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Asynchronous games originated from traditional board games, and the asynchronous mechanism is only the product of its core play, rather than a well-considered design choice. In "death stranded", the asynchronous mechanism has become a part of its core play, providing a unique experience and meaning for the game. I think it is valuable to study the mechanisms and ways of asynchronous mechanisms in different games, so this paper attempts to define asynchronous multiplayer games, and combined with the existing game modes, in-depth discussion of the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous games, as well as the potential for the future.

The development of asynchronous games according to the existing discussion and game experience, the author thinks that asynchronous multiplayer (asynchronous multiplayer mode) is a mechanism to realize non-real-time player game interaction. There are some differences in the definition of "asynchronous and synchronous games", such as whether turn-based games are synchronous games. The reason for this divergence may come from a different understanding of "non-real-time", that is, does non-real-time refer to game time or real time? If the time of the game prevails, it is considered that the time within the game may not flow forward by 1 second, so the scale of the progress of the game, based on a game cycle (loop), depends on the behavior of other players in the cycle to end a cycle (such as game victory). But I think this definition blurs the understanding of "time". I think that non-real time refers to real time. For example, in turn games, there is also a difference between synchronous turn games and asynchronous turn games (traditional mode). In the asynchronous return system, a player needs to wait for the last player to complete the previous step before taking action, such as grabbing the grid, the first-hand player can always occupy the grid first. In the synchronous return system, two players may operate at the same time and then wait for the settlement, such as going to the same grid, followed by a battle decision. Here, the difference between the two models is whether the linear elapsed time is based on the same situation.

In general, within the game, based on the real-time updated background (context), the mechanism for interaction is to synchronize multiplayer games. If each player is based on a non-real-time background, the mechanism for interaction is asynchronous multiplayer games.

Based on the research of Ian Bogost [1], asynchronous multiplayer games have the following four characteristics:

Support multiple players to play games in turn, rather than at the same time

Asynchronous games are influenced by the player to produce a lasting state, which in turn affects the player.

The interval between players is the organizing principle of asynchronous games.

Asynchronous games do not need to be the decisive feature of the game.

As a kind of games, in the era without the Internet, compared with the "synchronous online" such as football, it can connect people to play games without limit of space and time. It is the earliest offline "multiplayer online game". Such as Fernschach, players are separated from each other in space, and in the early days they faced each other by mailing them to the magazine. Now they are mainly sent by e-mail or fax, with each step at least 3 days apart. 、

With the development of information technology, the manual working mode of magazines has been gradually replaced by e-mails and computers. (of course, some conservatives still think that the fun of games is based on the "slow" of asynchronous online, such as "X-COM" and "civilization", which have been used in the past.

Gradually, with the progress of the network and games, the advantage of asynchronous online unlimited space is replaced by the network, but the unlimited time feature still makes this mechanism exist in modern games.

What can the unlimited time feature bring to the game? 1. More opportunities for thinking in asynchronous games, there is always a certain interval, which can be long or short according to the way the game is played, during which players can fully study the current situation and formulate their own strategies. For example, in Tribal conflict, players have unlimited time to prepare their castles and design defensive layouts after they go online. After the player goes offline, it is possible to encounter the attack of other players. In traditional round-based board games, in other people's rounds, players can examine the situation, and in their own rounds, there is a limited period of time to think and perform operations.

This characteristic makes the asynchronous game mechanism suitable for strategy and round games, of course, it can also be said that round games give birth to the asynchronous game mechanism.

2. Asynchronous freedom because the asynchronous mechanism has less time limit, it is more free and flexible for players. Compared with synchronous games, players can start and end at any time. Such as Supercell launched tribal wars, island Raiders and so on, these two games take asynchronous multiplayer as the main mechanism of the core play, that is, to meet the needs of players to compete and socialize in multiplayer games, but also to meet the needs of players to make flexible use of fragment time, and achieve quite good results in the mobile game market.

On the other hand, this mechanism can also be used in the sub-play of the game, such as Onmyoji's "fighting God", where players can ask for the help of offline friends to help them win. From a certain point of view, the ranking system is also a kind of asynchronous play, in which players strive to get points and leave their names on the ranking gang, even after they are offline and become competitors to other players. There is also the common "ghost" opponent in the racing game, in the time trial, the opponent or his past driving posture is transformed into a "ghost" to compete with the player, so that the player can see the competitor at any time in the single time trial, filling in the blank and boring part of the game.

3. The interaction across time has also been introduced into the asynchronous mechanism in some stand-alone games. The main method is to introduce the traces of other players in the player game process, which has different forms such as messages, avatars, equipment and so on. In linear single-player games, the introduction of asynchronous mechanism can create a "parallel universe" experience for players, and players have a sense of "witnessing history" when they see the traces left by their predecessors (players rather than development groups) along the way.

In Soul of Darkness, players can leave eye-catching messages on the ground. These messages may remind you that there are hidden walls in front of you, or they may deceive you into jumping off a bottomless cliff. Because the message has a fixed format and choice of words, players can't really "speak freely". In some cases, players have to use some "awkward" sentences to express their meaning-the message "sad before" looks strange, but after learning more about the plot, players can easily feel the feelings that another player has felt.

After the Japanese warring States like game "Renwang" is connected to the Internet, you will see other players' blood knife graves in different game areas (indicating that someone has died in the same place), summon corpse fanatics, and can fight against them and get each other's equipment by defeating their opponents.

