Players Want a Dynamic Solitary Experience

Perhaps I have confused the reader by saying first that players want to socialize and then suggesting that players want a solitary experience. Of course the two do not happen at the same time; some game players are looking for a social experience, while others are looking for something dynamic that they can engage in by themselves. Sometimes friends are not available to play, or players are tired of their friends, or simply are tired of having to talk to other people all the time. Similar to the difference between going to a movie theater with an audience versus renting a video alone at home, the antisocial nature of single-player games attracts a lot of people who have had enough of the other members of the human race.

But games are distinct from other solitary experiences such as reading a book or watching a video since they provide the players with something to interact with, an experience that reacts to them as a human would, or at least in a manner resembling a human's reactions. The players are always in control, and can start and stop playing at any time. Thus the computer game "fakes" the interesting part of human interaction without all of the potential annoyances. In this way, people are able to turn to computer games for a dynamic and interactive yet unsocial experience.

Players Want Bragging Rights

Particularly in multi-player gaming, players play games to win respect. Being able to frag all of your friends in Unreal Tournament will force them to have a grudging respect for you: "Bob isn't very good in algebra class, but he sure can annihilate me in a death-­match." Even in single-player games, players will talk with their friends about how they finished one game or about how good they are at another. Players will brag about how they played the whole game through on the hardest difficulty in only a few hours. If one looks at arcade games both old and new, the high-score table and the ability to enter one's name into the game, even if only three letters, provides a tremendous incentive for people to play a game repeatedly. Players who may not have much to brag about in their ordinary lives, who may not be terribly physically coordinated at sports or bookish enough to do well in school, can go down to the arcade and point out to all their friends their initials in the Centipede game. Gaming forums are full of people bragging about how they beat hot new game X in only five hours, and then taking pride in doling out advice to those who have not made it as far. Even without telling anyone, players can feel a tremendous sense of self-satisfaction when they beat a particular game. When players are victorious at a challenging game, they realize they can do something well, probably better than most people, which makes them feel better about themselves.

Players Want an Emotional Experience

As with other forms of entertainment, players may be seeking some form of emotional payoff when they play a computer game. This can be as simple as the adrenaline rush and tension of a fast-action game like Doom. It can be the great satisfaction of having built up a massive metropolis in SimCity. Or it can be considerably more complex, such as players' feeling of loss when their friendly robot companion sacrifices himself for them in Steve Meretzky's Planetfall. The emotions that games are able to evoke in players are much stronger than what can be experienced in other media where the experience is less immersive and considerably less personally involving. Unfortunately, many games' emotional ranges are limited to excitement/tension during a conflict, despair at repeated failure at a given task, and then elation and a sense of accomplishment when the players finally succeed. It may seem strange that players would play a game in order to feel despair, but many people enjoy watching plays that are tragedies or movies that have sad endings, or listening to music that is out-and-out depressing. People want to feel something when they interact with art, and it does not necessarily need to be a positive, happy feeling. Perhaps the sense of catharsis people obtain from these works makes them worth experiencing. Many classic arcade games, such as Centipede or Space Invaders, are unwinnable. No matter what players do, eventually the game will beat them. These games are, in a sense, lessons in defeat - tragedies every time players play them. Yet the players keep pumping in their quarters. This is why players' feelings of hopelessness as a game repeatedly bests them are not to be ignored. The players are feeling something, and at the highest level that is the goal of all art.

Emotional range is not something computer games have explored as much as they could. The example from Planetfall I cited above is one of the very few examples in computer games of players becoming attached to a character in a game, only to have him killed later on. Many developers are wary of making a game too sad. But in the case of Planetfall, the tragic story twist of that game was exploited for all the pathos it was worth by designer Steve Meretzky. It is a moment of tragedy that has stuck in many gamers' memories. Game designers would be wise to concentrate on expanding the emotional experience in games beyond excitement and accomplishment, into more unexplored and uncharted emotional territory.

Players Want to Explore

One of the main motivating forces that propels players through many level-based games is the desire to explore new spaces and see new environments. Anyone who has played a progression-based game like Super Mario 64 or Morrowind knows the feeling of getting to a new and different level and wanting to just look around for a few moments before taking on the objectives at hand. And game exploration is not limited to spatial exploration. There is the exploration of different strategic choices in a game like Civilization, different types of resources to manipulate and combine in a game like Magic: The Gathering, and the exploration of the personalities of the characters you meet in RPGs such as Wasteland or Fallout. Though exploration is not completely integral to a pure gaming experience, the investigation of a fantastic world on one's own terms can be a rich experience that games excel at in a way no other media can.

