1. The Problem of Other Players In-game collaboration as collective action Jonas Heide Smith (smith@itu.dk) Center for Compyter Games Research IT University of Copenhagen

2. LARGER PROJECT Apply theories of conflict to video games - Economic game theory Testing these theories against reality - Examining the relationship between game structure and player behaviour

3. TODAY Here: Studying game design history through the lense of game theory (collective action) The problem (the challenge) is usually the other player(s)

4. HISTORY OF CONFLICT Spacewar (1962): Zero- sum game in which one player wins (fully) and the other player loses (fully).  Players will not cooperate in any way. Trust is not an issue.

5. HISTORY OF CONFLICT Fire Truck (1978): Non- conflictual (organic relationship)  Players will cooperate fully and communicate to coordinate/syncronize.

6. HISTORY OF CONFLICT Joust (1982): Non-zero sum - Players can kill each other (for points) - Cooperation prudent unless one fears aggression - Risk of misemplementation  Cooperation (but unstable) Player 2 CooperateDefect Player 1 CooperateGreatBad DefectGoodMediocre

7. HISTORY OF CONFLICT Gauntlet (1985): Non-zero sum. - Players cannot kill each other - Players compete for resources  Cooperation (but unstable) Wizard CooperateDefect Valkyrie CooperateValkyrie=2 Wizard=2 Valkyrie=0 Wizard=3 DefectValkyrie=3 Wizard=0 Valkyrie=1 Wizard=1

8. TYPOLOGY OF CONFLICT TypePlayer interestsChallengeSum typeExamples CooperativeExactly alignedGame environment or other team AnyFire Truck (1978), co- op mode in Halo (2001) Semi- cooperative Collective goal shared but individual goals differ somewhat. Game environment or other team and to a lesser extent the allied player(s. Non-zero- sum game with allies, any type against game environment or other team Joust (1982), Gauntlet (1985) CompetitiveDirectly opposed. Competitive two-player games will never inspire in-game cooperative behavior while games with more players may inspire temporary coalitions between players. The other player(s) Zero-sumPong (1972), Tekken 4 (2002)

9. CONCLUSIONS Players are engaged in continuous experiments with ”collective action” Game design is political philosophy Gameplaying is experimental economics

10. CONCLUSIONS Game design history amounts to a continuous experiment with relationships We can choose an entirely formalist approach, as long as - We know what we’re doing - We test the predictions

11. CONCLUSIONS Thank you smith@itu.dk