Difficulty levels in computer games. Level (computer games)

How to ensure that players can play at the same time and when they want? This is the main organizational difficulty that a developer faces when creating multiplayer games.

Prospects

We are seeing the rise of innovative multiplayer systems. In previous eras, there were several standard interaction models that could be used in games (matches, play by mail). Games today run the gamut from fully simultaneous to completely asynchronous (and various combinations thereof). Game type Dark Souls is designed primarily for a single user, but includes asynchronous (messaging and dying) and simultaneous (player entering your game world to fight with you or play cooperatively) interactions.

We are on the threshold of the golden era of multiplayer gameplay. Server costs are dropping significantly, and the era of cloud computing has arrived. All over the world there is a rapid spread of high-speed Internet and constant connection to it mobile devices. Thanks to the development of commercial models such as in-game payments, crowdfunding (popular funding of projects) and a focus on selling services, it has become possible to financially support many long-lived gaming communities. Developers are taking advantage of all these modern capabilities to create new forms of multiplayer games.

Difficulties

However, creating a multiplayer mode is difficult, and there is a high risk of failure. Teams often invest between 50% and 100% of their development budget into creating a multiplayer experience. It seems worth it. During the development of the game, the team enjoys playing it on Fridays so much that they are convinced that it is the multiplayer mode that will turn their game into the next League of Legends or Counter Strike.

The real test of the idea occurs when “live” players come into the game. After the launch of a project, in many multiplayer games, active interaction between players is observed only in the first few weeks. There are too many people at first. And then they are not enough. Players only log in sporadically and it is impossible to be sure of a good gaming experience. Active matches are slowly fading away. Traditional “rooms” for waiting for matches (developed in the 1990s) are empty forever. The multiplayer mode in this game comes to a sad end.

I believe that the problem lies in the organization of gameplay. There were those who wanted to play. However, the game's mechanisms for uniting players led to the formation of a weak community that could not support its own existence.

Are there certain elementary components in the organization of a multiplayer game that will allow us to more accurately approach the issue of inventing new systems? Simply emulating examples of multiplayer games from previous eras doesn't work well. To invent a new multiplayer mode, we must have conceptual tools that allow us to deal clearly and precisely with issues such as organization, simultaneity, and order of interactions.

Multiplayer Game Concepts

Here are some concepts I consider when designing a multiplayer game.

Interactions

Any multi-user system can be broken down into a chain of interactions. Interaction is any action of a player in relation to another player, carried out through the game system (“being in a chat”, “dealing mutual blows”, etc.). These verbs describe the interaction of players within the game. Typically, a game has a set of verbs that describe one user's actions, and another set that includes multiplayer interactions. Interactions have a wide range of characteristics, such as frequency, scale, mode, etc.

If you draw up an interaction diagram, it will look something like this:

  • The player begins interaction.
  • The player ends the interaction.
  • Waiting for an answer.
  • If there is no immediate answer, the player leaves.

Interactions are nothing new. Their structure is similar to that found in elementary game loops. However, with at least two players involved, instead of a single loop, there will be something closer to the number 8. These concepts stem from communication theory, which was adapted into game design theory by Chris Crawford in the 1980s. These are all basic ideas that all professional game designers should be familiar with.

Initial cycle:

  • Model for Player A: The player defines an action and selects a target - a player or group of players.
  • Player A Action: The player performs an action.
  • Rules: The results of the action are determined in accordance with the game logic.
  • Player A's Answer: Player A sees immediate results as soon as the game generates them.
  • Player B's answer: Player B sees immediate results as soon as the game creates them. Note that what Player B sees is likely different from what Player A sees. This naturally leads to different mental models and allows for game mechanics such as hidden information or guessing (as in Yomi).

Return cycle

  • Model for player B; his actions; rules; Player B's response: The selected players are trying to understand what happened and develop a response.
  • From this point on, the cycle “bounces” between participants like a tennis ball.

    • Interaction frequency

    High Frequency

    High frequency

    Low Frequency

    Low frequency

    What should be the frequency of interaction to maintain a sense of simultaneity for players? It may turn out that in strategy game like Civilization, the need for interaction occurs once every 5 minutes, while to create the same effect in fast-paced action games like Counter-Strike, you need to interact every 200 ms. Read more about this in the article “Cycles and Arcs”.

    In general, the higher the frequency of interaction, the more information is transferred between players. Thanks to this, relationships between players can form faster.

    As is the case with many interaction variables, players' perceptions undergo clear qualitative changes when frequency reaches extreme values. Simply by changing the interval between interactions, we get completely various types games (and associated organizational difficulties):

    • Real-time interactions: Players perceive interactions as occurring in real time when the frequency takes on values ​​such that: Player A begins and ends the interaction and sees the response before moving on to other tasks; interactions “overlap.” For example, chatting gives the feeling of real time, although it can often take more than a minute between conversations. In real-time systems, long-term data storage is less in demand, but the creation and operation of such systems are often more expensive.
    • Asynchronous interactions: The frequency at which a player can initiate and complete an interaction, and then exit the game without receiving a response, is considered asynchronous. Typically, more or less long-term storage of data is built into the system so that a player who enters the game later can receive the results of the interaction and develop responses.

    Types of interaction

    There are different types of interaction. Think of them in terms of "how" players interact. For a much more detailed description of all kinds of multiplayer interactions, see Raf Koster's presentation on social game mechanics.

    • Spatial interaction of characters: two or more characters interact with each other. A classic example is shooting at each other in the game Quake. Another example is when players accompany each other in the game Journey.
    • Spatial interaction with the outside world: players also interact through environmental objects. IN Minecraft game players build castles, which other players then explore. Here's an example with a higher frequency of interaction: in the game Bomberman, players place bombs whose explosions open passages or hurt other players.
    • Appearance and demonstration: Players show their status, connections and history through costumes, weapon or pet decorations, and home decorations.
    • Economy: players give, sell or exchange certain resources in order to transform them or transfer them to another player. This could be a simple sale of a sword to another player for game gold. Or spending mana on a strengthening spell that will increase the health of the nearest player. For additional information on this topic, see Joris Dormans's work on economic effects due to internal factors.
    • Text: The most common way to introduce language into online games is through text. The costs are usually low, and there is a rich set of tools (spam filters, stylistic conventions) to solve common problems. This interaction works best with a keyboard.
    • Voice: Thanks to the voice, additional nuances appear: emotions, age, gender and others. There are group size and bandwidth limitations here, and the content filtering capabilities are notoriously weak.
    • Body language: When we are in a shared space (on a sofa or around a table), we notice signals related to different communication channels - facial expression, posture, height and appearance. When a tall, handsome young man looks you in the eyes and asks you to sell him a rare and valuable item, you receive signals that are not found in other types of interactions. This creates rich, evolving gameplay. However, such interaction is difficult to accurately and thoroughly integrate into a game system.

    Game Community Size

    As the number of participants in the community increases, impressive qualitative changes are also observed.

    I define these groups based on the situation of interaction between the players. The actual number of players may be much higher. For example, in the game Realm of the Mad God we see examples of trade interactions between just two players, despite the total number of players exceeding thousands of people. To get a rough estimate of group size, two good questions to answer are:

    • Who does this action affect, who is it aimed at? This will give you an approximate group size that your system should support.
    • Is a larger group size necessary for this behavior to occur? If not, you can usually get away with designing multiple objects to accommodate smaller groups.

