作者：Brandon Sheffield

MUD游戏（游戏邦注：指Multiple User Domain多用户虚拟空间游戏）的联合创始人Richard Bartle表示，“今天有2000万人在玩《CityVille》，而本月访问该游戏的用户将达1亿人。我的问题是，5年后这些玩家会选择什么游戏？”（游戏邦注：据AppData数据显示，《CityVille》最近的DAU实际上是1762万，MAU则是8734万）

Richard Bartle from wired.com

他表示，“社交游戏最鲜为人知的重要方面是它们其实并不真的具有社交性。我们所指的社交游戏是那些依托社交网站的应用。这些游戏更多是根据平台归类，而非其社交属性。”

Bartle表示，“很多Facebook游戏虽被认为具有社交性，但它们其实是单人模式，只不过游戏表面上会要求玩家邀请好友参与体验。你很难结交新朋友，也不会形成社区，或者体验类似《FarmVille》中的活动。”

他表示，这类游戏确有社交元素，让玩家知道其他人也在体验当中，所以“它让玩家知道并非只有自己在丧失理智地玩游戏。”很多游戏是通过向之前游戏玩家推广获得新玩家。

“游戏并不是凭借有趣机制吸引玩家，而是通过外部奖励，基本算是贿赂。”这些游戏多半采用徽章奖励或推动晋级形式。他解释表示，“我甚至连升两级！而刚玩五分钟的玩家也升了一级！我还是略胜一筹！”

有些游戏确有融入有趣元素。他表示，“区别是社交游戏是依靠外部奖励让游戏变得有趣。玩家之所以持续玩游戏是因为他们能够在游戏中有所收获。”（游戏邦注：这已经演变成游戏化模式）。

“游戏化模式若掌握于设计师手中，定有无限潜力，但不幸的是其由营销者把握。我之所以提到这点是因为我所有玩家已经成为游戏化对象，虽然我还尚未接触过这个模式。”

Bartle是这样否定社交游戏的：“很多游戏设计师都不是社交玩家，我自己本身也不玩游戏。游戏显然有输有赢。社交游戏缺乏游戏玩法，这是它留给所有游戏粉丝的印象。这些游戏并不是真正的游戏。它们之所以被称作社交游戏，并不是因为它们真的具有社交性。玩家为什么会选择这类游戏？是因为游戏给予奖励。”

Bartle表示，人类是聪明的动物，擅长数据处理和模式比对。“游戏玩家会逐步知晓其中模式。社交游戏的问题在于玩家会日渐发现很多模式大同小异。”

他以小孩作为例子说明。“当你还是个孩子的时候，给你一颗星星，你就觉得很不错。”但当你发现即使表现不突出也能获得星星时，好友不再重视星星价值，你也会逐渐认为其意义不大，也就不再有获得星星的欲望。“最糟糕的结果是，人们逐渐发现‘这款游戏其实很乏味’。给你项任务让你完成，然后再给新任务。你不过是在不断完成更多任务。”

他表示，“大家5年后会玩什么游戏？不是《CityVille》。他们会选择其他游戏类型。他们不仅不会玩《CityVille》，也不会选择类似《CityVille》的作品，因为他们已经深知自己放弃此类游戏的原因。”

那么他们会玩什么？他们会逐渐发现还有比仅提供奖励之外更有趣的游戏。除非游戏中的物品收集活动真的很有趣（游戏邦注：即是在MMO中），否则只要出现扩充内容，它们就会变得索然无味。你不得不重新完成任务。游戏就变成纯粹完成任务。

玩家会希望接触“更有趣”的内容，不同人对此的理解各不相同。Bartle表示，“今天的社交玩家不会希望再玩更多社交游戏。游戏对他们来说毫无玩法可言，纯粹依靠外部奖励。所以我们能做的就是给他们提供更多游戏。”

他表示，“我喜欢社交游戏的原因在于游戏把原先的非游戏玩家变成玩家。我们需将游戏外部奖励转变成内在激励，因为这才是游戏的有趣之处。社交游戏促使新玩家接触游戏，这些玩家最初先接触小游戏，然后逐步希望体验真正的游戏。就是那种嵌入游戏机制的游戏。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Gamelab 2011: MUD Creator Bartle: ‘Current Social Games Are Not Fun’

by Brandon Sheffield

“Today, 20 million people will play CityVille,” said Richard Bartle, co-creator of the MUD, and father of the MMO at a Gamasutra-attended Gamelab 2011 talk in Barcelona. “And 100 million will play it this month. My question is, what will these people be playing five years from now?”

“The big thing about social games that they don’t like to tell you, is they’re not actually social,” he says. “Games played on social network sites is what we mean by social games … These games are categorized more by the platform than that they are social themselves.”

Most games on Facebook, “despite being called social, are basically solo games, with a veneer, just a simple layer on top where you ask your friends to do something for you in the game,” says Bartle. “You’re not going to make new friends, you’re not going to form alliances, or do anything like that playing FarmVille.”

The social aspect of it gives validity, he says, to let you know other people are playing it, so “it proves you’re not absolutely mad.” Most games get their players now from having advertised to players of previous games.

“The way they engage their players is not through interesting gameplay, it’s done through extrinsic rewards – basically bribes.” These are badges, pats on the back, and so forth. As he explains: “I’m level two! That person over there, who started playing five minutes ago, is level one! I’m better!”

Sometimes these games do have things mixed in which are actually fun to play. “The difference is, social games rely on the extrinsic rewards so as to be compelling,” he says. “People keep playing the game because it keeps giving them things – rewards.” This has led to gamification.

“In the hands of designers, this has a great deal of potential, but unfortunately it’s not in the hands of designers, it’s in the hands of marketers. I mention this because my player types have been used in gamification in spite of my never having touched it.”

“Most game designers are not a fan of social games, and indeed, I as a game designer am not a fan. Surely, if you play a game, you must be able to lose somehow.” Bartle says the backlash against social games comes “because they lack gameplay, which leaves this impression that people like games, but these aren’t really like games. And they’re called social but they’re not actually social, so why do people play these games? Because of the rewards.”

Human beings are actually pretty smart, Bartle asserts, saying we’re good at data processing and pattern matching. “People who play games will notice patterns in those games. The problem with social games is people will recognize those more.”

By way of example, he pointed to children. “When you’re a small child and you’re given a star, you think it’s pretty good.” But then when you start realizing you get stars for things that aren’t that good, your friends no longer value it, and then you subsequently don’t value it, and then you start to actually not want stars. “The bad aspect is when people realize, ‘this game is boring,’” he says. “You do one task, you finish it, and you’re given another task. You’re just making more work for yourself.”

“What will people be playing in five years? Not CityVille,” he said. “They’ll be playing something else. Not only will they not be playing CityVille, they won’t be playing a game that’s like CityVille, because they’ll recognize why they stopped playing it.”

So what will they be playing? People understand if something’s fun to play versus just rewarding them. Unless it’s actually fun to collect the things you’re collecting in games, even in MMOs, they’ll be worthless as soon as expansions come out, and you have to do it all over again. It becomes work.

People will want something “better,” which means different things to different people, he said. “Today’s players of social games will not want to play more social games,” Bartle asserts. “There’s no gameplay to them, they rely on extrinsic rewards. So what we have to give them is more games.”

“The reason I like [social games] is that I see it as a way to make non-gamers become game-literate,” he says. “There will have to be a way to migrate from extrinsic rewards to intrinsic rewards, because that’s what makes games fun. … Social games are beginning the education of people who started with small games, and are turning into people who actually want real games. Games that have gameplay.”（Source：gamasutra）