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Fourteen Forms of Fun Thrill of Danger"Exhilaration coming from a dangerous activity." Performing dangerous activities gives an adrenaline rush, which many people enjoy. As such, People try to find activities that give them a rush. This is why knights participated in jousts in medieval times and why today's extreme sports are so popular (in addition to the competitive aspect). Of course, this rush is associated with the act of doing a dangerous activity, therefore it is very difficult to recreate this effect in a videogame. After all, no matter how engrossed you are in a game, you still know that nothing really bad can happen to you. While physical danger cannot be reproduced in games, there are other ways to. Basically, a situation can be thrilling if the stakes are high enough. Poker, for example, is a game where players feel excitement when the stakes are high: the player's life is not threatened, but the potential financial loss makes each game a dangerous situation. A few games have used a similar strategy to raise the stakes, example of this, on the PC, is Diablo II. In this game, a special mode of play is available called the "hardcore mode". In this mode, if the player's character is killed the game is over, and there is no way to reload a previously saved game nor is it possible to get resurrected. This mode of play definitely raises the stakes and thus makes each moment of the game more important because it can result in dire consequences. This kind of play is not for everybody however. For example, a few PC games have shipped recently without the possibility for the player to save in the middle of a level - saves are only available between each level or at specific locations in each level. Many players complained about this because they felt obligated to play over and over again until they overcame the obstacle. While the inability to save anywhere raised the stakes of the game (if you die you have to play the level again, which players try to avoid), some players found it to be more frustrating than fun. The thrill of danger can make games more exciting, but it is tough to use it to make the game more fun and not more frustrating. Modes of play similar to Diablo II's hardcore mode or limiting the ability to save may help in this respect. These schemes should not be forced on players, though, in order to avoid frustrating them needlessly. One technique that could be used would be to limit the minimum interval of time between two saves. For example, a player could be allowed to save only every five minutes. It seems like this would limit the spoiling effect of being able to save every few seconds while not making the player backtrack a lot. Physical Activity
"Activities requiring intense physical movements." Sports and other physical activities are enjoyed by millions of people. The simple act of doing intense physical activities is enough for the practitioner to feel good. This aspect of entertainment is very important, but also extremely hard to use in videogames. Still, a few games (mostly in arcades) combine fun with physical exertion. A good example of this is the dancing games craze currently in Japan. These games, like the popular Dance Dance Revolution, make the player dance to the music, making them succeed if they dance with the right rhythm. Clearly this type of game uses the fun of moving to make the game more entertaining. Also, a few skateboarding and snowboarding games use an arcade machine with a board. This allows the player to control the character by moving the board in a way similar to actual snowboarding. While the intensity of the activity is less than for dancing games, these games still use physical activity as a form of entertainment in a boarding game. It doesn't
seem like physical activity will become any more predominant in videogames
than it already is. Games aren't known for requiring too much athletic
skill, and unless some radically new form of controller emerges, it is
highly unlikely that this form of fun will become common in games. Arcade,
on the other hand, can use this kind of entertainment with specialized
hardware. Love "Strong affection toward somebody." Love, romance and sex have been at the core of entertainment since its inception. Paintings, sculptures, stories, movies, songs, poems, etc. all use some form of love as a central theme very often whether it be romantic love, brotherly love, a parent's love for its child, the love of a country for its heroes, etc. Considering the all-importance of love in all forms of entertainment, it is amazing to see how rarely this theme is used in games. Indeed, very few games involve romance, at least coming from the western world. Sex games aside (strip-poker and other such games), it is hard to find good example of how love can improve a game. An obvious example of this, though, is the Leisure Suit Larry series, which involved a lot sex and sexual innuendos in a comic setting. The Japanese, who particularly like games involving more complex character interactions, create more games involving love. Just about every Final Fantasy game involves a love story of some sort, while Metal Gear Solid also includes a love relationship between two main characters. All of these eastern games are renowned for their great story, which might be more than just a coincidence. For a slightly different type of love, Black & White is a game that involves love and caring for a sophisticated virtual pet. In this case, the link between a master and his pet or even between a parent and his child contribute to making the game more interesting.