    In reality, transitions from one state to another depend on the accompanying conditions. For example, the transition to the “very large group” level of relationships can occur with as few as 60-70 players if the game has weak communication channels, which places special emphasis on the player’s ability to maintain relationships.

    It is also clear that large groups are made up of smaller groups. So as new layers are added, the relationships that characterize small groups are maintained.

    Risks arising from large group sizes: creating multiplayer games with the ability to interact with thousands of players who could theoretically be in the same space at the same time may seem tempting. However, development costs and technology costs are high and benefits are low. When groups reach a size of 150-250 players, the game goes beyond Dunbar's biologically determined limit for maintaining meaningful relationships. The end result will be that other players will simply treat all the “extra” people as some kind of signs or abstractions. A simple simulation or survey system can often produce the same basic benefits as a larger group size.

    The multiplayer online game Realm of the Mad God was convenient to play at the level of sequential actions of groups of 40-80 players and trading and intermediary interactions of 150 players. The players didn’t even notice that there weren’t thousands of other players around.

    These facts raise serious doubts about the need for development approaches that emphasize the experience of “large-scale interactions.” Just because a concept like this sounds amazing (“a million people are building a new society!”) doesn’t mean it’s a smart approach. Human communication is limited, and we can (and already do!) overcomplicate multiplayer systems.

    Scale of interaction

    How many people are affected by one interaction? The player can interact with one person or with one of the above groups.

    • The goal of player interaction is small groups: with smaller groups, the interaction feels like a conversation. There is a clear cycle here that can quickly stabilize with the help of a shared vocabulary and social norms.
    • The goal of player interaction is larger groups: in larger groups there is a greater variety of scenarios and more varied interactions that are less tied to individuals. When interacting with large groups, it is common for a participant to receive too much information as a result of a powerful response. Also when talking and chance encounters Inappropriate behavior is more common.

    Levels of interaction

    • Parallel interaction: players can behave independently. The racing car phantom rarely affects the other player. Typically the main benefit of this level is the sense of presence of other players, although this level can also lead into rare antagonistic type interactions such as leaderboards.
    • Zero-sum game (antagonistic interaction): one player's actions interfere with another player's actions or reduce their effectiveness. In Habbo Hotel, movement is an antagonistic action because placing a character on a space prevents another character from occupying it. This has been known to be used as a sabotage tactic to block players.
    • Non-zero sum game (non-antagonistic interaction): the actions of one player benefit the other. In Realm of the Mad God, shooting an enemy makes it easier for other players to kill them. Killing an enemy gives experience points to everyone nearby.

    Matchmaking

    Matchmaking is a process of bringing together players through a computer system so that they can begin to interact.

    This is a very broad definition of matching, but it is useful in settings where multiple multiplayer systems are in place. For example, in order for traditional console players to be grouped together, players from a common "waiting room" must manually join a specific game. In Realm of the Mad God, players see groups of other players on general map and are transferred to them. These are all types of “matching,” but they seem completely different to players.

    From a theoretical perspective, one can think of matchmaking as a type of wait-time interaction.

    Selection period

    This is the time you have to pair a player who wants to play co-op with another player. If the waiting period drags on for a long time (and the players have nothing to do during this time), they leave.

    Matchmaking system failure

    If a player enters the game and there are no other players online at the same time, he will become bored and leave. Players are often implicitly promised that co-op play will be fun, so if the player doesn't get it quickly, the game is judged a failure.

    The appearance of another player a minute after the first one left and the same situation repeating can bring all efforts to develop the game to naught. If one player stays in the game for a long enough time, another player will have time to enter.

    Determination of the daily failure threshold of the selection system: if the matching period is W minutes, then to avoid system failure, you need the number of active players per day to be at least the quotient of the total number of minutes per day divided by W. For example, if people are willing to wait only half a minute, you need an active number of players equal to 1440 / 0.5, that is, 2880 people. In reality, the indicators will be uneven, since we are dealing with a statistical method and the number of players increases during certain hours.

    It may seem reasonable to focus on small groups of friends, but this can leave players feeling like they never know anyone online.

    Crushing

    When the total number of players is divided by social groups, game modes, gaming skill level, play time and other indicators, the gaming population becomes fragmented. This reduces the actual number of people currently in the game available to the matchmaking system and increases the likelihood of the matchmaking system failing.

    Crushing example: Let's assume that the game has three multiplayer game modes and matchmaking is based on 10 skill levels. If the matchmaking system's daily failure rate is 2880 people (see previous example), then in the worst case you want the number of people in the game at the same time to be 3x10x2880, that is, 86,400 players.

    Fragmentation is creeping into development gradually. Someone wants to add another event or game mode. The code is free, why not? The players will certainly split into groups themselves. Players work on this issue a little, but mostly they are worried about why the game's matchmaking system is so complicated, and they leave the game with their hands down. Avoid gradual crushing and, whenever possible, group players into large, easy-to-pick-up blocks.

    Simultaneity factor

    In any game there is a certain number of active accounts and a number of players online at the same time. Players cannot play continuously and are often offline. For example, an online multiplayer game might have 100 active subscribers, but only 10 of them are online at any one time at any one time. Then the simultaneity ratio is 10 to 1.

    Some typical simultaneity ratio indicators:

    • For online multiplayer game: 10 to 1.
    • Network service for consoles(For example, Xbox Live): 25 to 1.
    • Individual console games: 150 to 1
    • Flash games: 250 to 1.
    • Simultaneous play on a shared device: 1000 to 1.

    The "active player" trap: One of the common mistakes developers make is to assume that a high number of active players will lead to strong communities. However, you really need to look at the actual number of concurrent users, since many games have extremely high concurrency rates. There could be 1,000 players in a game, but if each of them logged in for five minutes a day on a rotating schedule over the course of a week, the average number of concurrent players would be 0.5. If the matchmaking system can't handle such a tiny, unevenly spawning player population, the game dies.

    Depth of relationships

    Not all interactions between players are created equal, as personal relationships between players vary in depth. Players create complex social models of other players both in and out of the game. Simple, stereotype-based models are applied to strangers. Close friends are perceived based on complex individual models created over thousands of millions of minutes of joint activity.

    From a biological perspective, creating mental models of another person consumes a lot of resources. It is believed that we are capable of maintaining from five to nine detailed models in working order at a time, although we can remember many more models of varying degrees of elaboration. Friendship is a rare, complex phenomenon, and it takes a long time to form.

    Playing with strangers or friends has its pros and cons, but it is often highly desirable for the game to be based on friendship. Friendships can be fostered in games by consistently providing positive interactions. The higher the frequency of interactions, the faster the relationship develops.

    The depth of relationships varies widely, but two categories are often considered:

    • Playing together with strangers.
    • Play together with friends.

    Playing together with strangers

    Let's first focus on multiplayer among strangers.

    Positives:

    • Players form teams with little regard for existing social connections. This model becomes very attractive when there is a small player base initially. This often means that if there are ten people online, all ten can play together.
    • Historically, strangers, especially young men, tend to compete with each other. Means, the easy way To provide entertainment for some groups of strangers, there will be player-versus-player games that emphasize open confrontations.

