Difference between revisions of "Turn Taking"

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[[Category:Staffan's current workpage]]
 
 
[[Category:Patterns]]
 
[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs work]]
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[[Category:Mechanical Patterns]]
 
[[Category:Needs revision]]
 
[[Category:Needs revision]]
 
[[Category:Needs references]]
 
[[Category:Needs references]]
[[Category:Needs examples]]
 
[[Category:Stub]]
 
 
''Letting one player do some action or actions before letting other players act.''
 
''Letting one player do some action or actions before letting other players act.''
  
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=== Examples ===
 
=== Examples ===
Many classic [[:Category:Board Games|Board Games]], including [[Chess]], [[Go]], and [[Hnefatafl]], alternate between two players that can make their moves. In constract, [[Diplomacy]]] is a turn-based game without [[Turn Taking]] as all players do their turns simultaneously. [[Puerto Rico]] as a week form of [[Turn Taking]]: a round consists of each player in turn choosing an action that they wish to have performed. The action chosen by the first player is however performed by all players before the next action is chosen and so on until all players have chosen actions (part of the challenge of the game lies in that the choosing player gets a bonus and not all actions occur each round).
+
Many classic [[:Category:Board Games|Board Games]], including [[Chess]], [[Go]], and [[Hnefatafl]], alternate between two players that can make their moves. In contract, [[Diplomacy]] is a turn-based game without [[Turn Taking]] as all players do their turns simultaneously. [[Puerto Rico]] as a week form of [[Turn Taking]]: a round consists of each player in turn choosing an action that they wish to have performed. The action chosen by the first player is however performed by all players before the next action is chosen and so on until all players have chosen actions (part of the challenge of the game lies in that the choosing player gets a bonus and not all actions occur each round).
  
[[Golf]] uses [[Turn Taking]] where the player the farthest from the hole has the turn until all players have hit the ball into the hole.
+
Some games have [[Turn Taking]] but may let the same player do several turns in a row depending on the game state. For example, [[Golf]] uses [[Turn Taking]] where the player the farthest from the hole has the turn until all players have hit the ball into the hole. [[Eight-ball]] in contrast lets a player continue to make turns until he or she has committed a foul or has fails to legally pocket a ball. [[Spin the Bottle]] uses randomness to determine whose turn it is next and players may play a complete game session without having a turn. [[Agricola]], [[Carolus Magnus]], [[Egizia]], and [[Ursuppe]] are examples of games where players can intentional make plans for being able to both the last turn in a round and the first in the next, setting up a ''flip-flop'' situation.
 
+
[[Spin the Bottle]] uses randomness to determine whose turn it is next and players may play a complete game session without having a turn.
+
  
 
== Using the pattern ==
 
== Using the pattern ==
The pattern [[Turn-Based Games]] discusses the general effects of dividing games into different parts where some actions are possible and others not.
+
[[Turn Taking]] considers gameplay where the possibility to update game states are restricted to one player at a time while the related pattern [[Turn-Based Games]] discusses the general effects of dividing games into different parts where some actions are possible and others not (all games with [[Turn Taking]] are [[Turn-Based Games]] but not all [[Turn-Based Games]] make use of [[Turn Taking]], e.g. [[Diplomacy]] or [[Ricochet Robots]]). Games using [[Cards]] and [[Tiles]] often make use of [[Turn Taking]] as those games that have [[Drafting]] mechanics.
  
 +
The order in which [[Turn Taking]] takes place can be varied in several different ways. The ''round-robin'' system, found e.g. in [[Chess]] and [[Monopoly]], lets every player gets one turn in a predetermined structure before beginning the [[Turn Taking]] process again, and this is done until gameplay is finished. Other systems make use of [[Varying Turn Orders]] and these can be specifically design to allow or disallow [[Extra Turns]] or [[Flip-Flop Events]]. One such system, found both in [[Eight-ball]] and [[Golf]] is to have players whose turn it is continue to having additional turns as long as some given criteria regarding the game state are met, and after this is no longer met another rule determines the next player to have a turn. [[Turnovers]] is the case when this criteria is that one is allowed to continue until one fails with actions, as for example is the case in [[Eight-ball]] but also used as part of the turn order of [[Basketball]] and [[Bloodbowl]]. [[Egizia]] and [[Ursuppe]] also has this system but uses it to create a [[Balancing Effects|Balancing Effect]] by giving the player with the lowest [[Scores|Score]] on a [[Score Tracks|Score Track]] the first turn. Finally, [[Randomness]] may be used to determine turn order. [[Time Limits]] can be added to [[Turn Taking]] to ensure that not too long time passes until the turn passes to another player (or a game is lost).
  