Love also exists in the form of admiration and appreciation from others. Games occasionally use this theme. An example of this is the arcade dancing games, like Dance Dance Revolution, which allow its players to show off in front of the arcade's clients. Good players can impress the crowd, and thus get admired by them. This form of ego boosting is a good motivator and can make some players come back to the game. Finally, since the release of Tomb Raider, the use of lust as a "feature" in a game has been popularized. A number of games have been released with a female protagonist for this very reason. Given these considerations, two obvious conclusions appear. First, love should be a larger part of games. Indeed, videogames are about the only media where love isn't omnipresent and therefore shouldn't be hard to create original content. The second conclusion is that showing appreciation for the player's skill when they succeed helps promote replayability. Having some character in the game congratulate the player character for succeeding after a tough level could increase the players enjoyment. Creation "To make exist that which didn't." The pleasure of creating something beautiful out of nothing is a feeling which many game developers are familiar with. Playing the finished game after years of labor is an incredible feeling of pride and joy. All forms of creation bring joy to its author. It is a good element to consider using in games because it is easier to destroy than create, therefore fewer games use this form of fun. Some games do focus more on creation rather than destruction, though. A notable example of this is the SimCity games. In all of them, the pleasure comes from starting a city from nothing and making it grow. The related game The Sims also focuses more on construction, this time the construction of a happy household. All of these games have their fun centered on creating something good and worthwhile. Incidentally, all of these games were or are incredibly popular, which goes to show that giving the ability to create to players can bring a lot to a game. Another good example of giving the power of creation to the player is with the current popularity of modifications for first-person shooters (mods). Since Doom, almost all shooters have had editing tools, which allow players to modify different aspects of the game. This has lead to a large numbers of mods, including the very popular Counter-Strike. Considering that the vast majority of mod-makers are not paid for the energy they put into their creation, it demonstrates how the ability to create can be an incredibly popular feature.
This trend of giving the tools necessary to modify the game to players is a good thing as it banks on the fun of creation to improve the popularity of a game (and mods give reasons for new players to buy the game, so this is a win-win situation). While this is a good thing, the creating is not in the game itself most of the time; it seems that making more games with creation as a main gameplay feature would be a good thing. Power "Capacity of having a strong effect, of acting with strength." Power has always been a very strong motivator. Everyday, people act in the hope of becoming more powerful: getting a promotion, a better salary, influence over some persons, etc. Many epic stories also involve a struggle for power. It is also one of the main motivations for the player in many games. Power is fun and it is easy to use in a game - this makes it a very useful tool for creating fun games. Examples of the use of power in games are easy to find, one of the most popular and obvious of these is Diablo II. In this game, the goal of the player is to become as powerful as possible. Everything in the game bring the player character closer to this goal. For example, the more monsters the player kills the stronger the character becomes, and it also gives magical items which help the character become more powerful, etc. Everything is centered on this single goal: the player character must become stronger. Command & Conquer and other strategy games are also a good example of using this form of fun as a central element of gameplay. A majority of time spent in the game involves building a base that allows creating an army more powerful than the opponent's, which in turn makes it possible to win. In fact, it seems that the majority of games involve the quest to gain power in some form. The use of power in games is relatively easy to include and is therefore a very common feature. Thus, the major improvement will be from a better use of this concept as a motivational force for the player. One example of this is how the accumulation of power is presented to the player. In a role-playing game, instead of putting a discreet "level up" sign next to a character's face, an obvious sound effect or music could be played along with special effects making the gaining of a new level an obvious thing, for example. This way, the player truly realizes that he is becoming more powerful and feels better because of it. Another example would be to allow, in first-person shooters and other games involving a single or few player characters, some character customization and improvement. By giving some statistics to the player character and giving the ability to improve them over time, you make him more powerful as the game progresses and thus make the game more interesting. ______________________________________________________ |
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