Player Interaction 2 - Semi-Co-Op

Last time, I talked about player interaction as a struggle. This time, I'll talk about it being cooperative... kind of. You're directly competing with each other, but the bulk of player interaction is mutually helping each other. This is done in the form of trading.

Let's take a favorite of mine, Bohnanza. This is a card game where you plant beans to try and make a profit. You have very limited space in which to plant, and you have to plant the next card in your hand. You're not allowed to rearrange your hand, and chances are the next card in queue is going to force you to sell one of your farm plots prematurely. None of this depends on other players so far. Nobody can do anything to your plots of land, nobody can manipulate your hand in any way, and you're not competing over land space.

The player interaction in Bohnanza comes from trading. On my next turn, I'll be forced to plant my wax bean, which will ruin what I have planted already. My opponent, on the other hand, happens to be growing wax beans. And maybe he has a stink bean I want, but isn't going to do him any good. On your turn, you can trade any card in your hand, and any cards traded that turn must be planted. This quickly gets into everyone helping each other, but not too much. Sure, I don't need this cocoa bean, but you having the cocoa bean is way more beneficial to you than the chili bean you're trying to trade would be for me. How about you sweeten the deal a little?

If you don't cooperate in Bohnanza, you'll lose. On the other hand, if you help your fellow players too much, you'll also lose. This is where the player interaction, and fun, comes from. You're not at a constant struggle with everyone fighting over beans and farmland. You're just simple farmers trading beans back and forth... and the trading isn't always nice. I mentioned last time about foiling plans, which can definitely be done in Bohnanza. My room mate will sometimes refuse to take your bean for free, just because he'd rather you be ruined by it than him get a slight benefit from it.

Another game with a similar trading mechanic is The Settlers of Catan. You need resources to build things on the map, but you'll often end up short of certain resources throughout the game. Players who trade with others will usually beat the players who don't. Now trading isn't as built into the game as it is in Bohnanza, and there is some other player interaction in the game, it still ends up being an important part. And, much like Bohnanza, you might refuse to trade because you just don't want to see that player succeeding...

So while some games can create tension with direct conflict, other games can create tension with mutual handshaking... and then arm crossing and head shaking. Maybe some evil grinning.