Week 10 Run: Losing Together

Multiplayer tilt, griefing, and why blame gets distributed so unevenly after a shared loss

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26 April 2027

Losing alone is between you and the game. Losing with four other people introduces a second failure state on top of the first: working out whose fault it was. Attribution theory predicts teams will blame teammates more than themselves, and multiplayer game design either fights that tendency or feeds it.

Before the session#

Bring a post-match screen, scoreboard, or replay feature from a multiplayer game and say whether it helps a team figure out what went wrong or just gives them ammunition.

In the session#

Comparing post-match feedback systems across genres — what gets measured, and what that measurement quietly implies about who lost the game.

Afterwards#

Nothing due this week. This material feeds directly into week 11’s look at how failure gets performed for an audience.