online kids games

Did I miss the part about incentives?

Emotions and behaviors are what drive user satisfaction and involvement, but (as a subset of the Mechanics) the incentives are what drives continuous play and (sometimes) addiction. Want to talk about the incentive scheme of many popular games, last but not least the Facebook?

For instance, casual games are a great source of food for thought. A game that has a nice progression of rewards/difficulty tight to a good emotional experience has in itself the potential to be very addictive (e.g. the simple Max Dirt Bike).

In addition to single-player game mechanics, multiplayer games add a social component that is a stronger incentive to play (reputation, status, interaction, socialization, even volunteering etc. become very relevant). Let’s think of MMORPG.

Let’s thinks of the greatest “MMORPG-like” videogame, the Facebook. Facebook is great in promoting interactions that self-sustain and grow over time (have you tried to tag a picture of a friend of yours?). The news feeds is a great example. The “gameplay” incentives are all wrapped up in the goals, incentives and emotions of your personal life, making it so powerful.

Let’s talk about bad incentives/rewards. For example, why I hate most MORPGs. Either I buy a level-50 character, or I have to go through the slavery of 3 hrs of basic training of my character, with tedious explanations of game mechanics, and missions that lack any style or drama or meaning (e.g. “Learn the ability: Fighting like a novice lvl1″). And I am completely lonely for hours.

After that, I still need hours of training to reach a level that allows me to survive a medium-size villain. The missions for the newly graduated hero are no less boring than the previous one. Whoever passes the tipping point will never leave (what a time investment!); all the others will go back playing solo Assassin’s Creed or kill time in social networks…

Talking to the aesthetics portion of your post, the main bit of Will’s talk touched on the dichotomy of narrative between movies and games and the specific emotions they tap.

“Films have a rich emotional palette because they have actors. Games often appeal to the reptilian brain – fear, action – but they have a different emotional palette. There are things you feel in games – like pride, accomplishment, guilt even! – that you’ll never feel in a movie. I felt so bad about beating my creature to death in Black & White.

Stories are about empathy, and games are about agency. “

I took that from a great summary of Will’s talk that is over here – http://www.wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/2007/03/sxsw_will_wrigh.html

Very interesting talk…

Cheers,
Randy Stewart