    Negatives:

    • Strangers have weak connections with each other and will not unite on their own for joint action.
    • Since players are competitive, skill level becomes important. Because of this, developers are focusing their efforts on separating the newbies from the experts and splitting up the total number of players.
    • In conditions clearly competitive game Not all players are comfortable. Some players prefer to cooperate. Others peacefully compete for position among the players, managing social relationships. Such actions are difficult to carry out in games designed for unrelated people.

    Playing together with friends

    Positives:

    • Players will likely schedule time to play together.
    • Activities that require a lot of communication and joint action are considered enjoyable.
    • It is more likely that there will be mutual assistance between players with different skill levels.
    • A competitive style of play is still possible.

    Negatives:

    • Existing social groups rarely share an interest in a particular game.
    • Often members of established social groups do not have a good match in their overall playing time.
    • Friends groups are usually small in size. Interested players usually have five to nine close friends. There may simply be more acquaintances, but in practice, relationships with them will develop more like with strangers. If you have 10 friends, and the concurrency ratio in this service is 25 to 1, then in fact you will never be online with them at the same time.

    Tools for organizing multiplayer game processes

    So far I've only talked about the concepts behind multiplayer games. We will now examine some common models that allow us to put this into practice. There are three main models:

    • Match-based games.
    • Games based on "rooms".
    • Asynchronous games.

    Techniques in match-based games

    IN board games in sports, matches based on any event have been known for a long time, which is why multiplayer computer games often built from matches that start and end at specific times or under specific conditions.

    Matches are standard organizational models and are used in many console and online computer games. There are many problems with them. To successfully enter the game, full team players must be assembled in a very short period of time during which the selection of players takes place. If you don't make it in time, you'll have to wait for the next match to start. If the match duration is longer than the match waiting time, you will quit. Taking into account the simultaneity rates, fragmentation of players and the short period of time for selecting players, it is not surprising that among online projects built using such a system, only the most popular survive.

    Scheduled events

    Ask people to meet at a specific time. This way their playing time will coincide. It will be difficult for some players to fit into the schedule. The number of participants will be small, but those who do come will most likely find companions to play with. An example of a planned event in an online multiplayer game is a special boss fight on Halloween.

    The time for events can be set by the developers or players themselves. Players planning events leads to stronger social connections in the game. An example of such an event would be getting together for an evening board game. The downside here is that organizing an event is difficult (as anyone who has tried to get more than six people together will attest). This often requires leadership or persistence, and low-interest players often lack this.

    Events held with a certain frequency

    If the event is held continuously, people will develop the habit of being in a certain place at a certain time. This will make it easier for players to plan their visit to the event, and they will certainly be able to come at the agreed time without fear of discrepancies with their plans. A stable clan game on Wednesday evenings is an example of an event held with a certain frequency.

    Short matches

    If matches are short enough (two minutes? 30 seconds?), then players who were left out of the current match will wait less time than matchmaking would have taken, and will therefore still be in the game when the next match starts. This approach is common in online word games, but the practice can easily be transferred to other projects.

    Watching the match while waiting

    If you can keep players entertained by letting them watch the game progress, you can increase your team selection time. This is present in games like Counter Strike (when entering the game and after death). Chatting is often added to this as it's a fun downtime activity that also helps build relationships.

    Matches against computer characters while waiting

    Instead of making players wait in a queue where nothing happens, send them straight into a match against computer characters (bots).

    Setting up bots to act like humans is often like passing the tricky Turing test. A ban on communication between players and a very limited set of actions for self-expression will help. If players find out about this, they will stop trusting the game and will wonder if all the opponents are bots.

    Machine Interdependence

    Design tasks that require the presence of a large number of people to successfully complete. Anyone who doesn’t come will let the group down: this is how social pressure forces them to participate in the event. To do this, you can directly distribute roles or limit resources so that players cannot cope with complex tasks on their own.

    Tricks for Room-Based Games

    Ultimately, with a match-centric approach, games with smaller audiences often face overwhelming logistical challenges. A favorite replacement for match games are room-based games. Instead of having a specific start and end time like matches, room games create a permanent play area that players can join (and leave) during the game.

    A “room” has a maximum number of “slots,” or seats for players. When a "room" is full, no more players can join it. This significantly reduces the load on the matchmaking system. You just need to find a “room” with empty slots and place players there.

    The downside of “rooms” is that it is impossible to play some games in them. Since there is obviously no time for group gatherings, most traditional sports are disappearing. In games where progression is unidirectional, players entering the game at different stages receive different amounts of experience. You have to be creative.

    A game like Journey is primarily a game with “rooms” that you can move in and out of as you play. There were two slots available, and as long as there were two players in the game at the same time, it was possible to play cooperatively.

    Most online multiplayer games are games with very large "rooms".

    Come in and out at any time

    One of the reasons why "rooms" provide such a better organization of processes than a strict match system is the freedom to enter and leave at any time. Since it is extremely unlikely that all players will leave at the same time, especially in games where parallel interactions predominate, soon after one person leaves another will appear, and the average number of players in the "room" will remain constant.

    Games that focus only on matches are usually rare, since many popular games treat an individual server as a “room”, and match-related elements are superimposed on a dynamically changing number of players who freely drop in and out of the game.

    Variable number of dimensions

    Create and delete “rooms” so that they accommodate the maximum number of simultaneous players. If the maximum capacity of a “room” is N players, then create new “rooms” so that their number is equal to the number of players currently divided by N. That is, if there are ten people online, and the standard size of a “room” is is designed for four players, make sure there are three "rooms" available.

    To close a "room", simply wait until it is empty due to players exiting it, or unload them from it using an in-game event designed to clear the "instance". When there is no one left in the “room”, delete it. By assigning a priority to “rooms,” you can fill “rooms” with a high priority first, and “rooms” with a low priority can be closed. As a result, almost all “rooms” will be constantly filled with players, and only the “remaining players” will be alone.

    We used this method when creating world pieces in Realm of the Mad God. Typically, the feeling of a full world remained even when the number of players changed noticeably.

    Switching to single-player mode by default in "rooms" with one player

    Room games have a "remaining player" problem. The stated maximum capacity of a “room” is rarely filled evenly with players. If the capacity of the "room" is two, and there are three people online, then one player will be alone in the newly created "room".

    To resolve this problem, the player must be able to walk through the game, designed for one user, until another player gets into this “room”.

    Retail games like Dark Souls are expected to have very low concurrency levels, so they are played primarily as single-player games (with the occasional asynchronous phantom insert). In this case, the system for selecting people who are simultaneously in the game is an invisible, parallel interaction that takes place without interrupting the progress of the game in single-player mode. Since it rarely happens that the second player ends up in in the right place at the right time, the game treats this as a special case. (Note since game Dark Souls is pitched as a single-player game, with multiplayer matchmaking based on the voluntary use of summoning stones. The summoning stone indicates that the selection was successful, and the player must confirm his consent. If you mix single-player and multiplayer modes, keep your original promises.)

    Asynchronous techniques

    Games by mail

    The player performs an action, and then the game shows that it will be a very long time before the other player responds. About the next day, the second player sees the actions of the first and responds to them. All this can last for days.

    A modern example of this technique is word game Words with Friends, but in general this method was known decades, if not centuries ago (if you count playing board games by mail). This way of playing is based on close contacts and goes well with written communication, for example, email or in instant messages. It is very convenient to play by mail for friends.

