作者：Pete Collier

强迫循环（Compulsion loop）是个很有趣的术语。这是个近几年刚刚出现的新术语，对于它的具体来源我并不了解，这个术语并没有官方定义，所以众人在传播时唯恐有人问起该术语的具体含义。

我给强迫循环下的定义是，通过动作和恰当奖励之间的联系来保持用户粘性的结构。这种结构事实上很早就有了，只是我们之前没有给它指定名称而已。

helm_chain(from petecollier.com)

这并非新鲜的东西，不同媒介有不同的实现方式，但是本质上都是通过奖励来换取关注和投入，当这种平衡被打破时，循环也就终止。

尽管如此，该结构也存在一定的复杂性，短期和长期的努力奖励是不同的。某些情况下，除了短期的兴奋感之外，我们希望自己开展活动后能够获得更深层次的奖励，如果期望没有得到实现，我们便会离开。

所以，我们需要研究保持玩家粘性的各种方式。我认为，同时对玩家产生吸引作用的强迫循环有3种，分别满足我们短期、中期和长期的需求。最具吸引力的游戏体验会不断通过这3种循环牢牢吸引玩家的注意力。

那么，我们如何才能让自己的游戏也持续吸引玩家呢？要回答这个问题，我想需要先了解这3种时间框架内的驱动因素，然后探索将其运用到游戏架构中的方法。

短期：全神贯注和顷刻满足

对于这个部分的内容，我们都很熟悉，我们在生活中时刻都会体验到这种满足感。顷刻满足是至高无上的，我们陶醉于能够直接产生结果和奖励的动作。

在所有类型的时间框架中，这或许是让玩家不重复做无趣动作的最简单方法。玩家的动作能够对游戏世界产生切实有效的影响，从而吸引玩家在游戏中全神贯注。

在短期时间框架中，全神贯注很重要，因为这会促使玩家接连发现游戏中的亮点和乐趣。在这种时间框架中，你对玩家的控制力是最弱的，所以需要掌握技巧，通过紧密相连的强迫循环来保持玩家专注于游戏。

该框架的目标在于让玩家产生归属感。让玩家全神贯注可以实现这个目标，因为这意味着玩家会将时间投入到体验游戏中。投入就必然会获得回报，这自然会让玩家产生好奇心并且逐渐增强，试图去体验各种奖励形式。

玩家开始关注游戏的时间点很重要，因为从这里开始就可以松弛强迫循环，构建更为长期的吸引力。

中期：构建和延长满足感

人们总是在不断寻找着放弃的理由。如果我们感觉不到自己的投入获得了回报，我们会很快发现这种情况并离开游戏。

现在，我们的生活中充斥着能够提供即时奖励的选择，尽管许多选择是虚假的，但它们确实存在吸引潜力，人们常受到这些因素的诱惑。

与以往相比，现在你的游戏更需要那些能够吸引玩家回到游戏中的设计。这就需要涉及到长期归属感，因为短期强迫循环即便获得良好执行也无法实现上述目标。游戏需要更深层次的吸引力来抓住玩家的心。

bee-on-flower(from gamasutra)

因而，短期和长期间的过渡点便成了关键之处。玩家短期形成的脆弱归属感很容易被破坏，好奇心也会就此消失。给予玩家开展动作的背景，可以构建起中期的更深层次吸引力。大型结构以小型结构为基础，所以架构短期活动应当成为设计师的关键目标。

中期强迫循环的任务是，将玩家从浑浑噩噩的沉浸状态转变成带有清晰目标的状态。动作奖励之间应当有联系，指向同一个目标。

当玩家处在中期循环中时，你就可以更加游刃有余地构建强迫循环。中期的目标在于延长满足感，该阶段玩家并非完全为了直接奖励而开展动作，游戏在向玩家承诺，如果他们持续下去能够获得更大的满足感。

长期：遗留和深思熟虑的满足感

和生活中一样，玩家希望自己的短期和中期活动能够堆叠产生长期的效果。我们都在探求自己做事情的意义，长期满足感便是我们追求的最高目标。

因而，朝某个方向努力便成了有着巨大吸引力的力量。通过我们的活动产生的影响和遗留下来的东西，我们为宇宙赋予了新的含义，实现了自身的价值。或许形成遗产是游戏行业遥不可及的目标，游戏设计师可能也不敢用此类术语来描述自己的产品。但是，我们确实通过玩游戏表达出了我们对这个世界的理解和看法。游戏在这个神圣的领域内着实拥有一席之地，能够对世界产生恒久的影响。

那么，从实际出发，我们要如何构建这种时间框架呢？何种奖励才能够报答玩家在游戏中如此高程度的付出？答案就是，玩家的游戏旅程本身就是种奖励，我们能够允许玩家构建出产生长期影响力的结构，这本身就是种奖励。这确实是种老生常谈的说法，确实是许多迪士尼影片的主题，但真实情况就是如此！

在长期强迫循环中，结构应当能够反映出玩家的成就，允许玩家展现出自己的精通之处，成为玩家旅程中有意义的部分。

结语

我们被强迫在生活中获得更大的成就，游戏也是如此。短期和中期的目标决定我们最终取得的长期成就，还让我们有继续前进的动机。当我们发现发展停滞不前时，我们就会寻求改变。

强迫循环往往被视为最糟糕的游戏开发方法，因为从某种程度上来说，它给游戏制作艺术添加了过多科学性的内容。但我的观点与多数人相反，我觉得这是很棒的做法。强迫循环的基础是人性，我们希望能够在体验中有所收获。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Opinion: Compulsion Loops In The Short, Medium and Long-term

Pete Collier

Compulsion loop is a very fancy term isn’t it? It’s a recently coined term, perhaps a couple of years old, I’m unsure of its exact origin. However, there is no official definition of it, so as a result it’s often bandied around with slight nervousness lest someone asks you what it actually is. This of course is the point at which you run away screaming, mumbling crazily something about Zynga and the horrors of manipulation, death and pestilence or whatever.

