Types of Decision Spaces: Waxing, Waning, Static, Dynamic

Often times when we talk about decision spaces we use language of scale, "that game has a really large decision space" or "that game has a small decision space" or sometimes we'll use language describing how a game's decision space makes us feel, "that's a mean game," "there’s so much room to be creative in this game." Perhaps other times, the decision space will be evaluated in terms of quality, “this game has a rich decision space” or, “there are so many crunchy decisions in this system.” These are useful qualities to discuss but they're not representative of the whole picture in terms of a game’s decision space, especially with regards to how a decision space of a game changes over the course of its play: i.e. it’s shape or type.

Over the course of our discussions we realized we'd benefit from more specific language about the type of decision space a game has. So much of how a game feels and how the decisions in a game play out are dictated by its type of decision space. Below are the four primary types of decision spaces that we've identified:

• Waning: decision spaces that shrink or narrow in the course of the game. In some cases, the game ends when a player has no decisions left.
• Waxing: decision spaces that grow over the course of the game.
• Static: decisions spaces that for the most part remain entirely same over the course of the game—often times the consequences of decisions in these games will shift, or player information will change, but the core decisions remain the same.
• Dynamic: decisions spaces that grow and shrink over the course of the game but don’t necessarily trend in either direction.

Games are nuanced. Most games have elements that could be described by one of these types or another. When we apply this language we look at the decision space in aggregate. Ultimately this lens is only as useful as the information it reveals about the game its being used to examine. Over time we’ve added a few other terms; for example, we’ll often use the term punctuated, when a game structured with rounds triggers an influx of information or increased agency despite the game overall trending downwards. We’d describe this game as having a punctuated waning decision space.

Interested in learning more? Listen to the full episode on the various Types of Decision Spaces at the link below.