[[Interruptible Actions]]
+
The turns that are created by [[Turn Taking]] can be structure in different ways in games. [[Rounds]] collect a series of turns into a large structure which allows for the counting of [[Scores]] and [[Ultra-Powerful Events]] (e.g. replenishing [[Resources]] or paying [[Maintenance Costs]]) to be regularly timed. These [[Rounds]] often consist of each player having done one turn (is some order) but [[Agricola]] shows how a ''round-robin'' can be used to let players take turns placing farmer tokens and continue this until no players have any tokens left. Dividing ''rounds'' into [[Planning Phases]], where players e.g. can do [[Role Selection]] or [[Token Placement]] (which in turn requires a [[Turn Taking]] order), and [[Execution Phases]]. This can be done to let players more often make decisions, but as [[Space Alert]] shows games can be built around having only one [[Planning Phases|Planning Phase]] and one [[Execution Phases|Execution Phase]] but with rounds with them.
 
+
Turn Taking in Turn-Based Games may occur on many levels and is more often done in rounds, segments, and phases than in turns. This allows players more chances to perform actions, including interrupting Interruptible Actions and increasing possibilities for reasonable waiting times in Synchronous Games, and can modulate actions such as Capture. Many times the Turn Taking for interrupting actions is not explicitly called out in game play every time they occur but players have to individually claim them within a reasonable Time Limit.
+
 
+
The order in which Turn Taking takes place can be varied in several different ways. The Turn Taking can be constructed so that every player gets one turn before the Turn Taking process begins to repeat or is reset (with possible Ultra-Powerful Events interjected), that players can have several turns as long as they have some form of Limited Resource, or simply uses continuously use Randomness to determine who has the next turn. Having each player get one turn in a larger cycle provides a sequential turn-taking cycle with the round-robin sequences as the most common and causing "hit left; dodge right"patterns to emerge. Other sequential orders can be produced by Bidding or by measuring Resources or Score values, of which the latter can be used to have Balancing Effects.
+
 
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Turn Taking in Real-Time Games is not common and most often reserved for Negotiation in Trading where players must do some form of Resource Management to conduct the trade. Putting a Time Limit on a player in Turn Taking creates a form of sequential Tick-Based Game. It is also possible to construct sort of Tournaments from Quick Games by allowing the players to take turns in playing their game instances and comparing the overall results.
+
 
+
These consideration is of primary interest for [[Multiplayer Games]] since the "problems" of [[Downtime]] and [[Analysis Paralysis]] does not typically affect [[Single-Player Games]].
+
 
+
[[Analysis Paralysis]] can occur as soon as [[Turn Taking]] is used in [[Multiplayer Games]] but can be further encouraged by many other patterns (e.g. [[Action Programming]], [[Budgeted Action Points]], [[Cognitive Engrossment]], [[Predictable Consequences]], and [[Stimulated Planning]]).
+
 
+
=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
+
[[Dedicated Game Facilitators]],  
+
[[Game Masters]]
+
 
