length. Most players want to know how much time they need to play your game, since
all but the most hard-core have a variety of things to do with their lives other than play-
ing games. It is a very different decision to play an online game of hearts versus going
on an epic adventure inEverQuestor starting up a multi-player game ofCivilization III.
In board games,Monopolyis a good example of a game that many people refuse to play
because they know how long it can take in the worst cases. Games can drag on for days.
RiskandDiplomacyprovide even more extreme examples of this same problem. If play-
ers find a game is going on too long for them (either as an aberration or standard
operating procedure) they are likely to drop out in the middle of the game, something
that can be very frustrating to the other players. Letting players know what they are
getting into before they start up a game is a good way to encourage them to play games
all the way through.
Similarly, if at all possible you want your game design to allow players to feel that
they still have something of a shot at success even when they are losing. Games that
allow one player to get extremely far ahead of the other players but still require a long
and tedious end-game for that player to complete the win will encourage the losing
players to drop out, essentially forfeiting. Though this does not need to be disastrous, it
is better if your game is designed so that players never feel like all hope is lost. One way
to accomplish this is through employing negative feedback systems to give players who
are falling behind a better chance of catching up. At a talk at the Game Developers Con-
ference, Marc LeBlanc discussed how positive feedback systems can push the player
who is ahead in the competition even farther ahead, while negative feedback will keep
the competition close. For example, in a racing game, if there are guns mounted on the
front of the vehicles, players who are behind can shoot at the players who are ahead,
thus closing the gap. If the guns are mounted on the back of the cars, however, the feed-
back is positive, allowing the winner to take out the opponents who are already behind
it. Therefore, with its front-mounted guns,Mario Kartis a good implementation of neg-
ative feedback that helps keep the races closer and thereby more exciting.
Chapter 13: Multi-Player 243
With its front-mounted
weapons,Mario Kartis
an excellent implemen-
tation of negative feed-
back keeping races close
between competing
players. Pictured here:
Mario Kart: Double Dash.