[Game Theory] Tell Me A Story...

Tell me a story...

A story?

Yeah. A story.

Well, what kind?

Hmm... I guess it really doesn't matter. You know, if I knew what kind of story I wanted to be told I wouldn't really need to actually hear it, now would I? I mean, where's the fun in that. Though, I will admit there's more to storytelling than the story itself.

I'm not sure I understand.

What I'm tryin' to say is that it doesn't really matter what you've got to say. It's all about how you say it. After all, a sequence of events can only go so far, and you have to be able to draw the line between mere documentation of an occurrence and truly being able to illustrate it perfectly for others to see.

Take for instance the well known Banjo-Kazooie. Here's a game that truly defines itself through its humor, wit and clever characters, despite having a plot that can be summed up into a few paragraphs. Granted, there are plenty of other great aspects of the Banjo-Kazooie franchise capable of carrying its weight, but many will agree that one of its defining features is that damned bear, Banjo, and his ever so daring friend, Kazooie.

Ahh, I see. So if you've got a weak plot you make up for it with interesting characters and witty humor to distract the audience?

Umm...(this is going to be a headache) Not quite. While it's good to have these things, you still need to have substance. I guess I over exaggerated when I said that your story doesn't matter, but I was making a point. In fact, it's important to have at least somewhat of a story to back these things up, otherwise your game could feel gimmicky.

Here. This time take the example of Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger was a great game for its time and is still enjoyed by many, although you might say it started some bad trends in the RPG game industry. Playing Chrono Trigger today might leave you with a bad impression. Especially if it's your first time playing the game. Without some sort of nostalgia to back it, you may find that it feels both dated and downright gimmicky. But what you have to consider is that the only reason Chrono Trigger may appear so gimmicky, is because after its release, countless ripoffs of the game have been produced. These days the use of such concepts as time travel, nonhuman party members and post apocalyptic scenarios are all too common. So despite their appeal to many gamers out there, including me, they can't be relied on to carry a game on their own.

Now do you understand?

Golly gee, that was an awful lot to follow. But I think I get the idea. Thanks to you and your grand wisdom, when I grow up, I'm gonna make games that don't suck!

Ha ha ha... That a boy, Johnny. That a boy.

High Ambitions this Weekend!

I'm going to accomplish three things:

1) Write the game theory I promised weeks ago.

2) Play through the entire new Mario & Luigi.

3) Review the new Mario & Luigi when I finish it.

Expect them in that order, as well as Mission of the Week for tetrisfriends.com this Monday.

[Game Theory] Designer Brand Levels?

I'm sure you've all heard of designer brand clothes. But designer brand levels? Alright, I'll admit it's just another term I coined. But that doesn't mean there isn't any truth to it? Come with me and take a look into one of the key elements of the gaming industry, and what I believe to be the most important to a franchise. Aside from characters, that is.

Level design is a very important part of the game development process, and is becoming more and more important every day. Hell, the college I'm planning on going to has not one, but two courses on it. And it's not just in platformers, RPGs, and other adventure games that you would expect. Even sports game are adapting some emphasis on their level design now. Even if it's as simple as adding weather effects to a field, although we're getting to a point where that doesn't even cut it anymore.

Recently I've been playing a lot of games that are famous for having some of the best level design in the industry, and by sheer coincidence. I have to admit that this article is a bit spontaneous and a little inspired by these games, because a lot of these games are personal favorites of mine. Games from the Megaman, Metroid, Mario, Advance Wars, and Zelda franchises, as well as some individual games like Oblivion and even a flash game called Use Boxmen(which by the way, you should all totally check out) all come to mind as I write this article.

Poor level design is one of the biggest things that can easily ruin a game for me. All too often I play games that have good mechanics and control, pretty good graphics, and maybe even a decent story or interesting characters, but I just get bored less than halfway through the game. Why is this, you ask? The levels just suck. They are uninteresting, uncreative and feel a little too much like that recurring dream you've been having. Few things bother me more than poor level design, and I'm beginning to realize it's one of the reasons I keep enjoying games of the same franchises.

Often times franchises like Mario, Zelda and Megaman in particular have their games feel like they are built off of a model that unifies them all. And this of course does lead to some repetitiveness, especially in basic play mechanics and level design. But while this can be a bad thing, for Mario and Zelda it usually ends up being a good thing. Personally, I love it when game franchises make games of very similar style but with defining differences. That feeling of an open world Mario level or a puzzling dungeon from a Zelda game. . . It's the very essence of what branding is supposed to be. And branding is the key word. Some game developers just don't seem to understand the difference between branding, and selling the exact same product, just in a different package.