+
=== Can Be Modulated By ===
+
[[Balancing Effects]],
+
[[Time Limits]]
+
 
+
  
=== Diegetic Aspects ===
+
Players may also have the possibility to make turns inside turns (games supporting this often introduce concepts as ''segments'' and ''phases'' to distinguish between these). Perhaps the oldest example of this is the individual play of a [[Cards|Card]] or [[Tiles|Tile]] by each player in a game with [[Trick Taking]]. Another basic form of this is having [[Budgeted Action Points]], as for example done in [[Ticket to Ride]] and (regarding [[Movement]]) the [[Civilization_(video_game)_series|Civilization series]]. Here, players have a number of ''action points'' that can be spend doing several actions one after another until the points are used up. The number of actions possible to do may vary if the cost is varied. Another way players may have several ''turns'' after each other is when they are allowed to move each of their [[Units]] before some other player gets to act. [[Interruptible Actions]] is yet another way, found for example in the tackling rules in [[Bloodbowl]], but here it is ''other'' players that have turns inside a player's turn. Many times the [[Turn Taking]] for [[Interruptible Actions]] are not explicitly called out in gameplay; players may have to individually claim them within a reasonable [[Time Limits|Time Limit]] or lose the possibility. The various forms are often combine: the board game [[Space Hulk]] has [[Rounds]] consisting of players doing their turns in a ''round-robin'' fashion but each player may activate all their [[Units]] once and each of these [[Units]] have [[Budgeted Action Points]]. In addition, the ''Space Marine'' player may interrupt the ''Genestealer'' player's turn to do attacks in some circumstances. Finally, [[Bidding]] is a gameplay activity that can be modulate by having [[Turn Taking]] sequences in them or being a free-for-all contest.
  
 
=== Interface Aspects ===
 
=== Interface Aspects ===
 +
[[Dedicated Game Facilitators]] can enforce that [[Turn Taking]] takes place it the correct order and that possible [[Time Limits]] are kept. This is built into games with [[Hotseating]] but [[Game Masters]] can do with a flexibility that supports [[Enactment]], [[Smooth Learning Curves]], and [[Storytelling]].
  
=== Narrative Aspects ===
+
For [[Self-Facilitated Games]], but also those with [[Game Masters]], the use of [[Bookkeeping Tokens]] such as [[Current Player Tokens]] and [[First Player Tokens]] can help players not make mistakes when the [[Turn Taking]] is more complex that ''round-robin'' systems.
  
 
== Consequences ==
 
== Consequences ==
Having [[Turn Taking]] in games make them into [[Turn-Based Games]] of one form or another and is likely to have many of the typical characteristics of these types of games (e.g. limiting [[Freedom of Choice]] since one cannot act whenever one wants and potentially creating [[Analysis Paralysis]] without the presence of any other specific pattern).
+
[[Turn Taking]] gives players [[Execution Phases]] when they get to interact with the game system. On a most basic level, [[Turn Taking]] provides [[Role Reversal]] for players from being active to being passive participants in the game but the [[Turn Taking]] can also have changes in more specific functional roles. [[Turn Taking]] often leads to [[First Player Advantages]], and thereby also [[Asymmetric Starting Conditions]]. How much this affects [[Player Balance]] can vary on many factors, but is often most important to games with [[Perfect Information]] and [[Stimulated Planning]]. For example, it is a generally recognized feature of both [[Chess]] and [[Go]], and is the reason for these games often being played in [[Back-to-Back Game Sessions]] and for the ''komi'' rule in [[Go]].  
  
. It allows players to separate their activities during their turns in planning what to do, setting instructions on what to do, and confirming the instructions made. In this sense [[Turn-Based Games]] can support [[Stimulated Planning]] if the actions and events of the game have [[Predictable Consequences]]. The planning, instructing, and confirming can become intermixed if players have a possibility of making several different actions, e.g. through [[Budgeted Action Points]] or having many [[Units]].  
+
Having [[Turn Taking]] in games make them into [[Turn-Based Games]] of one form or another and is likely to have many of the typical characteristics of these types of games (e.g. limiting [[Freedom of Choice]] since one cannot act whenever one wants and potentially creating [[Analysis Paralysis]] without the presence of any other specific pattern). On one level [[Turn Taking]] is opposite to [[Real-Time Games]] since it defines updates to the game state in terms of player turns rather that time units, but the two pattern can be combined through the use of [[Time Limits]] to how long a turn may take. They also work against [[Synchronous Gameplay]] in the aspect the players waiting for their turn may not actually have play sessions while other do (this of course depends on to which extend players can perform actions during others' turns and if they can engage in gameplay-related actions such as planning their next move).
  
