Social Games: Little Max
1. Describe the social interactions which you observed during play. In what way did these interactions emerge from within the formal elements of the game?
There wasn't much social interaction for this game. Everyone else waited while one person made a claim and the other person had to decide whether to challenge that claim or not. Once in a while, those waiting would try to influence the player to accept or challenge the claim, though most of the time they were minding their own business while waiting. Also, because the dice rolling didn't work out so well, people kept getting the same high numbers, and there was little need for them to try to bluff. A number of players were eliminated simply because they challenged the claims and found that the claims were indeed true.
2. Using Sutton-Smith's categorization of social play roles, discuss how the players' roles changed during the course of the game.
Players' roles alternated between that of the 'truth-seeker', and the 'claim-maker' under the motive "search", and if I could add a third role, that would be 'bored spectator'. The claim-maker could choose to bluff or tell the truth, but as we found out in the game, it seemed to favour those who tell the truth, especially if they had high numbers. The third role was caused by the dead time experienced by players during the game when they had to wait for their turn.
3. Suggest a modification to the game which will alter the social dynamics that emerge during play.
One possible modification to cut down on dead time would be like what Joshua and A Highly Unstable Psychopath suggested in their blogs - allow anyone to challenge the claim instead of the next player. This modification would allow for more interaction, and the pace would speed up, but the possible flaw is that the one who stays quiet and wait for other people to get eliminated first to increase his/her chances of winning the game. A possible solution to that problem would be to add an incentive to being an active participant - the player who makes a successful challenge can pass his/her turn for that round, so he/she doesn't need to roll the dice.
There wasn't much social interaction for this game. Everyone else waited while one person made a claim and the other person had to decide whether to challenge that claim or not. Once in a while, those waiting would try to influence the player to accept or challenge the claim, though most of the time they were minding their own business while waiting. Also, because the dice rolling didn't work out so well, people kept getting the same high numbers, and there was little need for them to try to bluff. A number of players were eliminated simply because they challenged the claims and found that the claims were indeed true.
2. Using Sutton-Smith's categorization of social play roles, discuss how the players' roles changed during the course of the game.
Players' roles alternated between that of the 'truth-seeker', and the 'claim-maker' under the motive "search", and if I could add a third role, that would be 'bored spectator'. The claim-maker could choose to bluff or tell the truth, but as we found out in the game, it seemed to favour those who tell the truth, especially if they had high numbers. The third role was caused by the dead time experienced by players during the game when they had to wait for their turn.
3. Suggest a modification to the game which will alter the social dynamics that emerge during play.
One possible modification to cut down on dead time would be like what Joshua and A Highly Unstable Psychopath suggested in their blogs - allow anyone to challenge the claim instead of the next player. This modification would allow for more interaction, and the pace would speed up, but the possible flaw is that the one who stays quiet and wait for other people to get eliminated first to increase his/her chances of winning the game. A possible solution to that problem would be to add an incentive to being an active participant - the player who makes a successful challenge can pass his/her turn for that round, so he/she doesn't need to roll the dice.
posted by Swift at
6:02 pm
1 Comments:
I suspect that games like Little Max are really designed to be played amongst friends- it's not a game that's intrinsically social in nature. Joshua's mod or your mod would help to make it more of a social game, though.
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hazylium, at 9:57 pm
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