    The disadvantage of this method is that players wait tensely for an answer. One move may not be enough at all, and then waiting for a response for several days leads to a clear decrease in interest in the game. Additionally, if players are too fragmented into groups, the matchmaking system will become difficult, but setting a long waiting period right away will ensure that players won't worry too much about the system working (they might just not like it).

    Another disadvantage of such turn based games is that the lack of response from one player can interfere with the play of another.

    Playing many games by mail

    One solution to the problem would be to play a lot of games by mail. If the player’s response time is T days, and the desired average waiting time for a response is W days, then the optimal number of simultaneous games will be equal to the partial T/W. (So ​​if you want one game to launch every hour and the response time is 24 hours, then you need to have 24 games available in total.)

    The added benefit of all this is that the player's response time is only half random. Operating according to a voluntary reinforcement schedule, this can lead to a very long stay in the game.

    The disadvantage of this method is that in order to reduce the waiting time, the player is required to play many games, and motivating players to do this is a difficult task. The solution could be automatic selection of games.

    Invitations

    You can encourage active players to invite new people to the game. These people will often have strong relationships with players, so they could theoretically become a source of new players.

    Matches with friends

    Because asynchronous multiplayer games rely heavily on players' subsequent return, they are often designed to take advantage of players' social connections outside of the game as additional leverage. If you can get people to invite friends into the game or play matches with them (like Farmville), the lack of feedback will be seen as a threat to existing relationships. The threat of appearing rude or uncaring to someone close to you is often enough to encourage a return to the game.

    But systems that jeopardize existing relationships can alienate players. People who don't spend a lot of time playing games tend to be irritated by such mechanical interactions. When it comes to human relationships, intention and sincerity are important.

    Visits

    When developing a game, you can create some kind of stable formation (a city, for example), which other players can enter regardless of whether you are in the game or not.

    IN game Clash of Clans such a mechanism is used when attacking your city. The city is a stable entity, which later acts as a platform for conquest by other players.

    Visits usually amount to simple exchanges of resources, despite the possibility of becoming something more interesting. Difficulties arise in situations where several people enter the city at the same time, and the solution would be to create different dimensions.

    Jason Rohrer's The Castle Doctrine uses a unique concept: visits are treated as blocking interactions. This creates the possibility of constant changes in the place visited. You can imagine more complex versions of the game of hot chairs as a basis for innovation.

    Phantoms

    Record players' actions and then play them back next to the player in the same environment. This works especially well in parallel interactions such as racing. It can also work with rare non-zero-sum interactions like we see in the time-rewind games Cursor 10 and Super Time Force. Phantoms provide a sense of the presence of other players, but remove the time constraints inherent in matchmaking.

    The downside to this is that phantoms usually don't work well with locking or zero-sum interactions. Another disadvantage is that if the phantom and environment data are out of sync, the phantom data becomes invalid. The effects of this can be mitigated by either skipping blocked actions or returning control to the AI, which will handle exceptions.

    More abstractly, phantoms are simply records of player data that can be played back when activated by any event. They can be triggered at the start of a race, when the player appears on screen, or when the player uses a special amulet to summon an ally.

    This paper covered a lot of basics (and it's still incomplete!), but I'll end with a few quick recommendations.

    • Do not split the number of players into groups for the selection system. Beware of matching system failure due to high simultaneity rate.
    • Where possible, use room-based rather than match-based approaches.
    • Long-term data storage is helpful because it makes asynchronous interactions possible.
    • Relationships help keep people in the game. Try to develop them wherever possible.
    • Prototype early and address low player density issues at this stage.

    Conclusion

    I continue to be excited about new multiplayer games. When in this work I consider some basic concepts multiplayer games and theoretical discoveries made in game theory thanks to the work of Joris Dormans on internal economic effects, unexplored space for finding new game forms seems immense. Do you want to leave your mark on modern world- create the ultimate multiplayer game. Find a solution to those problems of organizing game processes that interfere cooperative game, and create a game that spreads quickly and easily among people.

    Do games need difficulty levels? In my opinion, the answer to this question is obvious, of course yes. The difficulty level can greatly change the mechanics of the game, thereby making the process more interesting. Many people believe that modern games have become more casual and pose virtually no difficulties in completing them. Personally, I only half agree with this statement. Modern games have in many ways become more convenient to control, the heroes usually have a lot of possibilities, and there are much more hints, because of the little things, it has become more comfortable to play, and, accordingly, easier. And yet, many projects are really very easy to complete, and are very different from the “old school” games. But I would still divide modern games into two camps, those where there is a difficulty level and those where there is none at all.


    I’ll start with those games where there is no difficulty level. And there are quite a few of them, I’ll give a few examples: the Assassin’s creed game franchise, grand theft auto Sleeping dogs and many other projects. And it seems to me that this is one of the strongest drawbacks of these games, since the difficulty that the developers made is too easy for some, but for others, on the contrary, it may seem difficult. Why couldn’t it be possible to make a banal difficulty level that would simply change the damage of enemies, for example, but no, the developers either don’t want to waste time on this, or they simply think that their difficulty balance is optimal.

    But as I already wrote, adding higher complexity can only maintain interest in the game, make it more intense and dynamic in its passage. Or, on the contrary, make the game easier and simpler. It’s a shame that such popular and important projects neglect such a seemingly small but very important feature of the game mechanics. I would also like to add that difficulty can add realism to the game, because it looks a little funny when main character has trouble defeating the antagonist, but can easily kill the entire city.



    Now there are more games where there is a level of complexity, and here the following problems appear. And these problems lie in balance. A game in which there is high complexity should give the player the opportunity for tactics and, preferably, freedom of action in a given situation. Let me explain what I mean. For example Call game of duty, at a high difficulty level the gameplay turns into terrible discomfort. The game completely lacks freedom of movement, and on “hard” huge crowds of enemies run towards the player and at the same time inflict severe damage, and all the player can do is quickly shoot crowds of bots. There is zero gameplay, no variability, this complexity does not bring interest, but only irritation from the stupid level design and the impossibility of at least some tactical maneuvers.


    A good example"correct" complexity can be called Far cry 3. It’s really interesting to play on hard, the game has good stealth, freedom of action, choice of tactics, and the like. The player can approach the enemy from almost any direction, he can kill everyone quietly, or he can prepare thoroughly for the mission, make a lot of first aid kits, take large-caliber weapons and arrange a massacre. This is gameplay at a high level of difficulty. Far cry is a game in open world, which usually always has more possibilities than in linear games, but the same Crysis or Wolfenstein, at least a little, make the gameplay more variable.

    I would also like to add a little about the most poorly balanced high difficulty level that I have ever seen in modern games. It's about the game Hitman absolution. The developers managed to complicate the game not only by the high level of reaction of enemies, but also by the number of them on the map. I have never seen anything more stupid than this, the game turns into “hell”, and simply pushes the player to start a massacre, because it is simply impossible to pass through stealth, there are ten enemies on every square meter. For a stealth action game, difficulty is very important, since in general most players who love this genre prefer difficulty. But you can’t do it this way; it would be better to follow the example of Splinter cell blacklist. The enemies are sensitive, they shoot painfully, but you can bypass them, deceive them, and so on.


