There are several distinct types of Multiplayer modes in VideoGames. This trope is a SisterTrope of MetaMultiplayer, CoOpMultiplayer and MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame.

See also MisbegottenMultiplayerMode, where multiplayer modes are featured in games that are really designed for single-player, and SlidingScaleOfCooperationVsCompetition, on how competitive and cooperative elements can be mixed in the same game.

!Competitive
Players directly compete against each other (PlayerVersusPlayer) and possibly characters controlled by the CPU. May organize players into teams. Usually the main feature of {{Fighting Game}}s, sports games, [[DrivingGame Racing Games]], party games, puzzle games, and anything online, though a single-player (or co-op) "main game" may be available as well.

!!2-Sided Competition

!!!2 Player
When the game is only designed for one player against another. Modes may be provided where additional players can play alongside a comrade, but if one person plays against another it would not be considered two teams of one.

Examples:
* VideoGame/{{Pong}}
* Franchise/{{Pokemon}}
* VideoGame/GuitarHero
* Most {{Fighting Game}}s:
** Franchise/StreetFighter
** VideoGame/CapcomVs
** Franchise/MortalKombat
** VideoGame/SoulSeries
* Most sports games:
** VideoGame/MaddenNFL
* VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2
* The {{pinball}} game ''Pinball/NBAFastbreak''

!!!Counter-Op
The second player takes control of enemies and has no objectives other than to hurt the first player, who plays exactly as in single-player mode.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' (subtrope namer)
* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', in the DummiedOut "Bottles' Revenge" mode

!!!Red Versus Blue
2 equivalent teams with the same capabilities and objective play against one another. These teams may be comprised of only one player, but teams scale naturally. Teams are often (but not necessarily) distinguished by looking identical except for being colored either Red and Blue (although note different, asymmetric types of 2-team multiplayer may use these to distinguish teams as well).

Examples:
* VideoGame/BloodlineChampions
* VideoGame/WiiSports
* VideoGame/RockBand (Battle of the Bands)
* NHL 09 (Online Team Play mode)
* ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' (some modes have asymmetry, but most are relatively symmetrical)
* The pinball machine ''Pinball/FlipperFootball''
* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsLightsCameraPants''
* The ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series
* {{First Person Shooter}}s:
** VideoGame/TeamFortress2 ([[http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Payload_Race Payload Race]])
** VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}
** Team Arena/Deathmatch/Slayer:
*** VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena and Quake Live
*** VideoGame/UnrealTournament
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} series
*** Shadowrun
*** VideoGame/HalfLife2: Deathmatch
** Kill The Other Team (no respawning):
*** VideoGame/GearsOfWar series
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2 (Arena, Sudden Death)
*** Counter-Strike (all games)
*** Shadowrun
*** Some player-made gametypes in Franchise/{{Halo}}, with an official version in VideoGame/Halo5Guardians.
*** VideoGame/WorldOfTanks - Standard Battles.
** CaptureTheFlag:
*** Both teams have a flag:
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} (being the source of the WebOriginal comedy of this name.)
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2
*** Half-Life 2: CTF
*** VideoGame/{{Quake}} - This gametype originated here.
*** VideoGame/WorldOfTanks - Standard Battles have a base for each team rather than a flag - capturing the enemy base wins the match regardless.
*** One flag for both teams to capture:
*** Franchise/{{Halo}}
*** Shadowrun
** Control The Points:
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} has various gametypes, like Territories, which are this.
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2 (symmetric CP maps, tc_hydro (middle 4 points))
*** VideoGame/DayOfDefeat
*** VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters
*** [[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield series]] - Conquest
*** ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' - Terrain Control
** King of the Hill:
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} series
*** VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters
*** VideoGame/WorldOfTanks - Encounter Battles - a single base that can be captured by either side but capturing stops if both teams have tanks in the base.
* Every MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena games.
** VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients
** VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}
** VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth
** VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends
** VideoGame/{{Smite}}
** VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm

!!!Attack and Defense
Two teams have different objectives.