When the [[Turn Taking]] is not modified by [[Time Limits]], this can lead to [[Analysis Paralysis]]. Since this can give other players [[Downtime]], they may start to use [[Guilting]] as a way of [[Self-Facilitated Games|Self-Facilitating]] the game flow.  
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[[Turn Taking]] modulates [[Multiplayer Games]] by allowing players to separate their activities during gameplay into planning what to do, performing the planned actions, and observing the effects of the actions (this can become intermixed if players have a possibility of making several different turns, e.g. through [[Budgeted Action Points]] or having many [[Units]]). The planning can be done in other players' turns to a certain extent (depending on the presence or not of [[Predictable Consequences]] and [[Limited Foresight]]), and in this sense [[Turn Taking]] can support [[Planning Phases]] and [[Stimulated Planning]]. [[Turn Taking]] does however also modulate [[Predictable Consequences]] since players can have more or less good knowledge in which order turns may be made (depending on if a game has a fixed or flexible turn order). Also for [[Multiplayer Games]], having [[Turn Taking]] may cause players not having their turn to have [[Downtime]], which can be used to take use of [[Game State Overviews]] or act as [[Spectators]] (possibly to figure out other players' [[Secret Goals]]). The [[Downtime]] cause by [[Turn Taking]] can lead to [[Analysis Paralysis]] if not modified by [[Time Limits]], and this can lead other players to start using [[Guilting]] as a way of [[Self-Facilitated Games|Self-Facilitating]] the game flow. Another effect of [[Turn Taking]] in [[Multiplayer Games]] can be used to create more organized [[Negotiation]] when only the active player is eligible to negotiate with, and this can create less pressurized [[Social Interaction]].
  
Turn Taking can both relieve and create Tension. The relief for a player can come in the form of not having to consider that The Show Must Go On while it is the player's turn and in the form of having Downtime when it is not the player's turn. Tension can be created by the possibility for Analysis Paralysis due to Risk/Rewards choices during the player's turn and by Hovering Closure s and Anticipation while it is not. Having Turn Taking may cause the players not having their turn to have Downtime, which can be used to gain Game State Overview or act as Spectators to the active player's actions in order to deduce possible secret tactics and Unknown Goals.
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For actions that take more than one round to completed, [[Turn Taking]] makes these into [[Interruptible Actions]] if other players can affect the game state related to the action. This can in turn be countered in games where the [[Turn Taking]] order can changed, since this opens up for the possibility of players having two turns after each other - this is for example found in [[Agricola]] and [[Carolus Magnus]]. These events, called flip-flop events when being the last turn in one round and the first in the next round, usually give significant advantages to the players which can be seen as a [[Combos|Combo]] in itself. When this is possible, striving for these cause [[Stimulated Planning]] and provide one way to achieve [[Gameplay Mastery]].
  
In games where the order in which Turn Taking takes place players may have two turns after each other. These flip-flop events usually give significant advantages to the player and if they can be the cause of Stimulated Planning this is one way to achieve Game Mastery in the game.
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[[Turn Taking]] can relieve, create, and modulate [[Tension]]. Players may be relieved from [[Tension]] since they do not have to consider that [[The Show Must Go On]] while it is their turn and from having [[Downtime]] when it is not their turn. The latter can however also create [[Tension]] to others due to [[Analysis Paralysis]]. Already present [[Tension]] can also be increased by [[Turn Taking]] since it can force players to have to wait while [[Anticipation]], [[Hovering Closures]], and [[Interruptible Actions]] exist.
 
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Turn Taking can be enforced by Dedicated Game Facilitators but also exist in most Self-Facilitated Games. As the other players can help and supervise the actual handling of physical game elements used by the active player, Turn Taking supports Self-Facilitated Games and may let every player take part in Storytelling or let every players temporarily take the role of the Game Masters.
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Turn Taking can be used to create civilized Negotiation, for example in Bidding, and thereby encourage less pressurized Social Interaction.
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== Relations ==
 
=== Can Instantiate ===
 
=== Can Instantiate ===
 
[[Analysis Paralysis]],  
 
[[Analysis Paralysis]],  
 +
[[Asymmetric Starting Conditions]],
 +
[[Combos]],
 +
[[Execution Phases]],
 +
[[First Player Advantages]],
 
[[Interruptible Actions]],  
 
[[Interruptible Actions]],  
 +
[[Planning Phases]],
 
[[Role Reversal]],  
 
[[Role Reversal]],  
 
[[Self-Facilitated Games]],  
 
[[Self-Facilitated Games]],  
 +
[[Spectators]],
 
[[Stimulated Planning]],  
 
[[Stimulated Planning]],  
 +
[[Tension]],
 +
[[Trick Taking]],
 
[[Turn-Based Games]]
 
