Multi-run sessions

Robot Unicorn (Facebook) uses a mechanic I find quite effective: a game session is composed of 3 distinct runs. You don’t compete with your friends on the results of a single run — results are compared based on your performance during 3 separate instances of the game.

This is genius and really appropriate for the extra-short duration of the gameplay itself. First of all, it expands the basic unit of challenge gameplay without making the game easier during its beginning stretch, which would make it annoying and boring for veterans. Second — and more importantly — your average score is always going to be smaller than your best run. A player will often have one great run and two shorter low-scoring ones.

The scenario then runs thus: a player who normally scores 5k per run gets 10k at their first run in a session. Now the player still needs to finish the session, running twice more for, say, 2k and 5k. They curse their bad luck — it was a total 17k score when they now know they can get a 10k run off! If they could pull it off 3 times they’d get 30k and surpass that smug friend. So they try again. And again…

Whereas if the game was scored on single runs they’d play and play and play until they got say, 12k — that one outlier — and at this stage they’d have little reason to continue, since they don’t find themselves capable of breaking that score again. This, of course, doesn’t apply for players who are actively honing their skills and increasing their scores on every play; I’m talking about players whose max score curve went level.

In other words, the 3-run session system spreads out the effect of outliers in much the same way rolling three dice typically gives a more average result than rolling a single one.