The asynchronous online is integrated into the game, thus making it a supplement to the game narrative. Alloy equipment 5 requires all players to give up nuclear bombs in order to achieve the goal of "No Nuclear in the World". The same is true of Neil: mechanical Age to help others by deleting archives. This asynchronous online play not only increases the interest of the game, but also provides players with a shortcut to overstep the best attribute set.

Nier: Automata (2017) has an example of using asynchronous interaction between players to express game ideas and move players. In one of the endings, players face the daunting task of keeping the machine alive, while countless waves of enemies are generated on the screen (barrage games). After many failures, the player will be asked if he is willing to accept help from other players. By choosing to do so, friendly players will generate an "avatar" on the screen and help the player defeat the enemy. After completing this task, players can choose to assist other players in a similar way, but at the cost of deleting all archives, players may spend dozens of hours in the progress of the game.

At this point, in this way, the player will realize that others have paid a great price to help her overcome her previous challenges. If she chooses to do so, she may provide her help to another player in the final battle in the future. This is an obvious example of thoughtful design. The concern of others makes Neil not only a boring action game, but also makes people start to think about the relationship between people, the relationship between people and games. It enables the choice of players to delete files to affect the current player's experience in a meaningful way.

Players follow in the footsteps of past players while affecting the game experience of future players. These examples are good examples of how asynchronous games can be used to convey game ideas and integrate into the game in a meaningful way.

As shown in the following figure, if players help other players after deleting files, they may receive private messages from each other on PS4. The interaction in the game world brings real-world connections, so that this behavior forms a closed loop, so that players who contribute still receive thanks and emotion after quitting the game.

Moirai (2013), a relay game, conducted a special experiment. The player saw a pile of bones in the cave and then found a man with a knife whose clothes were covered with blood. Players need to choose a pre-written question: "Why is he covered in blood?" Why do you have a knife? what did you do? . A man with a knife may give different answers, from a "cautious explanation of his behavior" to "vicious slander". Then the player has to choose to let him go or kill him. No matter what the choice, the player moved on, met an injured woman covered in blood and asked the player to kill her. Players can choose to kill the woman or walk away, but in any case, the player will always be spattered with blood. On the way out, the player will meet a farmer who asks the same question the player just asked the man with a knife and asks the player to answer [keyboard answer].

Do you feel that this is a cycle? At this point, the player may realize that the answer he has received has been written by another player, and her own answer will be read by another player. After the player answers, the game is over. Later, the player will receive an email telling you what decision others have made after reading your answer.

In the game, you think you are killing npc, but you are actually a real player, and you are likely to be killed hastily by other players as npc. Your answer may be meaningless. Will it be the same in reality? Think about it and be terrified.

Conclusion Mobile games are more suitable for making asynchronous machines as the main method of playing. Both PC games and mobile games can use asynchronous mechanism as a blank to fill the gap of game interaction and make the content of game time more complete. Asynchronism is not only suitable for balancing the gap between the player's ability and the difficulty of playing, but also can reduce the feeling of lack of interaction when the player's friends are not online at the same time. On the other hand, the asynchronous mechanism also enhances the sense of existence of other players, for example, even if offline, it also affects other players to a certain extent, such as rankings, manors against the current, genres competing for martial arts, Onmyoji's war-aiding gods, and so on.

According to the previous analysis, the asynchronous mechanism has the characteristics of unlimited time, in synchronous play, both players need to complete the game round in a continuous period of time, such as chicken eating, lol and so on. In asynchronous play, there is no mandatory requirement for the player's online time, which can basically be arranged according to the player's own arrangement, such as COC and Onmyoji's "boundary breakthrough". This different demand for players' online time is like a solid line and a dotted line. The asynchronous mechanism enables players to make use of fragment time at any time, and the network conditions for players are relatively low.

The process of the game is also a process of player interaction. Interaction, literally understood, is linked to each other over a period of time, resulting in behavior. There are both well-intentioned and malicious acts, depending on whether the goals of both sides of the interaction are the same. From the perspective of interaction time, there is not only a difference in length, but also an asynchronous / synchronous difference. The following figure combs some common behaviors in the game, taking the player's attitude and the time needed as the horizontal and vertical axis, you can find that, in general, the greater the attitude tendency, the more behavior and more time is needed.

Take interference and hints as an example, it doesn't take a lot of time to complete, and it's very suitable for asynchronous mechanisms, and all kinds of games do. In the asynchronous confrontation and cooperation mechanism, due to the lack of real-time feedback from the other party, AI is generally added as a substitute, and AI executes feedback according to the strategy set by the opposing player. For example, the lack of real-time feedback is also one of the inevitable drawbacks of the asynchronous mechanism, such as COC and military fanaticism against the cold.

On the other hand, under the synchronous mechanism, contact and interaction cannot be established if other players are not online, while under the asynchronous mechanism, interaction can still occur even if it is offline, such as the upstream cold friend manor, the friend wardrobe of Harry Potter mobile games, the black soul, the suggestion of death stranded, and so on.

Generally speaking, the characteristics of the asynchronous mechanism are suitable for players to use fragment time to play the game. As a means of game narrative, the asynchronous mechanism can bring a completely different experience from the synchronous mechanism, and has a lot of room for imagination to be discovered by the developers.

1.Bogost I. Asynchronous multiplay: Futures for casual multiplayer experience [J]. Other Players, 2004, 6 (8).

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: GameTube (ID:GameTube), author: doorbell

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