[[Turn-Based Games]]
  
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=== Can Modulate ===
 
=== Can Modulate ===
 +
[[Bidding]],
 +
[[Cards]],
 +
[[Drafting]],
 +
[[Game State Overviews]],
 
[[Multiplayer Games]],  
 
[[Multiplayer Games]],  
[[Predictable Consequences]]
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[[Predictable Consequences]],  
 
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[[Role Selection]],  
=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
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[[Secret Goals]],  
[[Real-Time Games]]
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[[Tension]],  
 
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[[Tiles]],  
== Relations ==
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[[Token Placement]]
=== Can Instantiate ===
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[[Analysis Paralysis]],  
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[[Interruptible Actions]],  
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[[Role Reversal]],  
+
[[Self-Facilitated Games]],  
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[[Stimulated Planning]],  
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[[Turn-Based Games]]
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==== with [[Analysis Paralysis]] ====
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[[Downtime]], [[Guilting]]
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==== with [[Multiplayer Games]] ====
 
==== with [[Multiplayer Games]] ====
[[Analysis Paralysis]],  
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[[Negotiation]],
[[Downtime]]
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[[Social Interaction]]
 
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=== Can Modulate ===
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[[Multiplayer Games]],
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[[Predictable Consequences]]
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=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
 
=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
 
[[Dedicated Game Facilitators]],  
 
[[Dedicated Game Facilitators]],  
[[Game Masters]]
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[[Game Masters]],
 +
[[Hotseating]]
  
 
=== Can Be Modulated By ===
 
=== Can Be Modulated By ===
 
[[Balancing Effects]],  
 
[[Balancing Effects]],  
[[Time Limits]]
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[[Bookkeeping Tokens]],
 +
[[Budgeted Action Points]],
 +
[[Current Player Tokens]],
 +
[[Execution Phases]],
 +
[[Extra Turns]],
 +
[[First Player Tokens]],
 +
[[Flip-Flop Events]],
 +
[[Interruptible Actions]],
 +
[[Planning Phases]],
 +
[[Randomness]],
 +
[[Role Selection]],
 +
[[Varying Turn Orders]],
 +
[[Rounds]],
 +
[[Score Tracks]],
 +
[[Time Limits]],
 +
[[Token Placement]],
 +
[[Turnovers]],
 +
[[Units]],
 +
[[Ultra-Powerful Events]]
  
 
=== Possible Closure Effects ===
 
=== Possible Closure Effects ===
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=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
 
=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Real-Time Games]]
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[[Real-Time Games]],
 +
[[Synchronous Gameplay]],
 +
[[Tension]],
 +
[[The Show Must Go On]]
  
 
== History ==
 
== History ==
A renamed version of the pattern ''Turn Taking'' that was part of the original collection in the book ''Patterns in Game Design''<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004"/>.
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An updated version of the pattern ''Turn Taking'' that was part of the original collection in the book ''Patterns in Game Design''<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004"/>.
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==

Latest revision as of 09:28, 21 September 2016

Letting one player do some action or actions before letting other players act.

Many games only let one player act at a time. This Turn Taking makes the evaluation of actions in the game easier to do, since all players can supervise each other. Further it lets each player have control over what to do without having to keep track of what the other players are doing at the same time.

Examples

Many classic Board Games, including Chess, Go, and Hnefatafl, alternate between two players that can make their moves. In contract, Diplomacy is a turn-based game without Turn Taking as all players do their turns simultaneously. Puerto Rico as a week form of Turn Taking: a round consists of each player in turn choosing an action that they wish to have performed. The action chosen by the first player is however performed by all players before the next action is chosen and so on until all players have chosen actions (part of the challenge of the game lies in that the choosing player gets a bonus and not all actions occur each round).

Some games have Turn Taking but may let the same player do several turns in a row depending on the game state. For example, Golf uses Turn Taking where the player the farthest from the hole has the turn until all players have hit the ball into the hole. Eight-ball in contrast lets a player continue to make turns until he or she has committed a foul or has fails to legally pocket a ball. Spin the Bottle uses randomness to determine whose turn it is next and players may play a complete game session without having a turn. Agricola, Carolus Magnus, Egizia, and Ursuppe are examples of games where players can intentional make plans for being able to both the last turn in a round and the first in the next, setting up a flip-flop situation.