    In general, to summarize, I would like to say that the level of difficulty is simply a necessary thing in games. Especially in open-world games, where player freedom is inherently emphasized. The most ideal option is when the player can adjust the difficulty for himself, but I personally have seen such advanced difficulty settings a couple of times in games. Although, considering that it’s 2015, this is how it should be, because every person is individual. But unfortunately, developers pay little attention to this aspect, and if they do, it often turns out clumsily and unbalanced. I hope that in future projects we will only see progress regarding this point.

    How often, when entering a forum or a game chat, did you feel like you were in another world, where people speak some wildly strange language? You may have heard something like this:

    • Guys, please buy me a fly, otherwise I don’t have enough gold for an elephant.
    • It's so bad, you can't stand him, he's covered in art, he's a slif!
    • Yesterday in 5 battlegrounds I was never taken out.
    • These niibazza zerg noops have collected.
    • Blah... I aggroed a mob and they dumped me.
    • The dagger with ragna dropped.
    • Fuck the zerg, we held the teleport and killed them there for two hours.
    • In short, I went to download the sub.
    • Scribe Ricky ska... Host of the baths! feeder!

    How you are perceived by experienced gamers depends on how masterfully you speak gaming language and understand gaming concepts and abbreviations. Newbie who doesn't know basics terms from online games, is unlikely to be respected in the gaming community.

    This page contains most of the terms of online games that will help noobs become in the ass with your own in the gaming world, make new friends and quickly get used to any MMO game!

    These terms are initially invented either by game developers, or - more often - come out of the depths of the gaming communities themselves. Players do not have enough time to correspond during the game, and therefore, they shorten many words ( graph, quality, loka, acc, alt, go), and also come up with ways to bypass all kinds of mat filters in games ( danuna, stsukonakh, blah, psholnakh, yopta). All these words quickly spread across forums, move from game to game and eventually become common expressions, which, due to their brevity, capacity and expressiveness, acquire the character of a meme (a word or phrase common on the Internet).

    Given below gamer's dictionary will help you understand all the most common concepts that are not always obvious and can often contradict each other.

    Ability / ability / ability– a character’s skill, spell, or ability.

    Aggro– cause aggression in the mob, provoke it to attack itself. Tanks usually aggro, preventing the mob from aggroing other team members.

    Agro / aggro / agry- aggressive mobs that attack the character first. In some RPGs, the aggressors are so aggressive that they can attack each other (from the English Aggression).

    Addon- addition to the game, for example, adding new levels, weapons, gear, etc.

    Adds- 1) mobs that suddenly attack the player when he is busy fighting with other mobs. 2) mobs that make up the boss’s “retinue”.

    Ai / Ai- the same as AI.

    Account– a set of personal data of a person (gender, age, first name, last name, password, etc.), often called account, with the help of which he logs into the site or game.

    Alto(from alternative character) - an additional character in relation to the main one (charm). Altos are usually created out of curiosity - when there is a desire to play with another class. Sometimes the new class turns out to be more interesting than the old one, and then the first character becomes the alto.

    Antag- he's the same nouklan, he is a soloist, a loner, a character without a clan.

    AoE(from the English. Area of ​​Effect Damage) - carpet bombing, a magic spell that strikes an entire area. Accordingly, all targets located in this area receive damage.

    Up– reaching the next level.

    Apt- first aid kit, used in MMO games to increase the level health(life points).

    Arcade– a simplified version of the simulator. They usually have primitive physics and graphics, often two-dimensional. These are the same racing simulators, spaceships etc., only in a simplified form.

    Arm / armor / armor- armor, armor.

    Arch / archer / archer– a character sharpened to wield a bow or specialize in ranged combat.

    Assist- attack of one target simultaneously by several players. Typically used to remove the most strong enemies - tanks And bosses.

    Auk- auction; an alternative to the in-game store in many MMORPGs, where you can buy various goods auctioned by players.

    Afk– a status indicating the absence of a player in place while his game character is in the game.

    Bug- any error in the game or any program. Usually occurs due to incompleteness, lack of debugging of the project, as well as errors made by the developers. Bugs, as a rule, do not particularly interfere with the gameplay, and sometimes even bring considerable benefits to cunning players who use gaps in the game to gain various advantages.

    Bagouser- a player who uses game bugs in order to obtain any advantages (bug - error, use - to use).

    Bind– binding a specific item to a specific player when equipped. Once bound, an item cannot be unlinked (transferred or sold to another player).
    .
    Ban- temporary or lifelong excommunication of the player from the game by the administration. The reason for a ban can be any violation of the rules: rudeness, botanical farming, cheating etc.

    Bath- aka ban, excommunication from the game by the administration of a person who has violated the rules of the game.

    Buff / Buff / buffing– a term meaning a temporary improvement in certain characteristics of a game character or game items. You can buff yourself or other players.

    Buffer- a character who can cast buffs.

    BBMMOG / BBMMOG(from the English Browser Based Massively Multiplayer Online Game) - browser-based massively multiplayer online game. A type of browser characterized by a huge number of interacting players.

    Bers – 1) berserk(berserker), fierce warrior; 2) bers, two axes used simultaneously; 3) a weapon that takes away a character’s health, but in return increases attack performance; 4) a spell cast on mobs with the aim of inciting them towards each other.

    Bizha– costume jewelry: rings, earrings, necklaces, etc. As a rule, these items have magical properties, but sometimes there is also purely decorative jewelry that does not add anything to the Persian.

    Build- sharpening a character for a specific purpose. In PvP builds, characters are sharpened under removal of spells, and in PvE builds - under farming mobs.

    Blah- used in online games where there is an “anti-mat” (blah... there are a lot of mobs here!).

    Boss- a particularly strong monster in the location. Usually this is a separate mob with artificial intelligence, having its own name and retinue, specially armed and dressed. You can get a particularly valuable one from bosses gear.

    Bot- a program prohibited in any normal game that simulates the player’s actions. Used by smart-ass gamers for automation pharming and speeding up character leveling.

    Browser game / browser game– an online game that runs directly in the browser. Most often, these are small casual flash games, although browser-based games sometimes include serious MMORPGs, the number of players in which amounts to millions. Browsers are often opposed to client games, although many browser-based MMOGs also require installation client.

    Wipe- a term meaning the death of the entire group during an attempt take out the boss. Occurs at a stalemate, usually at the end instance or any mission, and therefore causes a storm of negative emotions.

    Oneshot- One hit kill.

    Var / Vartag(from the English war target) - a member of an enemy clan/guild.

    Vakha- online game Warhammer Online.

    Vendor– mob-trader.

    Paddle- in shooters, a rifle with an optical sight.

    WoW / Vovka / WoW- online game World of Warcraft.

    Takeaway- murder.

    Hyde– a guide containing information about the passage of the game, secrets and methods of achieving one or another benefit in the game.

    Gank- a sudden, unexpected attack.

    Gank- killing players of low level or noticeably weakened in battle with mobs.

    Guards- mobs that make up the retinue boss(from the English Guards - security, defenders, guards).

    GvG / GvG(from the English Guild versus Guild) - guild versus guild, a game mode indicating battles between alliances, races or factions.

    Gameplay– gameplay, as well as characteristics of playability, interestingness, and originality of the game as a whole.

    Gilda- it is also a guild, a permanent association of players based on linguistic, geographical and other characteristics.

    Gimp- an illiterate or simply useless character in PvP. (from the English gimp - cripple).

    GM/GM(from the English game master) - game master or game administrator.

    Go / Go- go, move.

