From Pong to Super Street Fighter II HD, Mario Bros. to Gears of War 2, the role of the second player has been as competitor and teammate. Grounded in our primal ape instincts, competition is inherent in every aspect of our lives, whether it is pick-up basketball, pen and paper role playing, or just keeping up with the Jones'. Additionally, the need for a witness in a person's victory can only be matched by the exhilaration of wallowing in a competitor's defeat. On the other side of the coin is the shared joy in reveling in mutual victory through cooperation. And so, we have certainly evolved from rescuing the princess in another castle to the saving of the world from the Locust, side by side, guns blazing with tactical precision.



Competition. People like winning. Winning a promotion at work. Winning in the eyes of others. People like to win because that means that someone else in direct competition stepped up to you and lost. You were better. That is competition. That is why video games used to come with TWO controllers so people could battle each other in a digital form instead of clubbing your brother or sister with a foam bat.



In its early forms, competition between two individuals started and ended with PONG. The rotary wheel of the controller as substitution for hardcourt, racket, and ball. This was a rainy day replacement, providing a fully realized facsimile of tennis on the television. One could gather that the end result of a game of PONG that the victor was indeed the better competitor. Bragging rights from electronic competition was born.



The wall of quarters that lined the marquees of arcade machines through the early 90s and funded the retirement funds of many liquor store owners was due to Street Fighter II and the spirit of competition that rose from the digital blip of PONG and the need to separate winners and losers. Winner stays, loser goes. And no longer would the biggest physical human win in fight. No, it would be the most nimble of button presses and directional movement that would determine superiority. The second player would have no natural advantage to the first player, and this balance of competition is what allowed the fairest of fights. This is what made victory all the more sweeter. You, the winner was just plain better than your competition. The loser was relegated to putting another quarter in the queue and hope that next time, he would take you down. As champion, you had no option but to continue the battle, taking on all comers, and to try to beat them all because you were a competitor.



With Goldeneye, Halo, and Perfect Dark, the competition of the arcades have been translated to the home consoles, with after school competitions occurring in split screen fashion, with the most honorable people avoiding looking at the other person's half of the screen. In this game of mortal combat with firearms, it was all about honor and a fair victory.

Competition moves forward through DSL and high speed internet now, the competition that one faces is no longer a neighbor or best friend, but complete strangers. The options for competition has exponentially grown from those closest to you, to those that lived nearest to the arcade, to people that played Doom and Heretic in the same area code on dial up, to anybody and everyone that has XBL and PSN.

Competition is now global. The second player could be anyone now, and we all line up, because after all, I am better than him, and I can prove it. Just name the game.

Co-op- Working Together- Ebony & Ivory- "Cover me, I'm going in."



There's the feeling of standing over your dead opponent and putting your digital testicles on their face that causes extreme grief to the victim and a childish happiness to the aggressor. When the victor does this, his feeling of superiority can only be topped by knowing that there is a witness to his victory and shaming his opponent. The second player is that witness. Sometimes, the joy can be shared just by baring witness. Most times, the joy is unmatched when both players have contributed equally to this victory.



Mario Bros featured cooperation, where by working together, success was guaranteed. But, as with most things, destroying is better than building, and a simple push of your teammate into the enemy will cause a unique joy that co-op victory can't provide.

Halo, Gears of War, Resistance, and more recently Left 4 Dead, all provide a team setting to cooperate and try to achieve victory by sharing the burden. The unique component of human players and their unpredictable behavior provides an experience that the computer player cannot match. Computer players are based on algorithms, human players are based on feelings, skills, and stupidity. The human traits of the second player (even when some of their behavior is unwanted) adds to the overall experience of video games, bringing back the primitive joys and feelings of playing pong.



The second player, either through competition or cooperation has indeed changed the face of gaming. The make up of the player determines whether the experience is a good one or a bad one. And regardless of the experience at the end, working together because its fun or killing each other because you're the best and need to prove it helps to extend play on a game that without these options, would no longer be played, and we are all the better because of that.