作者：Mike Darga

为什么游戏作弊这么吸引玩家？在竞争中获得更多可供自己随意使用的信息？百分之百的自信和不死能力？破坏他人计划的满足感？

在许多情况下，我认为作弊的乐趣都是类似的，甚至可以说是与精通游戏的乐趣等同的。大概可以这么说，对于那些不能接受无助感的玩家来说，在游戏中作弊的乐趣也可以取代掌握技能的乐趣。

我曾在文章中写到把类似弊机制添加到游戏以平衡作弊玩家。写点那种东西再加读点那种文章，也使我想到模仿作弊的设置是如何带给玩家真正作弊的那种满足感。

NetBat HUD （出现于《战地2142》）

《战地2142》非常像《物竞天择》 （Natural Selection），其中有一个精巧的HUD系统，玩家可以用来标注敌人，可以透过任何阻碍看到敌人。

《战地2142》的HUD比《物竞天择》的还更复杂一点，并且是与地图和迷你地图牢牢地绑定在一起。HUD的数种能力和解锁项为玩家提供了不同的信息获取渠道。这些设定的目的就是促进团队合作，也非常令玩家满意。

如果队伍激活UAV（无人机）扫描，该队伍的玩家就能暂时看到附近的敌人（游戏邦注：即迷你地图上的红色小点）。

UAV scan(from mikedarga)

2142的中心主题之一是信息的力量，所以游戏设计师想出了许多不同的方式，让玩家产生一种暂时全知的力量感。

闪光弹（出现于各种射击游戏中）

在网络射击游戏中，我最喜欢的武器就是闪光弹和冲击手榴弹。投得好的话，可以迷惑敌人，同时给投弹者带来巨大的优势。但是，投坏了的话，闪光弹会起反作用，迷惑了投弹者自己，甚至因此丧命。

在有闪光弹的游戏中，玩家可以学会识别闪光弹的声音和寻找掩护。我大爱那种心惊肉跳的时刻。

超级冲锋（出现于《军团要塞2》）

当我听说《军团要塞2》将引进一种无敌模式时，我真的很担心。这简直就是无视玩家的技术。超级冲锋基本上达到了Valve公司的目标，即成为一个强大的突围技能，不过他们又为此提出更多抵消措施，所以现在这个设定变成另一种有趣的游戏机制了。

玩家能像一个无敌破坏机器似地冲进战场，也是相当有趣的。技术不太高的玩家可以从中得到短暂的自豪感，更接近占据上风的人。总之，我本人是非常喜欢这种无敌设定的。

Uber Charge(from mikedarga)

别忘了抵消措施

我之所以喜欢上述设定，是因为它们都一定程度上被抵消了：

*在2142中，玩家可以使敌人的UAV发射器失效，同时放出自己的UAV；或者趁敌人的UAV在盘旋时，将其击落。

*在《军团要塞2》中，超级敌人可以被压缩空气弹冲散，或者用棒球把他们打得头晕眼花。

*射击游戏中的闪光弹通常可以用来开路，扰乱视线，否则就是需要玩家避开。如果原本可以看得一清二楚的玩家，现在眼睛暂时失明了，那么此时无拘无束的投弹者就占上风了。当然，暂时失明的玩家仍然有机会靠其他高级手段来扭转乾坤。

我相信，游戏中几乎所有东西都需要抵消设定，即使它们非常难用。例如，如果《魔兽世界》中的骑士结界需要5秒的释放时间，并且可以被中断，或者在消失前只能抵消一定量的伤害，那也可以把它列入上述几项之中了。不可阻挡或不可抵消的强大技能往往是令人失望的。

也许只是我个人的偏好，但我相信所有游戏机制都应该明确地鼓励游戏玩法，让玩家产生无助感不利于他们享受游戏乐趣。

游戏邦注：原文发表于2009年4月1日，所涉事件及数据均以当时为准。（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）

Game Mechanics as Fun as Cheating

by Mike Darga

What is it about cheating at games that appeals to people so much? Having more information at your disposal than the competition? The feeling of complete confidence and indestructibility? The satisfaction of ruining somebody else’s plans?

In many cases I think the pleasures of cheating are similar, or even identical to, the pleasures of being very good at the game. The fun of cheating is a surrogate for the fun of being skilled, presumably for players who would not be able to enjoy those feelings unaided.

I wrote yesterday about including cheat-like mechanics in your games as a method of neutralizing cheating players. Writing that post and reading some more about cheaters also reminded me of how those features that impersonate cheats can give players a rush of satisfaction in the same way that cheating would.

NetBat HUD (Battlefield 2142)

Battlefield 2142, much like Natural Selection, includes an elaborate HUD system which players can use to mark enemies, revealing them to their friends through walls or any other obstacle.

BF’s is quite a bit more elaborate than NS’s, and also ties into the map and minimap heavily. Several different abilities and unlocks provide players with different ways to get more information that they would normally have. These features do a lot to encourage teamwork, but they’re also just very satisfying.

If a team activates a UAV scan, that team’s players can temporarily see nearby enemies as red dots on their minimaps:

One of the central themes in 2142 is that of information as power, and the designers have found many different ways to give players the powerful feeling of temporary omniscience.

Flashbang (Various Shooters)

Some of my favorite weapons in online shooters are Flashbangs and Concussion Grenades. A perfectly thrown flashbang blinds its target and gives its owner a window of huge advantage over their enemy. A badly thrown flashbang can completely backfire, blinding the player who threw it and getting them killed.

In games with flashbangs, players learn to recognize the sound of an incoming flashbang and dive for cover. It’s a great moment of terror that I always love.

Ubercharge (Team Fortress 2)

When I heard that Team Fortress 2 would be introducing a form of invulnerability to the game, I was really worried. It’s exactly the kind of feature that can cancel out skill and become way too powerful. Ultimately, Ubers achieved Valve’s stated goal of being a great stalemate breaker, and now that they’ve added more counters to them, they feel like just another interesting game mechanic.

Rushing into a fight as a near-unstoppable killing machine can be incredibly fun. It allows less-skilled players to have a moment of glory, it brings rounds to a close sooner, and it more or less completely won me over.

Don’t forget to provide counters

The reason I like all of these examples is that each of them can be counteracted to some degree:

In 2142, players can disable the enemy’s UAV emitter, choose to deploy their own UAV simultaneously, or to shoot down the enemy’s UAV as it circles above.

In TF2, Ubered enemies can now be separated with a Compression Blast or stunned with the Sandman’s baseball.

Flashbangs in shooters can often be seen coming, looked away from, or otherwise avoided. If the player who is assumed to be blind can actually see perfectly, the tables are turned on the flashbang’s owner, who is now likely to be playing carelessly. Blinded players still also have a chance to get a lucky kill, for extra bragging rights.

I really believe in counters for almost everything in games, even if they’re very hard to take advantage of. For example, if WoW’s Paladin bubble had a .5 second cast time that could be interrupted, or only absorbed a set amount of damage before disappearing, it would also be on this list. Powerful abilities that can’t be prevented or countered tend to be frustrating at best.

That may be a particular bias of mine, though, as I believe that all game mechanics should specifically encourage gameplay, and helplessness doesn’t make for enjoyable gameplay. （source:mikedarga)