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Seduction Secrets In Video Game Design
Hugh Pickens writes "Drawing on cognitive science, an increasing number of game theorists and designers say that our growing love of video games has important things to tell us about our intrinsic desires and motivations. Central to it all is a simple theory – that games are fun because they teach us interesting things and they do it in a way that our brains prefer – through systems and puzzles. 'With games, learning is the drug,' writes Raph Koster, the designer of seminal multiplayer fantasy games such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. 'In game theory, this is often spoken of as the "magic circle": you enter into a realm where the rules of the real world don't apply – and typically being judged on success and failure is part of the real world. People need to feel free to try things and to learn without being judged or penalised.' Another important element is autonomy as games tap into our need to have control. This is very obvious in 'god games' such as The Sims, where we shape the lives of virtual humans, but it's becoming a vital element of action adventures and shooters, too. Finally another important game design facet is 'disproportionate feedback,' in which players are hugely rewarded for achieving very simple tasks. In highly successful shooters such as Call of Duty and Bulletstorm, when an enemy is shot, they don't just collapse to the floor, they explode into chunks. 'You're good, you're a success – you're powerful,' writes Stuart. 'Disproportionate feedback is an endorphin come-on.'"
Games are attractive because they train you with positive reinforcement quickly delivered.
More complex theories are superfluous.
I think it's hyperbole rather than bad research. Deaths in video games are more dramatic and often more bloody that they would be in real-life.
If he designed pre-NGE Galaxies, his advice is valid.
Raph Koster designed pre-NGE Galaxies, yes.
However, he was still working at SOE when NGE hit in 2005, not departing SOE until 2006.. I don't know if he was still working on SWG or not, though.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
A big part of games is learning, but also that of mastery and accomplishment. People like to get things done, and they also like to feel that they're constantly getting better. Today's games have picked up on this and virtually all of them have "achievements". People like these because they can put numbers to what they've done and compare themselves to others easily. If I have a thousand achievement points, I obviously much better than the guy over there with just fifty.
For all the time and effort that high budget games put into fancy graphics, they often miss the simple things that make a game fun (learning, achievement, mastery). Take Game! for example, it's deceptively simple at first, allowing you to learn things at your own pace, but for the OCD crowd there's so many things to find, combine, and cook that to do all of it is quite the task. However, more importantly, there's direct feedback in Game! about how many items you have out of the total, how many combinations you've found out of the total, etc. This gives people a concrete goal that they can strive for. Ideally, you strike a balance between casual and OCD so that casual players can play through the entire game without too much trouble (even if they might only get 10% of the 'achievements"), while the more OCD players can gradually work their way through every single "achievement".
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
Not regularly in Call of Duty, no, but they sure do in Fallout (provided you shoot them enough or have the bloody mess perk) and Borderlands (provided you're using a ridiculously high level gun on low level enemies.) And, yes, it is satisfying. Virtually seeing a head explode in slow-motion after you shoot it with the gauss rifle, with the body ragdolling around a second later is disturbingly satisfying. Taking a level 60 shotgun against a hoard of level 1 "badasses," and seeing torsos disappear, with bits of gore raining down, that does happen in games, and it is oddly rewarding. You do indeed feel powerful on some minor level, even as you realize you couldn't do that in real life even if you DID have a high power weapon and lacked moral qualms about slaughtering people.
In other words, the principle is right even if the exact example is not.
Furthermore (spoilers for modern warfare) there is that one sniping mission where you shoot the target's arm off. Again, satisfying.
I remember in Quake when you'd shoot someone up close with the shotgun their body would explode and their head would ricochet off the walls.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.