作者：Matthew Jackson

萝卜白菜各有所爱

我们可能都是出于不同原因在玩游戏；有些人是想要体验探索感，有些人则想要控制或统治对手，还有些人则想要体验强大且引人入胜的游戏故事。

而不管你属于哪类玩家，所有玩家类型中都存在一个共同点，即我们都渴望获得奖励。如果没有奖励我们便不会愿意继续游戏；游戏也就失去了意义。也许这听起来再显著不过，但有时候却也会遭遇忽视。就好像如果下一个颜色编码升级不是任务奖励的话，让玩家反复屠杀12只无用的野猪去提升经验值便毫无意义。

就像我们玩游戏的原因各不相同，这些奖励也是各不相同的：如在经历一个复杂的游戏过程后玩家看到的壮丽景观，能够让玩家角色变得更加强大的道具，能够让玩家通过角色做出创意表达的方式，等等。不管你所看到的奖励是什么，我们都可以将它们归为两大类别：内在与外在。

Uncharted4(from gamasutra)

一个重要的区别

我们在这里所提到的奖励要么是源自与控制，探索环境和游戏玩法相关的“纯粹”内在”情感（这便是内在奖励），要么是源自像道具/战利品/装饰物/成就等玩家通过与控制，探索游戏空间等游戏玩法进行互动而获得的奖励（这便是外在奖励）。

这便是它们之间的主要区别。哪种奖励更好呢？你是否应该更侧重其中的一种？这与你所创造的游戏类型是否有关？你的用户是否更倾向于其中的一种奖励？

答案很简单，如果你希望人们继续玩你的游戏，你便需要同时呈现两种奖励。

当玩家开始游戏时，他们通常只会专注于最显而易见的东西：视觉效果，世界，控制，游戏玩法，也就是我们所说的内在奖励。正是这些内容构成了玩家对游戏的第一印象。控制角色是否困难？或者控制起来是否顺畅自然？声音设计和展示是否会让你觉得自己融入了游戏世界中，或者游戏中是否存在一个导致游戏在你开始前便多次崩溃的漏洞？

如果玩家不希望这样的内在奖励它们可能便会在此停止游戏：如果游戏控制无反应或者游戏拥有较低的帧率，他们便不会继续游戏。当然了，不同玩家的选择也不同，但不管怎样游戏的整体体验都必须是一致的。开发者应该学习其它同一类型的成功游戏或者你觉得与你们的游戏体验相似但是你想要学习的内容。而有时候作为开发者的你的想法也是非常重要的。

尽早划分内在奖励

此外，根据这些奖励留给玩家的印象，他们可能会愿意花更长时间于此享受这些奖励。紧凑且具有回应的控制可以换到更多玩家更多的时间投入。所以当你最初开发游戏的时候可以更多地专注于这方面的内容。如果你不能有效设置这样的内容，你也就没有必要去创造一个机遇可破坏的环境和各种规则的复杂的boss战斗。因为从投资回报的角度来看这是没有意义的。

而当玩家更长时间地玩你的游戏，这类型的奖励便会更多地失去其原有的价值。这是毋庸置疑的。他们最初看到这类型奖励的“哇”时刻已经不复存在了。他们将早已习惯游戏中的控制，所以对于这些内容的使用和感受将不再如之前那般新奇。

那些如摇滚音乐会上的乐迷一般的玩家将开始专注于那些外在奖励。即为了完成某一关卡我需要获得怎样特定的道具？完成某一特定任务后我可以在排行榜上拥有怎样的排名？我可以变得多强大？为什么我需要花这么长时间才可以变强大？

不要忘记你的外在系统

外在奖励的开发系统能够帮助你有效提高玩家留存。对于游戏的玩家留存，普遍的关卡成就三星系统便非常有效。

《暗黑破坏神》，《命运》，《全境封锁》等基于战利品的AAA级游戏会给予玩了好几个小时游戏的玩家更高的破坏力/铠甲/治愈能力等升级，即它们都拥有非常优秀的外在奖励系统。而这只是有效的外在奖励的一些例子，如何设置也是取决于你的游戏和类型。

遗憾的是不管你的内在/外在奖励系统多么让人印象深刻，玩家最终都会对其感到厌倦。而除了不断完善并扩展游戏，或者开始一个全新内容外，你也真的无能为力了。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Rewards: Why you Need Both

by Matthew Jackson

Different Strokes for Different Folks

We all play games for different reasons; some for experiencing the visual wonder of exploration, others for a sense of control or dominance over foes, others to experience a strong, engrossing narrative.

