If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'P' and 'V' and 'P' together.

(This is the second of a series of posts that will outline my own game design philosophy. These will be a work in progress and I may go back and edit them in the future)

Games that facilitate interaction between players always provide the more varied gameplay experience. Take League of Legends, for example. Here we have a game that does not have cutting edge graphics or game mechanics, yet is hugely popular due to the fact is is PvP focused. Imagine playing a single player version of LoL? It is safe to assume it would have not gained the notoriety that it has if you were playing against computer controlled opponents.

EVE Online is another wonderful example how forced player interaction makes for a better game. No matter what you do, you MUST interact with other players at some point (and don't say mission runners never interact with other players, they have to sell that mission loot to someone at some point). Even if you are an industrialist who manufactures ships, you are buying materials from some people and selling your final product to others. If you are a pirate, your time is spent hunting other players down and negotiating ransoms. At one point I lived in a wormhole, by myself, for months. Days would go by with no sign of other players or even the outside world of EVE. I would go about my business fighting Sleepers, mining Arkonor, and harvesting gas. No matter how much fun I was having, no matter how I much I loved having no kids cutting through my lawn, I would be paid a visit from other players. Sometimes it was a lone explorer searching for an empty wormhole to clear. Other times it was an organized fleet looking for some pew pew. Most of the time I would head back to my POS and wait them out. Although there was this one time I got the jump on a gang's Noctis as it was clearing out wrecks by itself and was subsequently bitched out in Swedish in local. The point I am trying to make is that in EVE, player interaction is inevitable and unavoidable, which is the way it should be in a PvP game.

What it all comes down to is unpredictability. When playing with or against another actual human, anything can happen. Case in point: Leroy Jenkins. Would this video be even 1/100th as funny as it is if that event happened every single time you entered that encounter? Actually, my guess that it did happen hundreds of times following the making of that video, much to the chagrin of raid leaders. It is the choices of actual humans that make all the difference in not just their experience, but the experiences of other players as well. It enriches the gameplay for all those involved by generating fresh content and allowing replayability. The magic word here is: choice. This is what makes games so immersive. Why do you think the Mass Effect series is so popular? Sure, it is not a PvP game, but players do have a much greater hand in affecting the outcome of the story.

In any game that I create, you can be certain that all battles, games, and competitions will be decided between players and not one player and a computer.