    Gold– (from the English Gold) - gold, the game currency in many MMORPGs, purchased for real money or mined in the game.

    Goldseller- a player illegally engaged in trading game currency for real.

    Count- graphics or appearance of the game.

    Graphodrocher- a person for whom the main advantage of any game is not gameplay(gameplay), and graph(game appearance).

    Grind– the most nerdy type of pumping or farming. Grinding means destroying the same mobs in the same place.

    GS / GS(from the English game sage) - Game Sage, a player who provides voluntary assistance to the project, as well as helping noobs get used to the game.

    Gusli- tank tracks, a frequently used word in tank MMOGs. Sound off- knock down the caterpillar.

    GFSH/shitfreeshard- pirated free server.

    Damage– damage caused by one character to another.

    Damager– a character capable of inflicting the most significant damage. Damagers can be ranged or melee.

    Dungeon- a separate location inhabited mobs And bosses or instance, intended for team play.

    Dangin- the same as instance.

    DD/DD(from the English damage dealer) is a character class whose main specialization is to deal damage.

    Debuff / De-buff– a negative spell cast on a monster or another player’s character with the goal of weakening, causing damage, or simply mocking.

    Donate- upload to the game real.

    Donator– a person who often makes purchases in a game store for real. Almost everything depends on donors gaming industry Internet. Honor and praise to them!

    DoT, DoT(from English Damage over time) - view debuff, this includes all kinds of poisons that cause damage over a certain period of time.

    DPS / DPS– no, this is not the highway patrol service. DPS is a characteristic that indicates the approximate amount of damage that a character is capable of inflicting per unit of time (from the English damage per second).

    Drop– aka loot, loot obtained from defeated bosses or smaller mobs, and also – less often – from defeated players.

    Dru / drul- Druid, a character class in some MMORPGs.

    Dupe- cloning game items using a clever dishonest method. Usually punishable bathhouse.

    Eve– online space game EVE Online.

    Nerd/wanker- a person who practically endlessly plays any one game or “pushes” certain functions of the game, becoming a virtuoso at them. Often goes for valuables loot to the same thing boss, in the hope of knocking out exactly what you need. Due to its frequent use, the term has lost its negative connotation and is often used by the players themselves in relation to each other.

    Sharpen- improve the characteristics of an item.

    CBT– closed beta test.

    Zerg rush- a planned attack by a large crowd, such as the siege of an enemy castle.

    Ii- artificial intelligence. In games it is often called mobs- characters controlled by a computer program.

    Imba(from the English imbalance) - some incredibly cool weapon or character characteristics that can upset the game balance.

    IMHO– a common word meaning “my personal opinion.”

    Instance / insta- a dungeon or other space that has its own rules and is densely populated by hostile pugs.

    k/kilo– one thousand, 1000. They say: I knocked out 2k coins for myself yesterday.

    kk/kilo kilo– million, 1000000

    kkk– billion, 1000000000

    Casual game– a type of computer games, often called mini-games. In contrast to MMO games, casual games are short, very simple and most often single-player. These include all kinds tic-tac-toe, shooting games, Tetris etc.

    Kiting- battle tactics in which enemy mobs constantly kept at a distance, attacking remotely (from the English kite - paper kite).

    Cap- most high level anything in the game. For example, lvlcap- the highest level reached by the player.

    Carebir(eng. carebear) - almost the exact opposite nerd, a player who plays solely for pleasure and does not pursue levels, stats, skills etc. They usually swing for a very long time, causing ridicule from nerds.

    Cast– a word that means casting a spell on a game character. Cast- means to cast.

    Kach– the process of pumping (development) of a game character, as well as increasing the characteristics of cars, armor, weapons, pets, etc.

    Quest- a task usually received from an NPC, or a mission for which completion there is a reward.

    Camper - rat or an experienced player who knows everything whining on locations and preferring to hide, shoot from behind cover (from the English camper - resting).

    Class- the character’s specialization, in accordance with which he develops. A term common in most RPGs. The most common classes are: mage, warrior, priest or healer.

    Client game – type of online games, which requires installing a special program on your computer called client. Unlike browsers, client games usually have more sophisticated graphics and broader gameplay capabilities, but are very demanding on computer resources.

    Korean Random– a pseudo-random event that is not subject to calculation, which cannot be calculated and predicted by any means. Common to all Korean MMORPGs.

    Kerchief- the popular shooter Counter Strike.

    Contra- the same as Klondike.

    Crab- a crooked player.

    Crafting- the process of creating any objects directly by the game character himself. Craft- means to engage in craft, namely, to produce weapons or some things.

    Crete / Crit(from English critical hit) – critical hit, capable of being decisive in battle.

    Rat- a character who rats(hides around corners, sits in ambush, attacks on the sly). A professional feature of a sniper, as well as a fighting style in some online shooters.

    Cooldown/CD- the period of time between using a skill/spell/item. A characteristic indicating the frequency of strikes in battle (eng. Cooldown - literally “cooling”).

    Lag / Lag– problems with network connection during gameplay. The cause of lags may be the Internet connection itself, or a computer mismatch system requirements games, as well as problems in the game itself. They often say it's a game lies, freezes.

    Lagger- a player with a slow or poor-quality Internet connection, which is why he moves with “freezes”, which usually annoys other players (from the English lag - delay).

    Lacker- lucky, successful player (from the English luck - luck).

    Level / lvl- level in the game

    Ruler / La2– Korean online game Lineage-2.

    Lock– he is also a warlock, a warlock in some MMORPGs (from the English warlock).

    Location / loka / location– separate area game world.

    Lol / Lol(from English laughing out loud) – “laughing out loud”, a meme that denotes everything funny.

    Lotro– online game Lord of the Rings Online.

    Bow / onion– a character armed with a bow and specializing in ranged combat.

    Loot- the same as drop.

    Miner– a miner, a character specializing in the extraction of minerals (from the English miner: miner).

    Mana/MP/MP(from the English Mana Points) - magical energy or points required to use spells and skills.

    Mount- a mount or - more often - some unknown fucking shit, riding on which you can move around the game world much faster or even fly.

    Miles / Milishnik- a mob that specializes in melee combat.

    MMO- the same as MMOG.

    MMOG / MMOG(from the English Massively Multiplayer Online Game) - massively multiplayer online game. This abbreviation does not mean any web games, but only those that have or are aimed at high attendance (usually many thousands, hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of players). Moreover, without high traffic, these projects cannot exist at all, because their functioning requires large number players interacting with each other.

    MMORPG / MMORPG(from the English Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. These are games with a deep plot, as a rule, the process of which is based on the development of one or several characters, pumping up gaming abilities, the constant accumulation of various points, as well as game gear, weapons, spells, etc. In this case, the player himself chooses which characteristics to develop first.

    MMORTS / MMORTS(from the English Massively multiplayer online real time strategy) - massively multiplayer online strategy in real time. This is a type of online game that combines a large number of players in one game world and real-time strategy gameplay.

    MMOTPS / MMOTPS– massively multiplayer online third-person shooter.

    MMOFPS / MMOFPS(from the English Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter) - massively multiplayer online first-person shooter. This is a type of online game that combines the gameplay of a first-person shooter and a certain number of players on each map (usually no more than sixteen).

    Mob / Mob– a character with or without artificial intelligence, controlled by a computer. This includes monsters, as well as characters that help players or distribute quests.

    Cartoon- the same as alto.

