[This is a modified comment from Tobold's blog]
Things become work when they are predictable. When you know that boss X drops that item with 23.4% that is quasi-predictable. When you need exactly 4.56=5 runs for item Y (badge system) it is even more predictable.
Remove the predictability of the result and allow players to roughly walk in the right direction and they will enjoy the way.
Humans like to bring order into chaos. Most boss fights are like that and all internet game resources pages serve that purpose. We all want to be able to predict the exact amount of € we earn this month, and when we need to wake up tomorrow.
But just like in real life, predictability leads to the feeling of work (=grinding). Even if there are good reasons (like sustaining a family).
You basically solved the problem and all that is left is the execution. Execution is boring.
What we actually like is predicting. It's not the result, but the effort.
I liked running dungeons in WoW for a long time before raiding started and even after that. It was hard to set up a good group. The dungeons were dangerous and you could make a difference. I was happy when some item dropped that was a slight update. I was proud that my equip consisted of dungeon-dropped blues.
I ran dungeons very often (very rarely compared to today). I didn't know how much better the new boots were. I did my own approximate calculations, but in the end I just cared that the new boots were better. I didn't expect to feel a difference, but I had the feeling that these new boots were real good. Maybe I did have some best-in-slot items back then. I didn't know. Even after countless dungeon runs the game managed to surprise me again and again with items that had never dropped before.
I understand that internet resource pages do ruin that experience to a degree. But game design is not powerless in this fight. I like carrots somewhere at the horizon. Blizzard nowdays puts a carrot 1 cm in front of my eyes.
Life is best if you wake up in the morning and only then start thinking about what you want to do with the day. If there are many possibilities and none of them are predictable, but you know that all will be at least a little beneficial to you in the end.
This is exactly what a MMO needs to be like. This is what WoW was for quite some time in the beginning. And this is why I will never understand the badge system.
Things become work when they are predictable. When you know that boss X drops that item with 23.4% that is quasi-predictable. When you need exactly 4.56=5 runs for item Y (badge system) it is even more predictable.
Remove the predictability of the result and allow players to roughly walk in the right direction and they will enjoy the way.
Humans like to bring order into chaos. Most boss fights are like that and all internet game resources pages serve that purpose. We all want to be able to predict the exact amount of € we earn this month, and when we need to wake up tomorrow.
But just like in real life, predictability leads to the feeling of work (=grinding). Even if there are good reasons (like sustaining a family).
You basically solved the problem and all that is left is the execution. Execution is boring.
What we actually like is predicting. It's not the result, but the effort.
I liked running dungeons in WoW for a long time before raiding started and even after that. It was hard to set up a good group. The dungeons were dangerous and you could make a difference. I was happy when some item dropped that was a slight update. I was proud that my equip consisted of dungeon-dropped blues.
I ran dungeons very often (very rarely compared to today). I didn't know how much better the new boots were. I did my own approximate calculations, but in the end I just cared that the new boots were better. I didn't expect to feel a difference, but I had the feeling that these new boots were real good. Maybe I did have some best-in-slot items back then. I didn't know. Even after countless dungeon runs the game managed to surprise me again and again with items that had never dropped before.
I understand that internet resource pages do ruin that experience to a degree. But game design is not powerless in this fight. I like carrots somewhere at the horizon. Blizzard nowdays puts a carrot 1 cm in front of my eyes.
Life is best if you wake up in the morning and only then start thinking about what you want to do with the day. If there are many possibilities and none of them are predictable, but you know that all will be at least a little beneficial to you in the end.
This is exactly what a MMO needs to be like. This is what WoW was for quite some time in the beginning. And this is why I will never understand the badge system.
>Life is best if you wake up in the morning and only then start thinking about what you want to to with the day. If there are many possibilities and none of them are predictable, but you know that all will be at least a little beneficial to you in the end.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the first sentence; it's a nice quote, should I just attribute it to 'Nils?' The second sentence irks me... what if one of those possibilities results in your death? Or in a video game sense, a repair bill? Is that still beneficial?
>This is exactly what a MMO needs to be like.
This makes me very curious about the GW2 announcements... none of them fall under the unpredictable category. You could perform an example bandits vs town siege and pause at various stages to get a finite number of points where a player could join in. The 'dynamic' events GW2 proposes to have are still scripted... they just have a more variable set of solutions. Meaning they will (read:should) last us longer than a WoW quest hub, but eventually, a player will be able to say "I know this zone will be in X, Y, or Z state" and be right.
That is, a typical quest hub solution set is a single value, the state in which you last left it: {X}; and the solution set of a GW2 'Dynamic Zone' is a multi-value solution set: {X, Y, Z}
Knowing things really kills the magic, doesn't it? :(
If you wake up in the morning and don't know what to do, but no matter what you, do everything will end in disaster, life, obviously, is not fun :)
ReplyDeleteGames should allow you to keep a positive basic attitude at every second. This has to be balanced against the possibility of loss.
This, however, is not new. Humans are quite capable of looking into the future optimistically, although there is the possibility of loss. Let's call assuredness.
Employing a few psychologists shoudn't be much of a problem if you want to make a AAA billion-dollar revenue MMO.
About GW2:
It's a nice try, this dynamic quest system. I like it. But I do not think it is the saving feature of MMOROGs. It will be nice, if it works.
Knowing things really kills the magic, doesn't it? :(
ReplyDeleteYes it does :(.
But gamed designers aren't powerless. They can randomize things between different servers.
They can give each server a different world map.
The internet resource sites depend on critical mass. That is why there are such 'good' pages online for WoW.
The very least developer could do, is not use a badge system for everything. A little bit of 'work' in an MMO is good; too much is very bad.