Players Want to Fantasize

A major component of the popularity of storytelling art forms is the element of ­fantasy. Whether one considers novels, films, or comic books, many people experience these works to "get away" from their own "mundane" lives and escape to an altogether different world, one filled with characters that engage in exciting, interesting activities, travel to exotic locales, and meet other fascinating people. Certainly not all storytelling works portray exciting and glamorous protagonists, but there is certainly a large segment of works that is labeled "escapist." Some critics deride such escapist pieces of art, and indeed a lot of very good books, movies, and comics deal with more realistic settings and topics to great effect. The fact remains, however, that many people want to be transported to a world more glamorous than their own.

Computer games, then, have the potential to be an even more immersive form of escapism. In games, players get the chance to actually be someone more exciting, to control a pulp-fiction adventurer, daring swordsman, or space-opera hero. While in books or films the audience can merely watch as the characters lead exciting lives, in a well-designed computer game players will actually get the chance to live those lives themselves. Even better, these fantasy lives are not weighed down with the mundane events of life. In most games, players do not have to worry about eating, needing to get some sleep, or going to the bathroom. Thus, a game can create a fantasy life without the tedious details. And, most importantly, the level of fantasy immersion is heightened from that of other art forms because of the interactive nature of gaming.

Another part of the fantasy fulfillment element of computer games is enabling players to engage in socially unacceptable behavior in a safe environment. Many popular games have allowed players to pretend they are criminals or assassins. Driver is a good example of this. Though the back-story explains that the player character is actually playing an undercover police officer, players get to pretend they are criminals who must evade the police in elaborate car chases. There is a devilish thrill to outrunning police cars, especially for anyone who has ever been pulled over by the police. Though most players would never consider participating in car chases in real life, there's something tempting and enticing about engaging in taboo activities. The massive popular success of the Grand Theft Auto series is another testament to gamers' desire to break society's rules during gameplay. Computer games provide a good medium for players to explore sides of their personality that they keep submerged in their daily lives.

Players may also fantasize about events in history. If the player could have been Napoleon, would Waterloo have turned out differently? If the player were a railroad baron in the twentieth century, would he be able to create a powerful financial empire? A whole line of historical games, from wargames to economic simulations, allow players to explore events in history, and see how making different choices than those made by the historical figures involved will result in wildly different outcomes. While many people spend their time dwelling on the past, wondering how events could have transpired differently if alternate decisions had been made, games can give players a chance to actually find out how history might have been different.

Even without the elements of excitement and glamour, even if another person's life is not actually that exciting, it can be interesting to spend time as that person. Good computer games can provide players with the otherwise unavailable opportunity to see the world through someone else's eyes. As millions of gamers can attest, it is fun to role-play and it is fun to fantasize.

Players Want to Interact

At the beginning of this discussion of what players want, I suggested that it was important to create an experience that players would choose over one of the many other entertainment options presented to them, such as watching television, reading a book, or going to a concert. The one common thread running through all of the "wants" I mentioned above is what our art form can do better than any other: provide an interactive experience. Though we may be envious of a film's special effects budget, a novel's ability to tell a gripping narrative, or the emotive power of a great piece of music, no other form allows the audience to be the guiding force in the experience they are having. Games have found their greatest successes when they have played up the interactive nature of the experience and provided our audience with something they cannot get anywhere else. Game designers need to constantly keep this in mind as they are developing their games if they are to have any chance of winning players' attention.

A Never-Ending List

Of course, this exploration of what players want could fill an entire book. I encourage readers, whether aspiring game designers or those who have already had a number of games published, to create their own lists of what they think gamers want. Think of what frustrates you while you play a game and what parts of a given game give you the greatest satisfaction. Then try to determine why you react to a game mechanic as you do. What did it do right and what did it do wrong? This will allow you to establish your own list of rules, which you can then apply to your own designs. These rules will be part of what makes your games uniquely your own. Without feedback from playtesters it is often hard to determine whether your game is entertaining and compelling or not. But with a set of rules you can systematically apply to your design, you may be able to figure out whether anyone will like the completed game.

Richard Rouse III is Design Director at Surreal Software, a Midway Home Entertainment studio. Most recently, he was Project Lead, Lead Designer, and Writer on the action-horror title The Suffering. Rouse has been developing games professionally for over a decade and in addition to The Suffering, his credits include Drakan: The Ancients' Gates, Centipede 3D, Damage Incorporated, and Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis. You can find more information and his book, Game Design: Theory & Practice at his web site, http://www.paranoidproductions.com. Your feedback is encouraged at gdtp@paranoidproductions.com

This article is excerpted from Game Design: Theory & Practice Second Edition (ISBN # 1-55622-912-7). For more information about the book, please visit the links below:

http://www.paranoidproductions.com/gamedesign
GameDev.net
Amazon.com"
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