Examples:
* {{First Person Shooter}}s:
** Escort The VIP(s):
*** VIP in Franchise/{{Halo}}.
*** VideoGame/CounterStrike
*** VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic
*** VideoGame/Left4Dead (Versus mode), where the Survivor team are the [=VIPs=]
*** VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV (Cops n' Crooks, Witness Protection)
*** VideoGame/{{Dystopia}} (dys_cybernetic)
** Assault with the Bomb (The opposing team has to get an object into the other team's base (and possibly arm it) after which time the other team may or may not have time to stop it before it explodes):
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2 (Payload)
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} (Assault)
*** Counter-Strike (de_ maps)
*** DayOfDefeat Source
*** VideoGame/RainbowSixSiege
** Capture Their Flag:
*** 1 Flag in Franchise/{{Halo}}.
*** Shadowrun
*** VideoGame/WorldOfTanks - Assault Matches - a single base to defend or capture depending on the side you are playing.
** Capture Their Points:
*** VideoGame/TeamFortress2 (asymmetric CP, tc_hydro (final base))
*** Franchise/{{Halo}}
*** VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV (Turf War)
*** VideoGame/{{Dystopia}} (all maps)
** Other:
*** VideoGame/MidnightGhostHunt - First the ghosts hide while the ghost hunters try to catch them, then the hunters survive while the powered up ghosts try to kill them.

!!!Commander and Fighters
One player on a team interacts in the game in a diferent fashion from the rest, eg. a Commander with a RealTimeStrategy view of the battlefield while the rest of the team fights in a FirstPersonShooter view.

Examples:
* The Half-Life mod NaturalSelection.
* One of the earlier ideas kicked around for VideoGame/TeamFortress2.
* VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}, though the Commander can also fight him/herself.
* ''Videogame/{{Battlezone1998}}''. [[note]]In multiplayer, the "Commander" player on each team will build the base and units, and can switch between piloting his hovertank like the other non-commander players, or using a sky-eye camera. Non-commanders can be given combat vehicles and a few support units, and their role is to do most of the dirty work for the Commander - attacking the enemy and defending the base.[[/note]]

!!3 or 4 sided

!!!4-Square
The playfield is set up for no more than 4 players, eg. each player gets a corner of the playfield. Most commonly seen in the days of the N64 when systems could have no more than 4 players at any one time. If there are three players/teams, one team is visibly absent.

Examples:
* Some minigames in ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium''
* Some ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' minigames
* Common in RealTimeStrategy games.
* ''VideoGame/BattleHunter'', sans the "visibly absent" part
* ''VideoGame/{{Warlords}}'', one of the earliest games of this kind
* The UrExample is ''Quadrapong'', a 4-player version of ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'' released in 1974.

!!!1 vs. 3
One player/team must fight another team of 2 or 3 other teams/players. The game is balanced so the single player is in a position of power.

Examples:
* some Mario Party minigames
* Much rarer, but also appears in RealTimeStrategy.

!!!VideoGame/PiratesVikingsAndKnights
There are 3 distinct and different classes/teams. Difficult to balance and rarely seen outside the Half-Life mod Pirates, Vikings and Knights.

* Aliens vs. Predator (vs. Human Marines)
* VideoGame/ForHonor

!!Free-For-All
The game has as many competing groups as the player count permits.

!!!Player Versus Everyone
Every player plays against every other player.

Examples:
* VideoGame/MarioParty
* VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}
* VideoGame/SuperSmashBros
* Armor Games' [[WebGames Web Game]] ''Stick Arena Ballistick''
* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsLightsCameraPants''
* ''VideoGame/{{BearZerkers}}''
* FirstPersonShooter games (sans the word "Team"):
** Deathmatch/Slayer/Arena (the most common gametype, where everybody just tries to kill everybody else as much as possible):
*** VideoGame/{{Doom}}
*** Franchise/{{Halo}}
*** VideoGame/{{Quake}}
*** VideoGame/HalfLife1
*** VideoGame/HalfLife2: Deathmatch
*** VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters
*** VideoGame/{{Unreal}}
*** VideoGame/GearsOfWar2 does this with teams of 2.
*** VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV
*** VideoGame/{{Towerfall}}
!! King of the Hill:
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} series
*** Metroid Prime Hunters
** Be A Man, Beat The Man:
*** Franchise/{{Halo}} series (Juggernaut)
*** Metroid Prime Hunters (Prime Hunter)

!!!Multi-Team
Players can cooperate in their own sets of groups in any permutation allowed by the player limit.

Examples:
* VideoGame/MarioKart Double Dash!!
* Franchise/{{Halo}}
* VideoGame/SuperSmashBros
* VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV (Car Jack City, Mafiya Work)

!! BattleRoyaleGame:
Players drop into a map, scavenge for weapons and equipment to keep them alive, and kill each other until only one player (or team) remains. All while outrunning an AdvancingWallOfDoom that acts as a time limit.

Examples:

* VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}
* VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattleGrounds
* VideoGame/ApexLegends
* VideoGame/Tetris99
* VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4 - Blackout gamemode
----