Can restricting information

Encourage Cooperation in a
multiplayer game? – Literature
review
The following report will research and review various sources related to the question: “can restricted
information encourage players to co-operate?” in terms of multiplayer gaming. In more detail the
theory will observe whether or not in a competitive environment, multiple players will be willing to
assist their enemy in ways so that they both have a chance at winning.

Gameplay exclusively exists as either Solo, Cooperative (Coop) or Competitive (Comp). Some games
include all 3 types of gameplay but most are condensed into 1 or 2 of the above. Arcade gaming was
a fairly even mix of Comp play Street Fighter (1987), Coop Double Dragon (1987) and Solo Space
Harrier (1985). After home consoles gained popularity, this mix continued for years until the
popularity of online gaming, and many games began to focus solely on online Comp multiplayer with
little to no Solo gameplay Titanfall (2014), Star Wars Battlefront (2015), Overwatch (2016). Any Coop
gameplay that exists is often just working alongside other players in team based Comp. There are
several reasons for the change, the popularity of online gaming, restricting release content to make
way for additional purchases, and putting all development time into the most profitable part of the
game are a few of the more common reasons. One of the reasons that this new style is becoming
more popular is that players often enjoy working alongside one another, whether competitively or
cooperatively. A study on differences between Solo and Coop play found that “Co-operative
gameplay was found to produce a greater autotelic experience, and greater flow than single player
gameplay. This greater flow experience was the result of increased feelings of Challenge-Skill
Balance” Lee et al. (2015) This implies that players on average will find playing alongside other more
engaging than playing alone.

The most important aspect when designing something that is made to make players think or behave
in a certain way is game flow. A good game flow can be described across 8 points as “A task that can
be completed; the ability to concentrate on the task; that concentration is possible because the task
has clear goals; that concentration is possible because the task provides immediate feedback; the
ability to exercise a sense of control over actions; a deep but effortless involvement that removes
awareness of the frustrations of everyday life; concern for self disappears, but a sense of self
emerges stronger afterwards; and the sense of the duration of time is altered.” Sweetster and
Wyeth (2005) The most important step towards having a good game flow is to have the player forget
or ignore the fact that they have a separate life or responsibilities for the duration of the game play,
this is commonly referred to as “Immersion”, the feeling of being a part of the game world, rather
than just an observer pulling some strings. The most effective way to create an immersive gaming
experience is to create a large and active in game world, with a blank slate player character that the
player can project themselves onto. The style of game that is best at doing this is the Western Role
Playing game (RPG), as they usually consist of wide open worlds with silent player characters. The
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) Compared to Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPG), that usually star a
well written and voiced cast of main characters, providing a linear story that the player is pulled
along with in place of a story that the player feels they have control over. While both styles have
their merits, the latter creates a more immersive experience. VR gaming allows for the most
immersive gameplay yet, as it allows players to take an additional step towards actually being part of
the game, putting them right in the world rather than watching through a screen. The Elder Scrolls V:
Skyrim VR (2017) Putting two players in a head to head environment will naturally want to win, as is
human nature, but by adding a level of immersion, via VR and an immersive storyline, it can help
players believe that they are truly a part of the world.

Giving players different amounts or types of information creates an interesting team dynamic, as
different roles can quickly form, especially if multiple players have different tasks to perform. In the
game, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (2015) one player is tasked to defuse a bomb, and a
second is tasked with explaining how to do so. As neither player knows what the other can see, it
enforces a sense tension, and of reliance on the other player. In an interview describing adding VR
support, Brian Fetter, Co-founder of Steel Crate Games, said the following: “Originally we thought
that VR would add some tension and would enforce the separation between the role of the defuser
and the role of the experts preventing players from ruining the experience by cheating. This is still the
case, but as we started testing the game we found that VR added much more than that. The feeling
of being truly alone and isolated in VR with only disembodied voices to guide you added much more
than we originally expected. By making subtle environmental changes we could ramp up player
tension, which in a communication game leads to confusion, mistakes and interesting dialog.”

Adding tension to the situation can make a player feel more immersed, and add a sense of urgency,
along with a reason to want to reach the goal faster. It can also cause mistakes to occur more
frequently, while normally to be avoided, in a gaming situation, mistakes have no real consequences
and exist only to increase the tension. Players will have to rely on one another’s information
regardless of sense of competitiveness, as teamwork will be the only way to succeed. The addition of
VR will not only make the environment more immersive, but also cause a sense of panic, and make
teamwork seem like a much more valuable thing.

Upon continuing to research the subject, the additional of Virtual Reality adds a level of tension, but
additionally adds a level of complexity that is not needed for a player to decide to cooperate or not.
Tension can be simulated in other ways while still using a PC screen.

Reference

Capcom (1987) Street Fighter [game, arcade] Capcom, Japan

Technōs Japan (1987) Double Dragon [game, arcade] Taito, Japan

Sega Enterprises (1985) Space Harrier [game, arcade] Sega, Japan

Respawn Entertainment (2014) Titanfall [game, Xbox 360] Electronic Arts, USA

EA DICE (2015) Star Wars: Battlefront [game, PS4] Electronic Arts, USA

Blizzard Entertainment (2016) Overwatch [game, Microsoft windows] Blizzard Entertainment, USA

Steel Crate Games (2015) Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes [Game, Microsoft Windows] Steel
Crate Games, Canada
Bethesda Game Studios (2011) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Game, PS3] Bethesda Softworks, USA

Bethesda Game Studios (2017) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR [Game, PlayStation VR] Bethesda
Softworks, USA

Lee, C., Wyeth, P., Johnson, D. and Hall, J. (2015) Flow during Individual and Co-operative Gameplay.
In: CHI PLAY '15 Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in
Play. The Light, London, England, 4-7 June 2015. Available at:
http://delivery.acm.org.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/10.1145/2800000/2793142/p103-lee.pdf?
ip=193.60.133.94&id=2793142&acc=ACTIVE
%20SERVICE&key=BF07A2EE685417C5%2EB9DB6AC12FAF3618%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702
B0C3E38B35&CFID=839356128&CFTOKEN=52042109&__acm__=1513603518_6afd93910292c0e2b
705ca945b97451b [Accessed 2 December 2017]

PlayStation LifeStyle. (2015). Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes for PlayStation VR interview.
[online] Available at: http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/10/23/keep-talking-and-nobody-
explodes-steel-crate-games-interview/#/slide/1 [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017]