From: jwtlai@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Jim W Lai)
Subject: Re: CULTURE: Game Design
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1992 22:49:50 GMT
Message-ID: <1992Feb27.224950.17132@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Organization: University of Waterloo


In article <1992Feb27.095041.11053@u.washington.edu> lawtonj@p4.cs.man.ac.uk 
(Kaleidoscope) writes:

>In <1992Feb19.204450.11139@u.washington.edu> hssiarl!rice@hacgate.SCG.hac.com 
>(Jason Rice) writes:
>
>>rules, developed from more timely subject matter and directed towards
>>teamwork and nurturing.
>
>It's a bit sad that teamwork/nuturing are seen as female values I think.

Hey, let's not overstate the matter.  The Battletech game in question did all
for two teams (of up to three?) of players to play against each other.  Many of
the current arcade games allow for team play among two, three, and even four
players.  The increase in difficulty isn't proportionate with the number of
players, which makes a cooperative game "easier", and more lucrative to boot.
I confess that my two most recent favorite arcade games have been Smash TV (a
take-off of the violent game show concept in Running Man) and Terminator 2,
both of which allow two-player cooperative play (without the possibility of
friendly fire even).  In fact, I'm not sure the Terminator 2 game can be won
without two players.  Teamwork is making it out there in the arcade market, and
making more money.  (And for those who want data on the effects of violent
arcade games, I'm a fairly laid-back person.)

Of course, there is less incentive for cooperative play in the home market.
Handheld-portable games are one exception, with wire interconnectors, but they
generally require all players to own a copy of the game in order to cooperate.
There is a demand for teamwork out there, and the game manufacturers are
capitalizing on it, though perhaps not as much as they could.