My definition of a compulsion loop is that it is a construct designed to keep someone engaged by marrying their action/s with an appropriate level of reward. But in essence it has been around forever, we just didn’t have a name for it.

The greatest creators of entertainment have had an innate understanding of it since we all sat around the fire scratching our heads as Neanderthals. It’s nothing new. Different mediums achieve it in their own way, but all essentially reward for attention and effort and when this equilibrium falters the loop dissipates.

Here is the rub though; reward for effort in the short-term is very different to what we want in the long-term. Whack-a-mole forever would be hell on earth right? At some point we want a deeper sense of reward from an activity beyond the short-term thrills and if we don’t get it, we move on. It is diminishing returns.

So we need to examine what keeps people compelled beyond the here and now. To this end I believe there needs to be three compulsion loops engaging us at the same time, tapping into our desire for different kinds of gratification in the short, medium and long-term. The most compelling experiences keep on giving through all these timeframes allowing people to form a deep and lasting attachment, which is of course a quality that society and all of us individually cherish in an experience.

So how do we aim to achieve this with our games? To answer this, I think we need to look at what drives us in each of these timeframes, then ask how that can help inform the way we structure our games. Of course there have been special games we all hold dear that have already demonstrated a masterful understanding of this topic and I don my hat to them. Hopefully then, these examples may pop into your head as you read further.

Short-term: Preoccupation And Instant Gratification

This is, of course, familiar territory to us all; we live it moment to moment. It is this glorious realm in which instant gratification rules supreme and we revel in our actions having direct consequence and reward.

Of all the timeframes this is perhaps the easiest to reduce the human being to monkey-mash-button-for-banana (I’m not going to mention the games guilty of this!). It’s here where the player’s actions should have a tangible effect on the game world and be sufficient as to preoccupy the player.

Preoccupation is important in the short-term because it is also the point at which us humans are most likely to take flight and find the next pretty flower to buzz to. Your grip on the player is at its most vulnerable so you need to be sticky and your compulsion loops tight to keep the player occupied.

The aim here is for the player to form a sense of attachment. Preoccupying the player can achieve this because it means the player will sink time into the experience. This is significant because investment inevitably seeks a return and the player will naturally develop a growing curiosity on what form this may take.

The point at which the player begins to care is crucial as it ushers in the opportunity to loosen the compulsion loops a bit and build toward something with a bit more substance in the longer term.

Medium-term: Construction And Deferred Gratification

People are constantly looking for reasons to give up on something. If we don’t feel we’re getting back what we put in, we’ve become very adept at recognizing the signals and moving on.

Our lives are now crammed with many opportunities promising instant reward and yes many of them are false and empty, but their potential for distraction is very real. You could indeed argue many people are permanently distracted by this chase (I’m looking at you western culture).

Now more than ever your game needs to give compelling reasons for the player to return. This needs to involve long-term attachment because short-term compulsion has such a weak hold, even when done well. A deeper hook is needed to keep the player caught.

The transition point between the short and long-term is therefore a critical juncture. The fragile attachment developed by players in the short-term can easily shatter and curiosity wane. That deeper hook needs to be alluded to in the medium-term by giving context to the player’s actions. Framing short-term activity as building blocks contributing toward a greater structure should be a key goal for the designer.

It is the job of compulsion loops in the medium-term to convert the player from folly and a dazed state of preoccupation to a sense of clear purpose. Action needs to be rewarded with a sense of contribution toward something, rather than being disparate, unconnected and meaningless.

If you still have the player in the medium-term you are affording more leeway with your compulsion loops but it is crucial that they are leveraged as much as possible. The medium-term is about deferred gratification because the action here is not about offering a direct reward but the promise of a greater one if you continue building.

Long-term: Legacy And Reflective Gratification

As in life, players want their short and medium term activities to amount to something in the long-term. We all seek meaning, if the short-term can be the worst of us; the long-term can be the most noble in our pursuit of it.

Building toward something is therefore a hugely compelling force. Through leaving something behind we add definition to the universe and therefore meaning to others. Perhaps legacy is too lofty a concept for games to achieve or indeed for game designers to dare talk about in those terms. But actually, it is through play that we express our understanding of this world and our part in it. Games more than deserve their seat at that particular hallowed table.

So in practical terms what do we need to achieve in this timeframe? What can repay the player devotion exercised up to this point? The answer actually is that the journey repays itself, it is the reward; the long-term structures we allow the player to build toward are simple reflections and distillations of this. Yes it is corny, yes it’s a platitude uttered in many a Disney film but dammit it’s true!

Long-term compulsion loops then, are afforded the greatest size but it is imperative that the structure reflects accomplishment, allows for demonstration of mastery and serves as a meaningful embodiment of the player’s journey. In an ironic final twist the long-term compulsion loop is but a mere apparition. It never fulfills its loop, but it doesn’t matter.

Conclusion:

We are compelled to draw more from life, as we are in a game, the more we’re engaged by it. It is our conviction of purpose in the short and medium-term that ultimately justify our achievements in the long-term and keep us motivated to keep pushing forward. It’s when we lose this that things stagnate and we seek change.

Compulsion loops are often cited as the worst of game development, that it is somehow bringing too much science and manipulation into the art of making games. In my opinion it is actually the opposite and quite beautiful. It lies at the very beating heart of human nature and what we want from our experiences. I say, what better way is there, in fact, to frame how we should approach the way in which we make our games? (Source: Gamasutra)