Using the pattern

Turn Taking considers gameplay where the possibility to update game states are restricted to one player at a time while the related pattern Turn-Based Games discusses the general effects of dividing games into different parts where some actions are possible and others not (all games with Turn Taking are Turn-Based Games but not all Turn-Based Games make use of Turn Taking, e.g. Diplomacy or Ricochet Robots). Games using Cards and Tiles often make use of Turn Taking as those games that have Drafting mechanics.

The order in which Turn Taking takes place can be varied in several different ways. The round-robin system, found e.g. in Chess and Monopoly, lets every player gets one turn in a predetermined structure before beginning the Turn Taking process again, and this is done until gameplay is finished. Other systems make use of Varying Turn Orders and these can be specifically design to allow or disallow Extra Turns or Flip-Flop Events. One such system, found both in Eight-ball and Golf is to have players whose turn it is continue to having additional turns as long as some given criteria regarding the game state are met, and after this is no longer met another rule determines the next player to have a turn. Turnovers is the case when this criteria is that one is allowed to continue until one fails with actions, as for example is the case in Eight-ball but also used as part of the turn order of Basketball and Bloodbowl. Egizia and Ursuppe also has this system but uses it to create a Balancing Effect by giving the player with the lowest Score on a Score Track the first turn. Finally, Randomness may be used to determine turn order. Time Limits can be added to Turn Taking to ensure that not too long time passes until the turn passes to another player (or a game is lost).

The turns that are created by Turn Taking can be structure in different ways in games. Rounds collect a series of turns into a large structure which allows for the counting of Scores and Ultra-Powerful Events (e.g. replenishing Resources or paying Maintenance Costs) to be regularly timed. These Rounds often consist of each player having done one turn (is some order) but Agricola shows how a round-robin can be used to let players take turns placing farmer tokens and continue this until no players have any tokens left. Dividing rounds into Planning Phases, where players e.g. can do Role Selection or Token Placement (which in turn requires a Turn Taking order), and Execution Phases. This can be done to let players more often make decisions, but as Space Alert shows games can be built around having only one Planning Phase and one Execution Phase but with rounds with them.

Players may also have the possibility to make turns inside turns (games supporting this often introduce concepts as segments and phases to distinguish between these). Perhaps the oldest example of this is the individual play of a Card or Tile by each player in a game with Trick Taking. Another basic form of this is having Budgeted Action Points, as for example done in Ticket to Ride and (regarding Movement) the Civilization series. Here, players have a number of action points that can be spend doing several actions one after another until the points are used up. The number of actions possible to do may vary if the cost is varied. Another way players may have several turns after each other is when they are allowed to move each of their Units before some other player gets to act. Interruptible Actions is yet another way, found for example in the tackling rules in Bloodbowl, but here it is other players that have turns inside a player's turn. Many times the Turn Taking for Interruptible Actions are not explicitly called out in gameplay; players may have to individually claim them within a reasonable Time Limit or lose the possibility. The various forms are often combine: the board game Space Hulk has Rounds consisting of players doing their turns in a round-robin fashion but each player may activate all their Units once and each of these Units have Budgeted Action Points. In addition, the Space Marine player may interrupt the Genestealer player's turn to do attacks in some circumstances. Finally, Bidding is a gameplay activity that can be modulate by having Turn Taking sequences in them or being a free-for-all contest.

Interface Aspects

Dedicated Game Facilitators can enforce that Turn Taking takes place it the correct order and that possible Time Limits are kept. This is built into games with Hotseating but Game Masters can do with a flexibility that supports Enactment, Smooth Learning Curves, and Storytelling.

For Self-Facilitated Games, but also those with Game Masters, the use of Bookkeeping Tokens such as Current Player Tokens and First Player Tokens can help players not make mistakes when the Turn Taking is more complex that round-robin systems.

Consequences

Turn Taking gives players Execution Phases when they get to interact with the game system. On a most basic level, Turn Taking provides Role Reversal for players from being active to being passive participants in the game but the Turn Taking can also have changes in more specific functional roles. Turn Taking often leads to First Player Advantages, and thereby also Asymmetric Starting Conditions. How much this affects Player Balance can vary on many factors, but is often most important to games with Perfect Information and Stimulated Planning. For example, it is a generally recognized feature of both Chess and Go, and is the reason for these games often being played in Back-to-Back Game Sessions and for the komi rule in Go.