It's quite hard to place my finger on what specifically makes level design truly shine in a game, but I urge any game developers(or future game developers) reading this to take this little nugget of wisdom: Once you have something that works, a framework, a blueprint, hold onto it. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you make a new game. Especially when working within a franchise.

[Game Theory] Risk, Reward and the Perfectionist's Wet Dream Part 2

In part 1 of this series I discussed the archetypes of gamers and the games that attract them. I talked about the behaviors they display and their personal obsessions. Now in part 2, I'm going to talk about specifically what it is that game developers do to appeal to these archetypes, and possibly get into some related ethical issues.

While it is true that these archetypes are labels I made up, proof of their existence can be found within their corresponding game elements and genres. One key thing to remember, though, is that even though archetypes can often be attributed with several genres and vice versa, someone belonging to an archetype does not always match up with each genre attributed to the archetype. Often times this is because people generally do not fall into one archetype, and that archetypes are incredibly vague. I think that in order to make specific implications based off of a gamer's archetype, many sub-archetypes would have to be defined and attributed as well. I've tried figuring out what these sub-archetypes would be, but so far every attempt has been unsuccessful. And although all of this sounds really confusing, it can be explained with what I believe to be a perfect metaphor. Think of gamer's mind as being a genome in which these archetypes would be the chromosomes and the sub-archetypes would be the individual genes. If this metaphor confuses you even more then refer to this. With that said, lets continue on to examine what it is the game developer does with this information.

While I do not believe my theory's have been formally taught to game developers throughout the country(it's not as if I'm a conspiracy theorist), I do believe that most game developers have a general idea of what it is I am talking about. I just have a different and more specific way of looking at things. After all, it's not just a coincidence that games have gotten better over time; and it's not just technology that governs progress in the industry. A good deal of psychology is involved, and this is most prevalent in a more recent gaming trend: the MMORPG. What is now becoming an industry in itself, MMORPGs are becoming more and more popular among gamers and the internet. In fact, if you are reading this article on my blog there is a good chance that the banner to the right is linked to an MMORPG. But enough chit-chat because I've got a few issues left I want to touch down on in this article that I wasn't able to in the last.

The MMORPG is many things. Some see it as an escape from a miserable life. Some see a cure to their social anxieties and a chance to make real friends. But most either see it as a big waste of time or a way to kill some time. The truth of the matter, however, is that the MMORPG is all of these things and much, much more. The MMORPG can be whatever you want it to be, and that is where lies the problem. Though I guess it's only a problem if you want to look at it that way, but it really depends on your personal philosophy on life. But now I feel like I'm getting a little ahead of myself, so allow my to put things into perspective. All complex archetypes fall victim to the MMORPG at one point or another. The strategist has a marketplace, a player vs player aspect and an entire population of gamers to manipulate. The character has the power to shape his or herself and the freedom to live out any sort of gaming fantasies they desire. And when it comes to the perfectionist. Well lets just say that the MMORPG is the perfectionist's wet dream. There are endless goals that are mostly unreachable within the human lifespan for the perfectionist to strive for. And game developers know these things. Why do you think MMORPGs and online gaming in general have grown in popularity exponentially over recent years(aside from the fact that internet connections have excelled and become more accessible.) Bottom line is that it's the game developers who decided to program the customization capabilities and freedom in these MMORPGs, and it's the developers who also decided to put easy learning curves and elongated growth curves on these games. Their jobs are very similar to those of cigarette company CEOs. They need to hook you quick and make sure you're going to stick around for the long run. Whether it be subscription based, in which you pay a monthly fee; expansion based, in which you pay for expansion packs that provide you with enough content to last until the next; or the ever more popular "cash shop" method of payment, in which you are rewarded with incredible features for small amounts of money that usually add up to much greater amounts than what you would pay for a subscription of a year's worth of expansion packs. Either way, the one thing MMORPGs have in common is that they need you to keep playing. It's not enough for you to just play for a summer or play until college comes and you need to focus on the real world. They want you, and they want you for good. And I have to admit, they even had me for awhile. And they might get me again someday. Just not today, because I've got too much to look forward to.

[Game Theory] Risk, Reward and the Perfectionist's Wet Dream Part 1

Today, or I suppose yesterday, I spent hours playing through old Mario games. It all started when I was at my friend Ryan's house. He was playing the original Super Mario Land on his Gameboy Advance. I distinctly remember him complaining about how he had wanted some coins that led him to a trap. At the time, I chuckled and didn't think too much of it. But as the evening went on the thought of this moment triggered something in my mind that led me to think more deeply about the risk and reward of video games and gaming in general. It has always been something that had interested me, but it wasn't until today that I had found it truly fascinating enough to write about. By the way, this is going to be a long article and it is going to incorporate a lot of behavioral psychology and video game references as I attempt to summarize my philosophy behind what makes games fun and keeps people playing.

