✎ en:patterns:balance_cooperation_and_competition [Design of location-based mobile games]

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====== Balance cooperation and competition ======

The decision to cooperate or to compete can lead to different [[en:patterns:strategy|strategies]]. Players could [[en:patterns:team_forming|form teams]] in order to pursue a common goal or a common strategy. Team forming and [[en:patterns:cooperation]] could be counterbalanced by a split in [[en:patterns:reward|gains]] or a [[en:patterns:reward|penalty]].

A decision on if and for how long a [[en:patterns:cooperation|cooperation]] lasts could be a one-off decision or it could be continuously assessed. Teams or players could enter a [[en:patterns:strategy|strategic]] temporary cooperation in order to eliminate an opponent and revert to [[en:patterns:competition]] afterwards.

Player decision on whether to compete or to cooperate is more interesting when it is accompanied by different [[en:patterns:player_differentiation|player roles]].

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=== Example ===
Players with different [[en:patterns:player_differentiation|roles]] often possess different [[en:patterns:tool|game tools or game abilities]]. They might be tempted to cooperate in order to combine their abilities. The might choose to do so, for example, in order to reveal the position of a third player. In balance, this move could expose both of them to a danger or lead to a [[en:patterns:reward|penalty]].

Games that employ a [[en:patterns:bluff|bluffing pattern]] place the players in front of the dilemma of whether to trust a co-player and [[en:patterns:cooperation|cooperate]] or to distrust and [[en:patterns:competition|compete]]. [[en:rebels_vs._spies|Invisible City: Rebels Vs. Spies]] is such a game.

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=== Related heuristics ===
[[en:heuristics:heuristics#5.3]]

[[en:heuristics:heuristics#4.4]]

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