There are several distinct types of Multiplayer modes in Video Games. This trope is a Sister Trope of Meta Multiplayer, Co-Op Multiplayer and Massively Multiplayer.

See also Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode, where multiplayer modes are featured in games that are really designed for single-player.

Competitive

Players directly compete against each other (Player Versus Player) and possibly characters controlled by the CPU. May organize players into teams. Usually the main feature of Fighting Games, sports games, 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:

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.

Perfect Dark (subtrope namer)
Banjo-Tooie, in the Dummied Out "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:

Bloodline Champions
Wii Sports
Rock Band (Battle of the Bands)
NHL 09 (Online Team Play mode)
War Thunder (Some modes have asymmetry, but most are relatively symmetrical)
First Person Shooters:
- Team Fortress 2 (Payload Race)
- Team Arena/Deathmatch/Slayer:
  - Quake III Arena and Quake Live
  - Unreal Tournament
  - Halo series
  - Shadowrun
  - Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
- Kill The Other Team (no respawning):
  - Gears of War series
  - Team Fortress 2 (Arena, Sudden Death)
  - Counter-Strike (all games)
  - Shadowrun
  - Some player made gametypes in Halo 3.
  - World Of Tanks - Standard Battles.
- Capture the Flag:
  - Both teams have a flag:
  - Halo (being the source of the Web Original comedy of this name.)
  - Team Fortress 2
  - Half-Life 2: CTF
  - Quake - This gametype originated here.
  - World Of Tanks - 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:
  - Halo 2 and 3
  - Shadowrun
- Control The Points:
  - Halo 3 has Territories, which is this.
  - Team Fortress 2 (symmetric CP maps, tc_hydro (middle 4 points))
  - Day Of Defeat
  - Metroid Prime Hunters
  - Battlefield series
- King of the Hill:
  - Team Fortress 2
  - Halo series
  - Metroid Prime Hunters
  - World Of Tanks - Encounter Battles - a single base that can be captured by either side but capturing stops if both teams have tanks in the base.

Attack and Defense

Two teams have different objectives.

Examples:

First Person Shooters:
- Escort The VIP(s):
  - VIP in Halo.
  - Counter-Strike (cs_ hostage maps)
  - Team Fortress Classic
  - Left 4 Dead (Versus mode), where the Survivor team are the VI Ps
  - Grand Theft Auto IV (Cops n' Crooks, Witness Protection)
  - 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):
  - Team Fortress 2 (Payload)
  - Halo 2 and 3 (Assault)
  - Counter-Strike (de_ maps)
  - Day Of Defeat Source
- Capture Their Flag:
  - 1 Flag in Halo.
  - Shadowrun
  - World Of Tanks - Assault Matches - a single base to defend or capture depending on the side you are playing.
- Capture Their Points:
  - Team Fortress 2 (asymmetric CP, tc_hydro (final base))
  - Halo 2 and 3
  - Grand Theft Auto IV (Turf War)
  - Dystopia (all maps)

Commander and Fighters

One player on a team interacts in the game in a diferent fashion from the rest, eg. a Commander with a Real Time Strategy view of the battlefield while the rest of the team fights in a First-Person Shooter view.

Examples:

The Half-Life mod Natural Selection.
One of the earlier ideas kicked around for Team Fortress 2.
Battlefield, though the Commander can also fight him/herself.
Battlezone1998. *
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.

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 Pok�mon Stadium
Some Mario Party minigames
Common in Real Time Strategy games.
Battle Hunter, sans the "visibly absent" part
Warlords, one of the earliest games of this kind
The Ur Example is Quadrapong, a 4-player version of 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 Real Time Strategy.

Pirates Vikings And Knights

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)

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:

Mario Party
Bomberman
Super Smash Bros
Armor Games' Web Game Stick Arena Ballistick
First-Person Shooter games (sans the word "Team"):
- Deathmatch/Slayer/Arena (the most common gametype, where everybody just tries to kill everybody else as much as possible):
  - Doom
  - Halo
  - Quake
  - Half-Life
  - Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
  - Metroid Prime Hunters
  - Unreal
  - Gears of War 2 does this with teams of 2.
  - Grand Theft Auto IV
- King of the Hill:
  - Halo series
  - Metroid Prime Hunters
- Be A Man, Beat The Man:
  - 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:

Mario Kart Double Dash!!
Halo 2 and 3
Super Smash Bros
Grand Theft Auto IV (Car Jack City, Mafiya Work)

Asymmetric Multiplayer

Video Game Genres

Co-Op Multiplayer

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Competitive

2-Sided Competition

2 Player

Counter-Op

Red Versus Blue

Attack and Defense

Commander and Fighters

3 or 4 sided

4-Square

1 vs. 3

Pirates Vikings And Knights

Free-For-All

Player Versus Everyone

Multi-Team

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Competitive

2-Sided Competition

2 Player

Counter-Op

Red Versus Blue

Attack and Defense

Commander and Fighters

3 or 4 sided

4-Square

1 vs. 3

Pirates Vikings And Knights

Free-For-All

Player Versus Everyone

Multi-Team

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tools

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toys