Betrayal

The letdown of an explicit or implicit agreement with another agent.

Games can put players can be put in situations where promises to, or the expectations of, other players can be broken. These acts of Betrayal often cause friction between players, and therefore players betraying other players usually have a strong incentive to do so. This may be due to individual gains received by the Betrayal, hidden loyalties, differences in player positions in the game, revenge for previous injustices, or situations where the game forces players to choose which players they will betray.

Examples

The negotiation game So Long Sucker by John Nash requires players to provide help to other players to achieve captures, with only the promise of future help as collateral.

The board game Diplomacy requires players to enter alliances with other players in the struggle over Europe, but betraying agreements can be the only way to break deadlocks or achieve supremacy. In this game Betrayal is optional, while in the game Intrigue the game mechanics often cause situations where players have committed them to several deals which later turn out to be incompatible and thus forcing players to Betrayal each other. Other board games that rely on volatile alliances include Junta and Illuminati.

The Left 4 Dead series is an example of how players can betray each other due to concerns of individual gains. In these games, players can received achievements for completing campaigns but only those making it to an escape vehicle gets the achievements. Not risking their own safety to try and rescue fallen comrades is very likely to be perceived as a form of Betrayal, given that a typical campaign takes about an hour to play.

The above examples don't cast players explicitly as traitors that will betray the others. This however is done in Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game and Pandemic when using the expansion On the Brink. For these games a minority of the players are traitors, but in the roleplaying game Paranoia all players are traitors but for different reasons and in conflict with each other.

Using the pattern

Betrayal requires that players have some goal whose completion is dependent on other players' actions, even if the commitment may only be a promise and the goals may be Player Defined Goals. There are several ways to increase the sense of Betrayal. A first is to make the Betrayal relate to a Committed Goal rather than Optional one. A second is to place the players in Factions or Mutual Goals, and then make use of Traitors (this shows how Betrayal also can be applied on Non-Player Characters either as the ones betraying or the ones being betrayed). Creating Social Dilemmas between group and individual Rewards is another way to at least make the choice of Betrayal emotionally relevant. Less severe cases of Betrayal can happen in Collaborative Actions (e.g. attacks in Illuminati and in situations of Delayed Reciprocity such as Player Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties (e.g. Intrigue) or Trading with Delayed Effects. The impact of Betrayal can also be lessened in games which have Inherent Mistrust, something which may be impossible to avoid if the knowledge that Traitors exist are part of Strategic Planning.

Dedicated Game Facilitators Challenging Gameplay

One way, and perhaps the best, to enhance the possibility of Betrayal is to give the players at least a perceived chance of reaping Individual Rewards for betraying the other players. This form of Betrayal is the basis for some Social Dilemmas. An example is where Tied Results can be perceived and Rewards are distributed evenly: in these cases, players may negotiate to have a Tied Result in order to use their Resources and efforts in other parts of the game but have the possibility of Betrayal to gain the whole Reward for themselves.

Betrayal is one of the classic themes that can be used to create Narrative Structures and Role Reversal events. The interplay of trust and deceit is a way to achieve Emotional Immersion as Betrayal will almost inevitably create strong emotions in both parties involved. Betrayal has to come as a Surprise for those who are betrayed, or it loses much of its emotional impact. This can be achieved, for example, by having a Delayed Effect for Collaborative Actions and using Asymmetric Information about the actions the players have performed, which also raises the levels of Anticipation. In most cases, Betrayal is used together with Bluffing. The players who are about to betray other players have to conceal their true intentions and in some games, for example Diplomacy, Bluffing to conceal Betrayal is the basis for much of the enjoyment of the game.

The possibility of Betrayal in games gives players a form of Player Decided Results, and the power this gives most likely increases Tension between players and has a negative effect on Team Play and possible Cooperation. As is the case with Bluffing, even the perceived possibility of Betrayal can increase Social Interaction between players. In these cases, the heightened Tension is due to the players trying to find out what the other players' true intentions are. Betrayal, in any case, is much more common in Uncommitted Alliances than in stable Alliances such as teams. The effect of Betrayal is more drastic when the other players feel that the Alliance is stable. For example, a Soccer player perceived as betraying his team in the World Cup finals will probably be treated as a real-world betrayer and suffer the consequences.

For players to put themselves in positions where Betrayal of their trust can occur requires them to make Risk/Reward calculations and heavily influences how Negotiation is conducted. The actual action of putting oneself in the position where one can be betrayed is a Leap of Faith and if the Betrayal takes place, it is usually the source for Conflict.

Casual Gameplay

Negotiation

Social Dilemmas

Delayed Reciprocity

Consequences

Letting players have the opportunity to betray gives them a Risk/Reward choice, and may require Roleplaying if the Betrayal takes some time to setup (as is typically for Traitors). For players that know that they can be betrayed, the presence of the pattern in a game gives Tension to the gameplay.

When Betrayal is not built upon a Social Dilemma it often created one instead.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Risk/Reward, Roleplaying, Social Dilemmas, Tension

Can Modulate

Collaborative Actions, Factions, Inherent Mistrust, Mutual Goals, Non-Player Characters,

Can Be Instantiated By

Delayed Reciprocity, Social Dilemmas, Traitors

Trading together with Delayed Effects

Can Be Modulated By

Committed Goals,

Potentially Conflicting With

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

Acknowledgments

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