    Multiclass- a term denoting a character who can effectively fill two or more roles in a game.

    Mutik- mutant.

    Fly- a grenade launcher or (more often) a sniper rifle. The name apparently comes from the specific sound it makes when firing.

    Nekr- Necromancer, a character class in many MMORPGs.

    Unwritten- the same as NPC.

    Nerf(English nerf) - deterioration of something in the updated version of the game. For example, nerf the class- make it weaker in the next patch.

    NPC / NPC / NPC / NPC(from the English Non-Player Character) – a variety moba, denoting a resident of the game world. These are usually merchants, guards, blacksmiths, witches, etc., from whom you can take quests, make purchases, orders, etc.

    Noob(from the English noob, which, in turn, comes from newbie) - aka teapot, greenhorn, yellowthroat. New to any game. An offensive characteristic for lamers, accustomed to pretending that they guru, or trying to be considered “one of our own”.

    Noob zone / noob zone– also known as a nuboincubator, a location for low-level players.

    Nychka– places in a location where you can hide from enemies or set up an ambush.

    MBT– open beta test.

    Online game– a computer game that uses an uninterrupted Internet connection. Thanks to this advantage, thousands of players from different cities and countries can play one online game simultaneously.

    Offline game- computer or video game of the classic type. These are the same games that are still sold on CD and do not require a constant Internet connection. Offline games are often called single-player games, although many of them implement network mode(which, however, almost no one ever uses). Unlike online games, have (not always) a more sophisticated graph, and that’s where their advantages end.

    Pavner / povner– a good, experienced MMORPG player. Pavnit– to win, to kill the enemy (from the English power, “power, strength”).

    Pack- tied herd mobs, an attack on any of which will immediately turn the entire herd against you.

    Locomotive- a character who locomotive(runs around, gathering a large crowd of mobs behind him, ensuring they are closely crowded, and then destroys them with the help of AoE). The most cunning smart players use steam locomotives in order to kill other players by dropping this crowd of mobs on them.

    Party- a group of characters in a game united to achieve a goal.

    PvE / PvE(from the English Player versus Environment) - a player against the environment. Game mode, meaning the confrontation between the player and the environment. Unlike PvP, players' opponents are not other players, but mobs(computer characters with artificial intelligence).

    PvMP / PvMP(from the English Player versus Monster Player) - a player against a player who plays as a monster. An exotic game mode that involves the reincarnation or relocation of one of the players into moba.

    PvP / PvP(from the English Player versus Player) - player against player. This is a game mode that involves active interaction and confrontation between players.

    PvPvE / PvPvE(from the English Player versus Player versus Environment) - a player against a player and against the environment. This is a game mode that involves player versus player competition with the possibility of intervention by a third party, usually a mob. Available, in particular, in the game Juggernaut.

    Persian- the same as char.

    Pet– pet, animal, more often backcutter or some magic crap, accompanying the character and helping him in battles, as well as in peaceful affairs, but at the same time in need of care, feeding, pumping, etc.

    Pickup artist- a player who gathers a group for some purpose, using the poke method for this.

    PC/PK(from the English Player Killer) - an inadequate or antisocial type who causes chaos in the game, kills other players on the sly, and does not respect the concepts of the majority.

    PM– internal mail or a place for exchanging personal messages in the game. They say: “write me a PM.”

    Priest/priest- a character who specializes in healing others, usually a healer, priest.

    PuG / PuG(Pickup Group) - a group consisting of players randomly selected pick-up artist.

    Bullet, shoot- smart-ass attack tank on stupid moba ineffective ranged weapons to lure the latter into an unequal battle.

    Pooh– a cannon or any small arms in general. They say: sharpen (upgrade) the fluff.

    Push(from English push) - attack, push.

    Random- an action that occurs randomly. They say: random action.

    Rar(from English rare) - especially rare and valuable loot, with an extremely low probability of falling out.

    Rush– a quick open attack on any object. Rush- means to fight openly in opposition to ratting(from English to rush - to hurry).

    RvR / RvR(from the English Realm versus Realm) - group against group. A game mode where one group of players competes against another group of players.

    Real– 1) real (non-game) money; 2) real (non-virtual) world. They say: What are you doing in real life? Did you buy the sword for real or just drop it?

    Realist- a player who joins the game real.

    Raid– a trip that is carried out for the purpose of leveling up a character, obtaining game items, etc. They say: go on a raid for valuable loot.

    Range– radius of destruction of the target in the game.

    Res- recovery. Result- means to be resurrected (from the English Resurrect). A common occurrence in all online games, however real world no one succeeded except Jesus Christ.

    Res / Resurrect(from the English resurrect) - the revival (usually by another player) of a dead Persian at the place of death.

    Respawn(from the English respawn) - the same as repop.

    Respawn– restoration or resumption of something in the game.

    Res- resources in RTS and RPG.

    RPG / RPG(from the English Role-Playing Game) - role play. Many elements of traditional RPGs are borrowed from tabletop gameplay. card games. The most famous classic example of a game of this genre is "Diablo".

    Sub/Subclass(from the English subclass) - an additional class in relation to the main one of the Persian.

    Support– a special service that a player can contact to solve any problems in the game. (from the English Support - support)

    Seller- a character engaged in trade.

    Set- clothes/armor that can be sharpen. And also the designation of a complete set of armor in an MMORPG (full set).

    Ska / stsuko (-nah)- “bitch.” A term of abuse, often used to refer to cheaters, flooders, rats etc.).

    Squad- a small tactical group of people united by a common goal. For example, in the game BUBG.

    Skills(almost always written with one “l”) - certain player skills in a particular game (from the English skill - mastery). skill middle - weak player, high skill - strong player. They say: upgrade your skills,

    Drain- depending on the context, surrender, loss, or vice versa, victory. Merge- lose. Merge- kill.

    Match- sniper, sniper rifle in many shooters.

    Spot(from the English spot) - a point in a location where the player moves using a portal and other means of teleportation.

    Stan / Stun is a magical effect popular in many MMORPGs that forces a character or monster to remain inactive for some time, without reacting in any way to the actions of the enemy.

    Stat- a characteristic of something in the game. They say: pump up stats.

    Stats, stats- the main characteristics of a character in an MMORPG. This includes damage, dodge, strength, accuracy, etc.

    Summon, summon(from English summon) - call (capture) peta or mount for the purpose of taming it and further training it.

    Tank / Tank– a character with a high level of health and defense, taking on the strongest mobs during the passage instances and all kinds of raids. Bye tank tanks, other players damage these mobs.

    Twink– an additional character from an MMORPG for which the player plays for less time than the main character in order to find out his class or simply upgrade the second hero. Unlike viola(alternative character), twinks are created for a specific task, they are dressed in the best equipment available for their level, equipped with the best buffs and other bonuses. Twink usually their own alts, or acquaintances who have recently come to the game.

    Trade– barter in games (you tell me - I tell you), the process of trade or exchange.

    Thrash(from English Trash) - small mobs, living in large numbers in dungeons and dark forests. Play the role of "back-up dancer" bosses, are taken out, but the reward for killing them is usually scanty.

    Urka- Orc (a race invented by John Tolkien and now found in many MMORPGs).

    Fan / Fun- aka pruha, a word meaning fun and a feeling of pleasure in games. They say: the fan went, the suit was flooded!

