     |
 |
 |
 | | | | |
 |
|||
 |
||||||
          |
 |
 |
||||
|
The Importance of Risk in Basic Game Design
Risk Versus RewardGames are enjoyable for one of two reasons: either they challenge us in a way that we enjoy being challenged (say throwing a football for the player who likes physical challenges or making the right move in chess for the player who enjoys mental ones) or they fill us with the fear of loss and the hope of gain. The best games balance these two aspects, allowing us to modulate our risk by using our skill at the game without reducing our reward.[2] Imagine playing roulette with an unlimited supply of play money or doing a crossword puzzle where the answers were given right after the questions. These games, while enjoyable under normal circumstances, cannot be enjoyed in this manner. The first case, roulette, was never a game of skill, thus when we remove its risk it becomes dull and boring. In the second case, once we remove the challenge from the crossword puzzle we lose interest as there is no risk to captivate us. This is analogous to modern video games. If a game has a static reward but no element of risk then there is no incentive for the player to improve at the game. If the player does not care if they improve then the player cannot be challenged. Ergo we’ve removed both risk and challenge from the game and made it “unfun”. BalanceReward is the natural balance to risk but, if we confine reward to one invariable constant, we limit our ability to introduce risk. Instead of risk our game consists of a series of binary obstacles, passable or impassable. The standard game design solution to this is to make challenge A passable and challenges B through X impassable until A is complete. Once A has been completed something within the game changes to make B passable. This continues until the player completes X and gets the reward for finishing the game. Even games that are otherwise excellent can succumb to using this legerdemain (take for example Ico) but this is not an adequate solution.
It is easy to confuse an exceedingly linear game for a game with multiple rewards but it is important not to do so. Compare the game where you go through door A to get the key to door B to a simple crossword puzzle. The object of the crossword puzzle is to complete the crossword. Each word you fill out give you clues on how to solve the other words. You do not need any of these clues if you are good enough at crossword puzzles to simply fill in all the boxes but, for the most part, we use them to help us solve the words we are stuck on. Thus the reward for filling in a word correctly is assistance filling in the other words but the risk you run in incorrectly filling out a word is the confusion that ensues when you try and complete the words connected with it. The distinction here is key. The skilled crossworder can blaze through the crossword ignoring the hints and reaching his goal in record time but, if the crossworder’s skill is not quite what he thinks it is, he may get himself muddled, costing him time or perhaps the whole endeavor. The player in the door game on the other hand has no choice but to go through door A, even if they have acquired all the skills necessary to conquer door S. This becomes clearer if you examine the recent iterations of the Zelda series or any of the PS2 era Silent Hills. Both of these games have illusory rewards scattered throughout the game but in both cases these rewards serve more as milestones which must be crossed by every player who completes the game than as true rewards for a player’s skill and unique approach to the challenges presented them. Before we move on it is important that I address the cries of one specific field of game developers…the RPG developer. You may decry that your game is like the crossword, offering the player equipment and levels instead of clues, but here the subtlety of our problem really shows through. Many RPGs use the acquisition of levels and equipment to avoid the problem of challenge and thus of risk. Most RPGs use the formula “if stats are ≥ X then monster Y is defeated” (with a lot of window dressing to make the player think that they are doing something) with stats largely depending on defeating monster (thus earning equipment and levels). One can see the circularity of this issue. I’ll refer you to Progress Quest for further study. |
|||||||||||||||
Features
Previous
|
|
|