Passing

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In games that have Turn-taking, it is sometimes possible for a player to forgo his actions by choosing not to perform any. This is referred to as passing. A player or agent usually chooses to pass because it is in his or her best interest in the game or because the player cant perform any actions in the game.

Passing is essentially Taking Turns in which a player or agent is not required to perform any action.


Examples

Weak Examples

Civilization

In the Civilization games the player may strategically place combat units within a city that they expect to be attacked. Some of the units may have the ability to move, but it is in the player's interest to leave them to defend. In this sense, these units are "passing" (ie, not acting) in order to maintain a defensive position. If the player where to not to use any of his units, this might be close to "passing" in the sense of the player forgoing his/her actions.


Heroes of Might and Magic

In heroes of might and magic the player has options of moving or staying in a place but also they can just hit the next turn button without doing anything thus passing. This would be a silly strategy because it would seem counter productive but if the player is holding a mine with his hero and doesn't want a near by hero to take it back when he moves he might just pass the turn. This is still not entirely passing because most player would still do something in there castle even if the hero isn't moved. The one occasion when a player might completely pass is the player is hold a position and there are no new monsters to recruit thus nothing in the castle to do so the player passes to gain more money. Thus the example is only a weak example.

Final Fantasy VII

In the turn based combat system of Final Fantasy VII, a player may or may choose not to attack based on strategy or simply slow reaction time. This is a weak example because the player may not strategically pass but allow his opponent to strike continually while they remain indecisive on what action to do next.


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