Some games benefit from being predictable, while others work better when randomness is a core part of the experience. The most common way for randomness to come into play in gaming today is in the form of rewards, whether that’s loot boxes or iGaming jackpots. And as a rule, being rewarded in an unpredictable way is even more fun when friends and allies are there to share this with you.
Being rewarded with a rare in-game item or perk of any kind can give you a little hit of dopamine at the point when you crack into the loot box, but this tends to be fleeting. On the other hand, if the reward you receive is paid out while you’ve got your pals with you, that fuzzy feeling of having achieved something is one you can share together, which in turn will amplify its impact. Moreover, you can keep talking about and reliving the moment after the fact, making it more long-lasting and meaningful for all parties.
It’s why raids in MMOs are such a big deal, because defeating a difficult enemy and getting a good drop as a reward feels better if you’re part of a close-knit guild. Similarly, visiting Tikal Casino and playing a live casino game like blackjack, where there’s more of a community atmosphere, means any hands you or your fellow players win will seem all the more significant because you’re sharing the highs and lows together. Even if only one person is winning, the group gets the positive vibes vicariously.
Shared rewards are often a mechanical choice on the part of the game’s developer, as opposed to just being a method for giving players a dopamine hit that encourages them to stick around. That’s why many games built specifically with co-op in mind emphasize rewards that are either shared at the point of being issued, or factored into an economy where it makes sense for people to collect and trade rewards with one another, for the benefit of all players.
This cooperation can, of course, be entirely altruistic, or motivated by a sense of responsibility. So, in the case of one player being under-leveled or inexperienced, a veteran of the game might be happy to let them have a high-quality drop rather than taking it for themselves. And indeed, studies have shown that cooperation can be gamified in its own right, so there’s a lot of psychology at play in how shared rewards work both in gaming and beyond it.
Not all rewards are all that rewarding, and a dodgy drop or bad pull doesn’t have to be as much of a downer if you are playing with friends. Being able to commiserate with one another and talk about next steps in a more positive way is just as important as being able to celebrate as a unit.
In sum, random rewards are valuable for solo play, yet they can be exponentially more fun with friends because of how they’re designed and how we function as social animals.
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Anyone who has watched a friend open a Counter-Strike case knows the sound. The wheel spins, the ticking speeds up, and the whole room leans in like it's a penalty shootout. Most of the time, what drops is a skin worth a few cents. Most of the time, they buy another key anyway.
Valorant is not a co-op game and has never pretended to be. It is five against five, with everything that implies about strangers, silence and somebody locking a duelist in the first two seconds.