    Farm– process of active destruction mobs in the game. Farm(repeat the same actions to destroy enemies) love most nerds.

    Feeder- player, often merging from the game for a reason noobs or something else.

    Fix- fixing something. Fix- means to eliminate breakdowns or malfunctions.

    Flood– nonsense that is not related to the given topic, usually found in chat rooms and forums.

    Frag(from the English frag) - a point for killing an enemy.

    Free / Free– means free. Friendly items are called items in the game that are worthless and are usually considered scammers.

    Highlevel – highest level character in the game (from the English high level - at the highest level).

    Heal– treatment, recovery or restoration of a character in the game.

    Heeler- a healer, often a priest, a character who specializes in treating other players. Particularly popular with female players.

    HP / HP(from English Heal Points) - health points (popularly called health).

    HPS- an analogue of DPS for healers, the amount of healed health per unit of time.

    Cock guy - computer console XBox.

    Char(from the English Character) - he is a Persian, a game character.

    Cheat/cheat code(from the English Cheat code) - aka hack, a script that can be introduced into a computer game to change its properties. For example, in order to pass through walls, become invisible, gain endless health, endless ammo etc. In all adequate games, cheating is punishable bathhouse.

    Cheater / cheater- a dishonest player who uses cheats(cheating codes that can be introduced into the game to change its properties in order to gain advantages).

    Shmot– any items in the game (clothes, armor, shoes, gloves, masks, etc.).

    Shop- game store. Shop- means to buy.

    Event / event- an event held by the administration of the game, as a rule, it is a game organized according to special rules, in which an additional game goal, meaningless outside the event.

    Expa / exp / XP(from the English Experience Points) - experience gained by the character during the gameplay.

    Exploit– a bug or error in the game that gives the player unplanned advantages.

    Emka- American assault rifle M-16, found in almost all shooters. As a rule, it causes hostility and persistent disgust among wankers Kalash.

    Where most of the games took place. Players started at the bottom (level 1) and had to work their way through each level (which became increasingly difficult) until they reached the top, gaining freedom.

    Each level is associated with one or more tasks, which can be either simple (get from point A to point B) or complex (find several hidden objects in a limited time). After completing a mission, the player usually advances to the next level; if unsuccessful, the player must usually try again. Not all games have levels in a linear sequence; Some games allow the player to revisit levels or choose the order in which to complete them. An example would be the Metroidvania genre, which includes Super Metroid And Super Mario World. This type of gameplay involves exploring the game world and often, discovering paths that are not accessible with the player's current abilities. An item found later (a key or a power boost) gives the player the ability to go back and access that path. It is important to distinguish this type of game from console RPGs.

    Using Levels

    There are several reasons for the concept of "level" in video game design. Many early games used levels to extend the length of a simple (and short) game, allowing the winning player to play again on an increased difficulty (e.g., with stronger opponents), with different game settings (e.g., a different maze layout), or using both approaches. With this approach, the game could last much longer and be more interesting without changing the core gameplay style.

    Even as games have become more advanced, hardware limitations such as insufficient storage RAM to store all the graphics and sounds, games were still forced to be divided into levels; from another point of view, the use of levels, despite the hardware limitations, brought a lot of variety to the game. For example, the first level of the platformer features the Underworld, in which the protagonist fights skeletons. After completing a level, the game can pause to clear this data from memory and load the Greek soldiers for the next level. Without a leveling system, this would not be possible, since the hardware cannot store both sets of data at the same time, nor can it simultaneously display enough colors to “draw” sprites and backgrounds.

    Some modern games try to take advantage of the level system by giving the impression of continuity (the so-called "seamless" world) - that is, one long game instead of levels. In such games, the data required for the upcoming level is loaded into memory in the background, while unused data is simultaneously deleted as the player approaches a new location.

    Dividing the game into levels has other advantages. First, non-stop action can tire the player out if the game doesn't provide places for him to rest. Levels break up the game into manageable segments, with breaks in between for the player to rest. Another advantage is that the player can only complete the game once, but will achieve some satisfaction after each successful completion of a level. Games that don't have levels usually have another satisfying goal for the player that can be achieved multiple times, such as conquering provinces in Rome: Total War.

    Pauses between levels

    Pauses between levels can be used to display various useful information - level completion statistics (for example, Wolfenstein 3D), a briefing before the next level explaining the tasks, or simply art-design images.

    Other terms

    There are many other terms that refer to the same concept as "level". Usually the game uses one most appropriate term for "level", depending on the features game rules. The term used is often closely related to the genre of the game. Below are some of the most common uses of many of the terms:

    • Stage, phase: often used in arcade games, implying that each stage or phase is very similar to the previous one.
    • Round: Similar to a stage/phase, but more common in fighting games, in which each fight is called a "round".
    • Zone, act: most often found in 2D games Sonic the Hedgehog series; a zone is a thematic area, an act is a separate segment of the zone. Games Sonic can have any number of zones, but each zone usually consists of two (sometimes three) acts. The term "act" is also used in games ActRaiser.
    • Wave: A term similar to stage/phase, but usually found in arcade games in which the player fights enemies in wave after wave.
    • World: Used only if each area of ​​the game represents a different world or planet.
    • Overworld: The main level or world. For example, the level before entering a dungeon in Zelda Classic.
    • Map: Quite common in real-time strategy and multiplayer shooters.
    • Board: Found in computer board game simulators. Also used to refer to any screen in game creation systems such as ZZT And MegaZeux.
    • Episode: Doesn't really usually mean "level"; most often an episode is a collection of levels that are played or sold together as one set.
    • Mission: Typically used in the context of war games such as Medal of Honor or Call of Duty.

    Level design

    Levels for a game are created by a level designer or mapmaker. The second term is more often used when talking about first-person shooters, in which levels are very often called cards(in this regard, level designers are often called mappers, from the English map - map). The computer program used to create levels is called a level editor. Sometimes the compiler also needs to convert the original file format into the format used by the game, particularly first-person shooters. Level design is a complex art, demanding and appearance level, and to game performance (there should be no points at a level where the game runs unacceptably slow), and to gameplay. Creating levels is an integral part of game modding.

    Levels in computer role-playing games

    See also

    Links


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    In life, as in a computer game, there comes a time when you need to move to the next level. For some, this happens with great difficulty, for some people make something mysterious out of this transition, and for others it happens absolutely spontaneously. But still, life is different from a computer game, because once you move to a new level in life, it is no longer possible to go back. And it’s good when you don’t want to go back, when you like the changes. It’s much worse when you think that nothing has changed, but a new level has already begun for you, even if you don’t know about it yet

    It's hard when you miss someone! But if you don't have enough of them, then you're in luck! You had special people in your life!

    In life, like in the rain, there comes a moment when you just don’t care anymore.

    When faced with a choice, just flip a coin. This won't give you the right answer, but the moment the coin is in the air, you already know what you're hoping for.

    There comes a moment when you realize that it was in vain to let someone into your life. This person doesn’t need you, he just didn’t have anyone to spend time with.

    When you know what is written on Wikipedia, this is not real erudition. True erudition is when you know something that is not there.

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    And then everything will work out in life!

    Happiness is when you don’t need anything at the moment other than what you already have.

    Life is not what happens to us, but how we act when something happens to us.

    It is impossible to solve a problem at the same level at which it arose. You need to rise above this problem by rising to the next level.

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