Sacrifice

Frame · Ritual and ceremony situational

Giving up something valuable – for a higher cause, for others, for the future. Loss as a conscious decision.

Design question – In your game something must be sacrificed. What is the sacrifice worth – and who decides what is given up?

Reference example – Chess: the queen sacrifice that decides the game. Into the Breach: a mech steps into the line of fire so that the building behind it stays standing.

Associations

• Typical Activities – Sacrificing, Deciding, Grieving, Committing

Coherence

Activities: Sacrificing, Deciding, Grieving, Committing. Mechanisms: Cost (paying a resource for an effect), Tradeoff, Legacy (an irrevocable sacrifice), Triage. Ludic Organisational Structures: economic order (cost-benefit), social order (common good vs. self-interest). Ludic Narrational Structure: hero’s journey (the hero’s sacrifice), moral dilemmas.