Often times you might find games offering a plethora of rewards throughout. I would say that most of us keep playing games as long as we are continually rewarded, however it is important that the game offers a variety of different rewards and through different means. This is to ensure that everyone will have a reason to play the game. But for the purpose of this article, I am going to generalize everyone as being either someone who plays a game for pure entertainment to just kill a few hours(simple archetype), someone who plays a game for the sake of completing goals within the game until everything is done(complex archetype), or those who fall right in between these two archetypes of gamers. The typical gamer who is just looking to kill some time will often find enjoyment through completing the levels of the game or finishing the game itself. A good example of this is someone who sits down and plays one of the original Mario games for an hour or two and is willing to let go of the game very quickly after losing a few times. This is usually the result of the loss of the gratification of successfully advancing throughout the game, which can be explained by either a short attention span or just mere prioritizing. This example, of course, is an extreme. The other extreme would be someone who likes a game like Pokemon and tries to actually catch them all. This person typically finds gratification through individual smaller goals set throughout a game that lead up to a final reward which usually marks the end of said person's interest in a game. That is, however, until they decide they want to do it all over again. Now, assuming you have at least an ounce of sanity and are fairly intelligent - because if you weren't, you wouldn't have made it this far - you would fall somewhere in between these two and find yourself fluctuating between them from day to day. As a gamer myself, some days I don't mind spending up to 10 hours in an enormously immersive video game. One where you have to collect things and do side quests, and could spend hours just fighting enemies because the combat system is so refined. But in the same respect, I often times have days where I have plans or am just not in the mood to play a game like that. Sometimes an hour or two of Mario, or a few games of Advance wars is all it takes. So now that we've looked at these archetypes, lets begin to delve into what they really mean.

First lets look at the game you would play to kill some time: the entertainer. The entertainer is typically a short length game, or at least permits you two play for as little as five minutes before it rewards you. In fact, many games that fall under this category typically reward you so fast that there is virtually no depth within the game. To explain what I mean, I'm going to use Super Mario Bros. again. I would be surprised if anyone reading this didn't know a lot about the original Super Mario Bros. Eight worlds, and four levels in each. Every fourth level of the world is a castle and everything you can collect is infinitely available. And did I mention there is no saving? It's about as simple as it gets. And while Super Mario Bros. may be a classic, it is likely that it would not appeal to the complex archetype of gamer. Rarely, will anyone go out of their way to collect every single coin in a Mario level and rarely will that person go out of their way to kill every enemy. Most of the time it's as if you are trying to beat the level as fast as possible. And that involves little dicking around, cutting straight to the reward. Super Mario Bros. is perfect for the simple archetype. In fact, any game you can fully explain in under five or ten minutes probably appeals to this type of person.

On the other hand, there's still the complex archetype. What kind of games appeal to the complex archetype? Well, I would say the vast majority of RPGs, RTS games, adventure platformers and just about any sandbox type of game would appeal to the complex archetype. Although, I would say there are many different branches of the complex archetype. *sigh* I guess I should further explain each of these branches as well.

The first of these complex branches would be the Perfectionist. The Perfectionist is that guy who becomes one with the game. He doesn't skip anything finite and he will try his damnedest to find everything there is to know and do within a game. The perfectionist does not necessarily care about story or strategy, and for this reason is typically attracted to lengthy RPGs. For all you know, he is skipping cutscenes to make time for the level grinding required in his absence of ability.

The second complex branch is the Strategist. The Strategist likes to manipulate the game, and often times strives to spend the least amount of time possible playing a game. If he is playing an RPG he will not train. If it's a RTS then he will cut corners wherever possible. Be it using less supplies, spending less money or even avoiding ocd-like behaviors during the game. The Strategist focuses on a risk/reward mental process while playing the game. He/She is always three steps ahead of the game, and usually has no desire for extra content.

The final complex branch is probably the one I can relate to the most, or at least more than a lot of other people: the Character. The Character is deeply motivated to play the game for reasons tied into the story of the game. Although, not every complex game has a story. Sometimes the character just focuses on what they believe to be the role of their character is, whether it is stated clearly by the game or not. The Character is very attracted to story driven linear gameplay and/or customizable sandbox gameplay, and will often be either severely disappointed or enthralled by the end of the game.

So that's generally how I would categorize gamers based on what types of games appeal to them. I think I generally belong to the complex archetype, and often find myself being a cross between all three branches. When I'm playing a platformer game like Banjo Kazooie or an adventure game like The Legend of Zelda I can be bit of a perfectionist. But I'm primarily a Strategist when necessary and a Character when possible. What are you?