A Missing Psychological Element (Or: Achievements and Other Stuff)
Nimmanu
NH, USA Join Date: 2017-01-14 Member: 226681Members
NH, USA Join Date: 2017-01-14 Member: 226681Members
I was 8 years old when I decided, without realizing it, that I would devote my life to understanding the human mind and the human condition, for lack of better terms. My goal has always been success, and leading others to it. With that in mind, I have studied human thinking extensively across many disciplines. From psychology, to hypnosis, to neurolinguistic programming, to success trainings by the giants of the field.
I'm also, as you might have guessed, a gamer. I've been an avid gamer since the early days of EverQuest. I'm going to talk briefly about EQ, because it is exceedingly relevant to my points here.
You may initially dismiss it because EQ is an MMO, but please appreciate that the gameplay itself was a huge part of the "addictive" nature of early EQ. In its current iteration, EQ is pretty well unrecognizable, and that's before we discuss the 'updated graphics'.
Early EQ was so well made that some few people found it literally addictive, and multitudes of others lived it as a breathing second life hobby. A hobby every bit as focused as car reconstruction, antiquing, etc. There was a reason why this (at the time) newfangled hobby was so immersive. That reason is what I want to discuss here...
Risk versus Reward.
EQ had something we call "corpse recovery" in the genre. Meaning, in short, that when you died, you had to go retrieve your stuff--often from exceedingly dangerous places. In one zone (biome, if you prefer), called Fear, there were frequently corpse recovery (CR) sessions that took days and several dozen people. I remember clearly 48-62 hour CRs to clear Fear. This was some SERIOUS risk, going in there.
The thing about EQ was that everything you got, you felt you really, really earned. It was a hard game. There was no easy mode except to never progress. This was what gave it its incredible, overwhelming attraction. People lived it, breathed it, literally even dreamed it... because both risk and reward were high.
Levels took forever, but when you finally got one, there was a loud DING! sound. Thus, ever since, to level up in MMOs is to "ding". When you got a level, there was a reward. The reward? Nothing but a SOUND. Yet people would spend hours doing the most tedious, unbelievable things for THAT SOUND.
This goes to the point I'm arriving at. There are no levels to "ding" at in this game. I love that, don't get me wrong! It's probably one of the best things about it. Innovative and amazing.
Yet, there are accomplishments, and there are things that you can do that will make things better for your survival. To some degree, you already have this concept in the game. Every time you get a blueprint, you get a nice PING and a voice telling you that the blueprint is unlocked. However, the PDA is there and available to be a greater source of "the carrot". Every time that you accomplish something major in the game, the PDA could give you that response that is similar to the DING of unlocking a level.
DING! "You have just created a Seamoth. This is a major step towards increasing your survival."
Now, a lot of people will puff up their chests and say, "I don't need anyone's approval," but this is nonsense from a psychological point of view. Praise is a human incentive that all healthy people react to, and even most unhealthy people, as well. Praise from the PDA, additionally, is indifferent and cannot be blown off as flattery. Acknowledgement of achievements is similar, in that it is not flattery, it's acknowledgement.
I would really like to see a lot more of this acknowledgement in the game. While getting your first diamond is great, it would help to acknowledge these accomplishments in order to give the game a significantly increased longevity. Replayability is going to rest on a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, on the second or third playthrough, once you get the Cyclops and you're cruising around and the like... you've seen it all already. This is where acknowledgement "reward" begins to be a huge factor.
This acknowledgement is there somewhat, with the "blueprint unlocked", but it needs to be much more robust, because once you get all of those unlocked, and you've made each of your vehicles, there's very little playability remaining due to lack of "reward" for your risk. Clearly, there are many forms that reward can take, but from a psychological standpoint, the single most powerful incentive is actually praise, not stuff.
I'm also, as you might have guessed, a gamer. I've been an avid gamer since the early days of EverQuest. I'm going to talk briefly about EQ, because it is exceedingly relevant to my points here.
You may initially dismiss it because EQ is an MMO, but please appreciate that the gameplay itself was a huge part of the "addictive" nature of early EQ. In its current iteration, EQ is pretty well unrecognizable, and that's before we discuss the 'updated graphics'.
Early EQ was so well made that some few people found it literally addictive, and multitudes of others lived it as a breathing second life hobby. A hobby every bit as focused as car reconstruction, antiquing, etc. There was a reason why this (at the time) newfangled hobby was so immersive. That reason is what I want to discuss here...
Risk versus Reward.
EQ had something we call "corpse recovery" in the genre. Meaning, in short, that when you died, you had to go retrieve your stuff--often from exceedingly dangerous places. In one zone (biome, if you prefer), called Fear, there were frequently corpse recovery (CR) sessions that took days and several dozen people. I remember clearly 48-62 hour CRs to clear Fear. This was some SERIOUS risk, going in there.
The thing about EQ was that everything you got, you felt you really, really earned. It was a hard game. There was no easy mode except to never progress. This was what gave it its incredible, overwhelming attraction. People lived it, breathed it, literally even dreamed it... because both risk and reward were high.
Levels took forever, but when you finally got one, there was a loud DING! sound. Thus, ever since, to level up in MMOs is to "ding". When you got a level, there was a reward. The reward? Nothing but a SOUND. Yet people would spend hours doing the most tedious, unbelievable things for THAT SOUND.
This goes to the point I'm arriving at. There are no levels to "ding" at in this game. I love that, don't get me wrong! It's probably one of the best things about it. Innovative and amazing.
Yet, there are accomplishments, and there are things that you can do that will make things better for your survival. To some degree, you already have this concept in the game. Every time you get a blueprint, you get a nice PING and a voice telling you that the blueprint is unlocked. However, the PDA is there and available to be a greater source of "the carrot". Every time that you accomplish something major in the game, the PDA could give you that response that is similar to the DING of unlocking a level.
DING! "You have just created a Seamoth. This is a major step towards increasing your survival."
Now, a lot of people will puff up their chests and say, "I don't need anyone's approval," but this is nonsense from a psychological point of view. Praise is a human incentive that all healthy people react to, and even most unhealthy people, as well. Praise from the PDA, additionally, is indifferent and cannot be blown off as flattery. Acknowledgement of achievements is similar, in that it is not flattery, it's acknowledgement.
I would really like to see a lot more of this acknowledgement in the game. While getting your first diamond is great, it would help to acknowledge these accomplishments in order to give the game a significantly increased longevity. Replayability is going to rest on a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, on the second or third playthrough, once you get the Cyclops and you're cruising around and the like... you've seen it all already. This is where acknowledgement "reward" begins to be a huge factor.
This acknowledgement is there somewhat, with the "blueprint unlocked", but it needs to be much more robust, because once you get all of those unlocked, and you've made each of your vehicles, there's very little playability remaining due to lack of "reward" for your risk. Clearly, there are many forms that reward can take, but from a psychological standpoint, the single most powerful incentive is actually praise, not stuff.
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