Day 106 - Lens 44: The Lens of Cooperation
Collaborating and succeeding as a team is a special pleasure that can create lasting social bonds. Use this lens to study the cooperative aspects of your game. Ask yourself these questions:
Cooperation requires communication. Do my players have enough opportunity to communicate? How could communication be enhanced?
Yes and no, players can take as much time as they would like to communicate... however they are not provided with time exclusively to communicate within the normal turn. In a challenge there is explicit time provided for communication. I think that most of the time there is enough communication in the game. Making some of the hint notes be about the importance of communication might be a good idea.
Are my players friends already, or are they strangers? If they are strangers, can I help break the ice?
I have playtested with friends and strangers. I think that in most cases players will already know each other at the point that they are sitting down to play the game. Or at least they will know some of the other players. Adding a formal introduction round to the fully themed game might be good. I am always looking for ways to hang more ceremony on the frame of the game, and names are good elements to include.
Is there synergy (2+2 = 5) or antergy (2+2 = 3) when the players work together? Why?
It is very unlikely that all of the players will ever cooperate. However players cooperating are far stronger than players being independent, that makes alliances matter a lot. If all the players decided to cooperate then the game would lose its teeth though.
Do all the players have the same role, or do they have special jobs?
Mechanically all of the players have the same role. One player is probably taking the role of the new Teller and reading the rules. Strategically the players may take on leader or follower or traitor or rebel roles. I could probably talk about those roles and their consequences somewhere, maybe in the hint notes.
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