Having Turn Taking in games make them into Turn-Based Games of one form or another and is likely to have many of the typical characteristics of these types of games (e.g. limiting Freedom of Choice since one cannot act whenever one wants and potentially creating Analysis Paralysis without the presence of any other specific pattern). On one level Turn Taking is opposite to Real-Time Games since it defines updates to the game state in terms of player turns rather that time units, but the two pattern can be combined through the use of Time Limits to how long a turn may take. They also work against Synchronous Gameplay in the aspect the players waiting for their turn may not actually have play sessions while other do (this of course depends on to which extend players can perform actions during others' turns and if they can engage in gameplay-related actions such as planning their next move).

Turn Taking modulates Multiplayer Games by allowing players to separate their activities during gameplay into planning what to do, performing the planned actions, and observing the effects of the actions (this can become intermixed if players have a possibility of making several different turns, e.g. through Budgeted Action Points or having many Units). The planning can be done in other players' turns to a certain extent (depending on the presence or not of Predictable Consequences and Limited Foresight), and in this sense Turn Taking can support Planning Phases and Stimulated Planning. Turn Taking does however also modulate Predictable Consequences since players can have more or less good knowledge in which order turns may be made (depending on if a game has a fixed or flexible turn order). Also for Multiplayer Games, having Turn Taking may cause players not having their turn to have Downtime, which can be used to take use of Game State Overviews or act as Spectators (possibly to figure out other players' Secret Goals). The Downtime cause by Turn Taking can lead to Analysis Paralysis if not modified by Time Limits, and this can lead other players to start using Guilting as a way of Self-Facilitating the game flow. Another effect of Turn Taking in Multiplayer Games can be used to create more organized Negotiation when only the active player is eligible to negotiate with, and this can create less pressurized Social Interaction.

For actions that take more than one round to completed, Turn Taking makes these into Interruptible Actions if other players can affect the game state related to the action. This can in turn be countered in games where the Turn Taking order can changed, since this opens up for the possibility of players having two turns after each other - this is for example found in Agricola and Carolus Magnus. These events, called flip-flop events when being the last turn in one round and the first in the next round, usually give significant advantages to the players which can be seen as a Combo in itself. When this is possible, striving for these cause Stimulated Planning and provide one way to achieve Gameplay Mastery.

Turn Taking can relieve, create, and modulate Tension. Players may be relieved from Tension since they do not have to consider that The Show Must Go On while it is their turn and from having Downtime when it is not their turn. The latter can however also create Tension to others due to Analysis Paralysis. Already present Tension can also be increased by Turn Taking since it can force players to have to wait while Anticipation, Hovering Closures, and Interruptible Actions exist.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Analysis Paralysis, Asymmetric Starting Conditions, Combos, Execution Phases, First Player Advantages, Interruptible Actions, Planning Phases, Role Reversal, Self-Facilitated Games, Spectators, Stimulated Planning, Tension, Trick Taking, Turn-Based Games

with Analysis Paralysis

Downtime, Guilting

with Multiplayer Games

Analysis Paralysis, Downtime

Can Modulate

Bidding, Cards, Drafting, Game State Overviews, Multiplayer Games, Predictable Consequences, Role Selection, Secret Goals, Tension, Tiles, Token Placement

with Multiplayer Games

Negotiation, Social Interaction

Can Be Instantiated By

Dedicated Game Facilitators, Game Masters, Hotseating

Can Be Modulated By

Balancing Effects, Bookkeeping Tokens, Budgeted Action Points, Current Player Tokens, Execution Phases, Extra Turns, First Player Tokens, Flip-Flop Events, Interruptible Actions, Planning Phases, Randomness, Role Selection, Varying Turn Orders, Rounds, Score Tracks, Time Limits, Token Placement, Turnovers, Units, Ultra-Powerful Events

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

Real-Time Games, Synchronous Gameplay, Tension, The Show Must Go On

History

An updated version of the pattern Turn Taking that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design[1].

References

  1. Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.