No matter who you are though, there’s one thing in common amongst all gamer types; we crave rewards. Without them we simply do not continue to play; games are not work. This sounds obvious but it’s forgotten sometimes. Repetitive tasks like slaughtering 12 helpless boars to incrementally increase your XP can feel like real work… unless the next shiny, color-coded upgrade is the quest reward.

In the same way that there are different reasons that we play, these rewards can be very different: a beautiful vista after a difficult section of the game, items to make your character more powerful, further ways to allow creative expression through your avatar, the list really does goes on. No matter what they are, we can still group all of them into two major categories: intrinsic, and extrinsic.

An Important Distinction

$10 dollar words aside, all we mean here is that rewards can either come from the pure ‘internal’ pleasure of interfacing with the controls, exploring the environments and gameplay space; no need to achieve anything. These are intrinsic rewards. ‘External’ rewards such as items/loot/baubles/achievements that the player earns from interfacing with the controls, seeing the environments and exploring the gameplay space are considered extrinsic rewards.

This is a major distinction. Which is better? Should you focus on one over the other? Does it matter what genre of game you are making? Does your audience prefer one over the other?

The simple answer is; if you want people to keep playing your game, you absolutely need both.

When players first start, they are naturally focused on the obvious: the visuals, the world, the controls, the gameplay – intrinsic rewards. These are the things that make up the first impression. Was it hard to control your character, or did it feel natural and smooth? Did the sound design and presentation make you feel like you were a part of the world, or was there a bug that made the game crash 6 times in a row before you could start playing?

If they don’t feel like these intrinsic things provide their proper rewards they will generally stop playing right there: they won’t continue if the controls are unresponsive or the game has a depressingly low frame rate. This varies from player to player of course (sometimes wildly), but the overall experience needs to be solid. Never forget to study other games that were successful in your genre, or ones you feel are similar to the experience you want to achieve to get a sense of where and how much your need to push specific things. Sometimes what you think is very important, doesn’t matter that much to your audience.

Get Your Intrinsic Rewards Sorted Early

Additionally, depending on how impressive these are, your players can spend a relatively long time here, enjoying these rewards. Simply having tight, responsive controls can translate into crucial time commitment from more players. It therefore makes sense to focus on these things when you are first developing your title. If you don’t get this stuff right, why bother building a complex, multi-phase bossfight with destructible environments and a host of a special rules… with a cherry on top. It doesn’t make sense from a return on investment perspective.

The longer the player enjoys your title however, the more these types of rewards lose their inherent value. This is a certainty, without fail. That vista that was a ‘wow’ moment when they first saw it becomes old hat. “Oh THAT beautiful sunset with all the latest reflection, heat shimmer, birds flying by in the distance and swelling orchestral score… yeah whatever”. The controls have long since been ‘grokked’ and their responsiveness and impressive ease of use has faded from prominence.

Those who have stayed around like groupies at a rock concert begin to focus their attention (sometimes nearly exclusively) on extrinsic rewards. What customization items do I get for completing that level? What leaderboards can I dominate for performing that task perfectly? How powerful can I get? Why is it taking so long to get more powerful?

Don’t Forget Your Extrinsic Systems

A developed system of extrinsic rewards is key for player retention. The mobile free-to-play market deals its crack almost exclusively in extrinsic back alleys. The near ubiquitous ‘3 star’ system for level achievement can be incredibly effective in incentivizing returning to the game over and over.

On the AAA side, ‘loot’ based games that reward dozens of play hours with incremental damage/armor/healing upgrades like Diablo, Destiny, and Tom Clancy’s The Division all have highly developed extrinsic reward systems. That’s just a few examples of the myriad ways that rewards can be effective; it really depends on your title and genre.

The sad news is that no matter how impressive or deep your intrinsic/extrinsic reward systems are, players eventually get bored. There’s nothing you can do about this except to continually improve, extend and expand the game, or simply start on a new one. Leaving it the same commits the game to the dustbin.

How long can you ride the wild broncos that are constantly trying to buck you off for other titles?

Let’s hope it’s at least 8 seconds.(source:gamasutra)