It’s been a long time since I played a full game of Monopoly. In fact, I haven’t even started a game for a while either. I add that last part because in my experience, a game of Monopoly is abandoned before completion more often than not, as a result of eliminated players not having any interest in observing the rest of the game. To me, sitting down to play a game should be just that: sitting until the game is won. Leaving a game unfinished produces in me dissatisfaction at the gaming experience.

This concept of game etiquette, particularly the failure of players to respect it, is commonplace in online gaming. Whether a result of perceived anonymity, or a simple lack of respect for other players, online gamers frequently ruin the experience for others by leaving games early to avoid losing, cheating, wrongfully accusing others of cheating, asking stupid questions about how to play the game and so on. Because online gaming is largely unmoderated, the responsibility falls on the game developer to ensure that a game’s engine enforces implicit rules explicitly.

Penny Arcade comic on game etiquette in online gaming

In Trackmania Nations, the ‘Laps’ game mode has players racing their cars on a given racetrack – a circuit to be exact. While all competitors’ cars can be displayed onscreen, they are presented as ghosts – objects that illustrate a spatial relationship between competitors, but do not interact with each other on a physical level (that is, players cannot crash cars into one another). A player is generally able to complete several laps of the track within the given time limit, and the aim of the game is to have registered the fastest lap time at the end of the race. There’s very little a player can do against the general etiquette for the game mode. It is possible to put other players off by spamming the chat display or driving the wrong way around the track (and thus causing a distraction if other cars’ ghosts are displayed), but these can be overcome by switching off these features. At the end of a Laps game, players race again on a different track.

Another game mode, called ‘Rounds’, is more of a real-time competition, where players race each other concurrently to the end of a (generally short) track. Points are awarded to each player based on their finishing position. The race is then run again on the same track and points awarded at the end. This continues until one player reaches a specified point limit, and final positions are awarded based on each player’s cumulative point total. Players then race a new match on a different track.

Points are awarded in an inversely decreasing fashion from first place (10 points) down to fifth place (2 points). Once the finish line is crossed by the first placegetter, a countdown timer begins, with players who have not reached the end of the track within ten seconds retired by the game. Players not placing in the top five but still finishing in the time limit are awarded one point, with no points received by players who become retired.

Aside from enhancing players’ motivation for finishing the race quickly (that is, offering points for completing the race), the presence of a time limit is one way that developer Nadeo has avoided the potential problem of players holding up the game by not finishing the race. If the scoring system was made such that even the slowest players had to cross before the points could be awarded, some players could race such that they never crossed the finish line, or even leave their keyboards and hold up the game for all other players. The solution realised by the developer is an example of a function enforcing good player etiquette (even if it is an obvious, active solution) and enhancing the competitive nature of the game.

As a whole, the game is designed well, and while I won’t go into the details, the combined functions of the game lead to a satisfying online experienced. Of course, there’s always going to be the idiot who asks how to play the game and “why this thing I did in the other game mode doesn’t work here” (the answer to which can be potentially answered with some not-so-nice acronyms), but proactive steps by game developers can certainly make playing with anonymous competitors almost as enjoyable as playing with real people sitting down together.