Peter Harries

I have always been fascinated by long running multiplayer games that have strong communities form around them. Games like Counter Strike, WoW, Minecraft and more recently Fortnite. What follows is the first in a series of notes I have on how we can facilitate this as designers.  Unique Water Cooler Moments Why is this important? In these types of games we want to offer something new every play session. This keeps the experience fresh and exciting over a long period of time. For example; "I was almost dead AND out of ammo, but I snuck around the back and disarmed the bomb with only a few seconds left! - the other team had no idea, it was amazing!" This is a unique moment for that player. Similar situations may play out but it's unlikely to be identical. This is very different to single player games, where every players experience will be almost the same.  Water cooler moments are usually exciting and rewarding by virtue - you probably wouldn't tell somebody about somet