The first factor to consider in designing learner experiences is the interactional units, and to a certain extent, this will be determined by the size of the class. Interactions occur both between and within groups, and the language produced in both of these should be optimized. If the class is linguistically homogeneous, then it is very difficult to mandate target language use within groups. Therefore, the groups should be made as small as possible so that target language use becomes a function of winning the game. However, when there is a large ability gap between students, making the groups so small that they are individuals, or potentially contain only weaker students. On the other hand, groups mean cooperation between members, which allows the teacher to put weaker students with stronger students in judiciously chosen groups. Needless to say, in linguistically heterogeneous classes, it is important to distribute the individuals so that groups are also heterogeneous, forcing the use of the target language.
Another important factor to consider is how much competition should be involved. This decision depends completely on the character of the class, the individuals, and the types of interactions that seem to work well for them. Quite often, competition can be used as motivation to do comprehension or production tasks that would otherwise be mundane, especially in environments where real, meaningful communicative activities have limitations. For example, in linguistically homogeneous classes, forcing students to speak the target language to each other simply does not have the impetus of really meeting a native speaker, or even a non-speaker of their L1. Even if the teacher is a native speaker, the time available for one-on-one interactions with the teacher is severely limited, unless there are an extremely small number of students. In large classes, one-on-one interactions virtually must be limited to model conversations, because the teacher must plan constructive activities for the rest of the class not involved in the conversation - a model at least requires them to listen.
However, it is sometimes the case that certain individuals or classes as a whole do not react well to competitive situations. Whether this is because the competition gets out of control or because they just do not like competing with each other, games should be adjusted to have more cooperation. It is important to note that this does not mean that competition always needs to be eliminated completely - competitive aspects of games can be reduced such that they are less of them, perhaps just limited to the final score.
Finally, one important factor to consider in the learner experience is the product of the activity. In a game this is often simply the practice gained, the satisfaction of having played, and perhaps even the thrill of victory. It is possible, however, to include the creation of some artifact, especially in more cooperative activities. These artifacts can be sent home or displayed, but another option to consider is creating objects that can be used again in the same or similar activities, or as study aids, such as a vocabulary list or notebook.