Alternating games
I think there's single player games leaking into this category. While it is true those games allow more than one player at a given machine, it's more like having the two players playing the game in an alternating fashion; rather than having a person wait until the game is completed, the second player gets a chance on the next stage or loss of life.
In games such as Arkanoid or Gyruss, neither player's game interacts with each other or the other player's, beyond scores (which don't change whether played in the alternating or consecutive sessions). As such, it may cause a bit of false expectations for some of older games (or re-releases of them); some players may think they're simultaneous multiplayer, but they turn out to be alternating. --Sigma 7 23:08, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
- The games in the Heroes of Might and Magic series and Super Mario Bros. are also like this. Unlike in Super Mario Bros., Heroes does have player interaction but on the same machine with the players taking turns using it. This can indeed be a confusing problem. The ability for more than 1 player to play together in some manner does give the games an added value over being only single player. Perhaps we need to make a few specifically named categories for multiplayer like what we did with RPGs. The term I have heard used for the way multiplayer in Heroes works is called hotseat [1].
- A simple way to dispel confusion on how the multiplayer issue would be to have a section or page in the guides covering how multiplayer works in that specific game. --Zaiqukaj 08:00, 28 May 2009 (UTC)