Moves in Mind: The Psychology of Board Games

I. Motivated Game Design

It is all about universe coherency, about credibility and also accessibility. The player has to “believe” in the game, identify himself with something and quickly get one’s bearings.

The tutorial is essential to guide the player in this development. This is an interactive part where the player becomes acquainted with the game. In general, the tutorial should be the first level(s) where the basics are taught; however, this should not be apparent. Motivated by his need to learn and to understand, the player will be even more receptive if the tutorial seems to be a “natural way to go”. A tutorial that only enumerates rules and controls is absolutely anti-immersive and not very motivating.

Once in possession of a "young hero’s set", knowing the bases of the world, the interface and controls, what motivates the player to go on?

The story? It is, indeed, a considerable source of motivation – considerable, but not sufficient. The narration can keep a spectator in suspense, but cannot in any case compel a player to act.

The world? Indeed, if the universe "speaks" to the player, if it is original enough and its coherency is sufficient, then it is a motivating element. If at the beginning it is necessary to discover the universe, then at the end the objective is to control it and master it. Even if it is not the principal motivation, one can consider the universe to be a background motivation if it is rich enough.

The gameplay? Yes, the game design is the essence of the game and it is here that we find the real potential for motivation. This is also the point that I will develop further on.

The motivation depends on the needs. After the first minutes, the needs of the player immersed in the universe are directly linked to the game. These needs are artificially created by the game design according to the tacit agreement with the player.

This silent agreement takes the form of a promise stated by the game design at the time of the presentation of the game’s universe and the game itself. For example, a RPG promises character growth combined with a measure of empowerment. A FPS, on the other hand, promises large weapons and powerful enemies.

This is an explicit shortcut to highlight the relationship mechanisms between the game designer and the player and thus of the motivation. In order to obtain more quality and more efficiency, we have to consider from now on the player as a variable of the game systems.

II. The PNRC System

We have to offer challenges to the player in order to entertain him and test him along with rewards that would motivate him to continue playing. Motivating the player is also to understand his needs with the purpose of fulfilling them. It is thus to know but also “to control” the progress of his needs in order to increase them, vary them and modify them from the beginning till the end of the game.

A reward can take several forms but it must be in correlation with the universe and with the player’s expectations. A reward is related to a challenge, a test or an effort, and thus must be proportional to the difficulty to obtain it.

To reward a player in a FPS with a bouquet of flowers would be a proof of no common sense. However, in a game of seduction this kind of reward is in adequacy with the game universe. Likewise, to loot Excalibur on a goblin or a rusty dagger on a giant are serious mistakes in the game design. The player receives a reward either disproportionate or inferior to the difficulty and the reward system collapses. Another dangerous and common practice is to have random rewards. Based only on luck, this system is difficult to tune and it can be a source of frustration to the players.

We have to reward for a given challenge, according to the difficulty and the needs. This is the PNRC system or the Motivation loop:

 

We have to know at any time what the state of the player is. By getting this information we can determine what his needs are, what rewards will be adequate and what level of challenges we can propose.

• 
  PLAYER STATE (P): This is the state of game variables of the player’s avatar. His life, armor, and the quality of his equipment, etc. It is also his talent, his knowledge of the world and of game mechanisms. We can say that this is the strength of the player.
  
• 
  NEEDS (N): These are the needs at the moment when the challenge arises. These needs depend on the player’s state and on his advancement into the game. There are also the needs added, by the game design, as the player goes along.
  
• 
  REWARD (R): This is the player’s expectation of the reward. The value depends on the type of reward (function of the needs); it depends on the estimated difficulty and also on the player’s past experience with the reward system.
  
• 
  CHALLENGE (C): This is the player’s expectation regarding the challenge. The value is high if the player believes in his own capacities. However, if he does not feel comfortable or if he doubts in his skills, the value is low.
  

Indeed, the function of time P(t), is the parameter of N, C and R. These three functions interact in multiplicative ways. As soon as one is null, the motivation for this player state is null.

For example, for a particular player state (P), a player can be demotivated when his good performance is not recognized by the system. Poor reward (R ~ 0) results in poor motivation even when the player believes in his own skills (C high) and his needs are significant (N high).

Another example: the player can believe in himself (C is high), and considers that a high performance results in high reward (R high), but he is too well equipped or armed (N ~ 0). M is then low.