There is a new Xbox Live Arcade game called "Braid", coming out in early 2008.

I am aware of this solely because of an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (A major Australian newspaper), where the developer, a Mr Jonathon Blow, chose to wax inculpate on techniques used by modern games to ensure that players continue to play regardless of the actual quality of game mechanics. In one of his examples, he specifically refers to World of Warcraft -

http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/ethical-dilemmas/2007/09/19/1189881577195.html

Disregarding the fact that, as you may surmise from the first line, I believe this is just an obscure attempt to publicise his upcoming game, I decided to give it a bit of thought, to see if the concept held any merit.

On the face of it, it's easy to agree. As a one time MMO gamer, I am all too familiar with the game mechanics used to keep you playing, and it is easy to see parallels.

It is easy to see a level of Pavlovian conditioning in all the games we play - we are conditioned right from the outset to approach every problem a certain way in the game, whether it be through violence, randomly clicking the screen to identify "hotspots" in adventure games, or following onscreen prompts corresponding with certain activities.


A puppy, probably much like the ones Ivan Pavlov surgically implanted various things into

Many games ensure your adherence to its mechanic via a Skinnerian approach called Ratio Reinforcement, particularly MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. This basically means that after a predefined set amount of work, you are rewarded. the work required may gradually increase after each reward. Sounds like a typical level system, doesn't it?

However, when Mr Blow applies this concept to MMORPGs, he fails to address the other aspects and rewards of the genre. Ask yourself what differentiates World of Warcraft from other offerings in the MMORPG space, or other games with level systems for that matter. World of Warcraft is successful for the following reasons -

1. Accessiblity
2. Popular and Familiar World
3. Large Social Following
4. Sufficient Depth to Retain Long Term Players

Increasing one's levels may provide an incentive to remain in the game, but the overriding factors in levelling up are not some psychological reflex action, but a desire to experience new content/abilities, and the drive for increased social standing in game. While it could be argued that this is what Mr Blow meant, the article implies that players participate in these sorts of games purely because of these psychological traps.

If that is the case, why aren't other MMORPGs as popular? Why do relatively few people obtain the maximum level in the various Japanese RPGs that come out?


lvl 70 Tauren get all teh biznatches

Implying that developers use psychological traps to keep players in their games fails to highlight what makes each game so special, and cheapens the industry as a whole. Whether you appreciate a certain game or not, a lot of creative energy and hard work went into the production of almost every single game out there, and if the industry itself cannot recognise this, how can it hope to be taken seriously by others?