties
Can Modulate
Betrayal, Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties, Traitors
Can Be Instantiated By
Game Masters, Dedicated Game Facilitators, Randomness, Uncertainty of Information
Collaborative Actions together with Cards or Chips
Can Be Modulated By
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Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
Predictable Consequences, Unmediated Social Interaction
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
Jonas Linderoth
