《Sorority Life》开发商、迪士尼旗下的Playdom创意设计副总裁拉夫·科斯特（Raph Koster）认为，如今许多社交游戏都是依靠现实世界的社交机制来支撑的，就目前来说，这些游戏主要是“单人游戏”。他认为游戏在玩家互相合作发面还有很大的提高空间。

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他划分出了40种社交机制，不同游戏涉及不同的机制。

据游戏邦了解，他所提出的有些社交机制并不常见——如选举、仪式等，这些机制为开发者提供了更多绝好的创作素材。

科斯特谈到了选举，“《美国偶像》（American Idol）就是最大的社交游戏……你可以在社交游戏中举行毫无实际意义的投票表决，但玩家可以玩得很疯狂，因为现实生活中的投票选举就是如此。”

而仪式在社交游戏中也是个不寻常的机制。但如果使用得当，这种类型的游戏会获得很大反响。科斯特表示，“当玩家转换角色的时候……仪式就产生了，当人们转变角色时，我们总会举行多种仪式，这是一种强大的社交机制。”

据游戏邦了解，开发商仅在社交游戏中运用了少量的仪式元素，比如让玩家在Facebook墙报上晒出自己的成就和变化，但仪式在社交游戏中还有更大的发挥空间。他认为，“在我们身边，仪式随处可见。”

而让科斯特感到惊讶的是，将竞赛机制引入社交游戏的开发商并不多。他认为，“综观历史，（竞赛）是最古老的游戏机制。”

锦标赛也是一个运用不广的游戏机制。科斯特表示，“大体上说来，社交游戏所涉及到的这类机制仅仅是皮毛而已。”

游戏邦发现，社交游戏导师的观点，如游戏开发商本身也是一个很少使用的游戏理念。科斯特表示，“我们在社交游戏中出场的机会并不多，但我们完全可以做到。”

给玩家分配角色——如维尔福（Valve）《Team Fortress 2》之类的等级射击游戏就是基于这样的概念，它也是社交游戏可以扩展的另一个方向。他表示，“我们并没有实行团队角色或者等级划分制度……其实这对玩家来说很有吸引力，事实就是如此，这也有助于提高我们的用户留存率。”

他认为今天的社交游戏所展现的机制不过是冰山一角，开发商应该多观察用户的行为，发现推动社交互动的真正因素。

科斯特表示，“有史以来我们首次实现了开创一个迷你国家的梦想。想想我们将创造的巨大突破！”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

GDC 2011: Koster’s Big List Of Social Mechanics For Social Games

Social games today might have the underpinnings of various real-world social mechanics, but for now they are “primarily single-player experiences,” according to Raph Koster, VP of creative design at Disney-owned Sorority Life developer Playdom. And there’s plenty of room for improved player-to-player collaboration, he said.

He identified 40 social mechanics (slides of all 40 mechanics are available on his website [PDF]) that are used to varying extents in social games.

It’s some of the less commonly-used social mechanics — such as election, rituals and others — that present some compelling opportunities for game makers.

Koster said of elections, “American Idol is the biggest social game there is. … You could hold an election in your social game for a position that means nothing at all, but players will go bananas, because that’s what we do during elections.”

Rituals are another uncommon mechanic in social games that could have a big impact in the category if properly implemented. “When people change roles … there’s a ceremony to it,” explained Koster. “We put rituals on all kinds of things when people change roles, and these are powerfully social.”

Social game developers have explored rituals to a small extent by letting players post accomplishments and changes in role via wall posts on Facebook, but rituals could serve a much larger purpose in social games. “There are rituals all around us,” he said.

Koster also said he was surprised that not many social game makers have introduced racing mechanics in their games. He said, “[Races are] actually the oldest form of game that we can find, historically.”

Tournaments are yet another under-utilized mechanic. “By and large, social games have barely scratched the surface of what can be done with bracketing,” Koster noted.

The idea of a gamesmaster that closely directs a social game – i.e. the game developers themselves – is another little-used concept. “We don’t do a lot of directing in social games, but we certainly could,” said Koster.

And assigning roles to players – a concept embraced by class-based shooters like Valve’s Team Fortress 2 – is another area of opportunity for social games. “The fact that we don’t use team roles or classes … is actually really, really fascinating, because it could happen. … This is guaranteed to raise retention,” he said.

In all, the mechanics of today’s social games are just the tip of the iceberg, and developers should look more closely at human behavior to find out what really drives social interactions.

“This is the first time in history that we are able to work on a canvas the size of a country. Think of the havoc we can wreak!” Koster said.（Source：gamasutra）