作者：Guest Author

不管你是如何看待社交游戏或免费游戏，它们都深刻影响着我们的游戏设计。

它们不仅拓宽了游戏的吸引范围，同时还彻底改变了人们的游戏方式，即让玩家转移到智能手机上进行游戏体验。

我对其中一个元素特别感兴趣，也就是使用“强制循环”去鼓励玩家在游戏结束后再次回到游戏中，重新点击游戏图标并再次开始游戏。

我认为这种功能的作用被大大低估了，并且不管你所创造的是何种游戏或应用，你都需要更深入理解这一功能。

具体细节

为了理解这一功能，我们必须先掌握每一款游戏内部的发展。

我们具有重复的行为模式，如杀戮>获得战利品>升级或种植>丰收>获得经验值。甚至是在益智游戏中也有未完成的>完成>奖励这样的结构。

在重复这些模式的同时我们能够看到，要么游戏的难度系数不断提高，要么视觉反应不断增加，以呈现出玩家不断地向前发展。最理想的情况是玩家将进入一种流状态，即游戏行动将在一种意识思维中趋于自动化。

但是问题就在于，当玩家对这些模式越来越熟悉时（不管它是过于简单，太过复杂还是只是不断地重复），他们便会因为这种模式匹配而感到无聊。

游戏动机

如果我们面对的是一款非常简单的益智游戏，我们便需要有推动自己继续玩游戏的理由。

有时候玩家是受到游戏故事的驱动，而有时候则是受到游戏发展系统的影响。或许一系列具有独特性的“随机”奖励以及打开一个全新探索领域的紧张感也能够推动玩家继续游戏。

为了确保玩家能够在游戏中逗留多达数月时间而不只是经历几个小时，我们便需要刺激每个玩家的核心奖励欲望。我们可以通过竞争，社交，探索，收集等形式做到这一点。

我们需要通过这些方法去引发玩家的情感回应和用户粘性，并将其融入游戏过程中。

不管你的游戏是怎样的，你都需要搞清楚为何玩家应该继续玩你的游戏而不是转向其它游戏。

迄今为止我都是在阐述一些标准设计中的注意事项。但是开发者真正需要掌握的是在玩家完成游戏时依旧创造出这种情感奖励。

让乐趣回味无穷

为什么这一点如此重要？首先让我们分析一个简单的数学原理。

我们平均会在自己的智能手机上下载85款应用，但是每一周我们却只会使用5至10款应用；甚至有64%的应用都是使用了1次便弃置一旁了。

我们必须给予玩家一个理由，让他们愿意在自己下载的众多应用中选择我们的游戏，而不会到应用商店中再下载新的应用。

我们必须让玩家记得我们的游戏图标，并且愿意在一天中多次进行点击。

我们总是会以“斯金纳箱”（游戏邦注：即关于老鼠或鸽子的实验，它们必须按压按钮才能获得食物）去解释这种强制性行为。

pigeon-skinner（from biobserve.com)

按压每个按钮获得食物并不带强制性。但是如果动物只有越频繁按压按钮才能获得食物，或者说奖励具有随机性，这便会引起一种上瘾的反应。

斯金纳箱是一种非常有用的模式，能够帮助我们更好地理解上瘾机制以及人们迷信其内在原理的根本原因；现在已经出现了许多阐述游戏对斯金纳箱运用的相关文章。

但是我认为有些人滥用斯金纳箱理论来说明免费游戏是邪恶的，这真的是一派胡言。我们并不会使用食物或药物作为刺激玩家继续游戏的道具，而是通过娱乐方式（玩家也可以选择避开）去吸引玩家的注意。

所以接下来让我们分析玩家愿意继续玩游戏的一些根本动机，以及我们该如何应用这些动机。

逃避现实主义

短时间摆脱外部责任是玩家选择玩游戏的主要动机之一。

所以作为开发者我们便需要为玩家创造一种轻松愉悦的游戏体验，将其融入游戏中重复且吸引人的体验中，通过游戏为玩家传递简单而内在的奖励；例如，在玩家解答了一个谜题，杀死了一个怪物，击败了时间挑战等情况下给予其奖励。

这是我们能为玩家所构建的基础娱乐体验。

接下来我们需要谈谈“投入”，以及我们如何创造一系列行动，并奖励多次重复这些行动的玩家。

我们需要创造一系列行动步骤，并让玩家有充分的理由（能够获得奖励）去多次重复这些行动。这种基于小步骤而不断扩大的设置让玩家能够对游戏更有信心，并且每一小步都能引导着玩家直接走向下一个行动。

例如当我们在播种时，我们便需要等待它发芽，生长，并最终获得收成，从而才能将这些资源摆进店铺进行销售。

每个步骤都明确了对于下一个行动的需求（游戏邦注：例如种植另一种庄稼，创建一个商店，创建一个社区等等），从而不断延续玩家的行动。

更重要的是这种行动将超越玩家个人的游戏过程，让玩家期待着当自己再次返回时游戏世界会发生改变。

这种方法不只局限于农场游戏；我们可以在各种游戏类型中使用这种方法去创造超越期待的玩家游戏体验。

社交动物

最后让我们着眼于“社交性”，并允许玩家在游戏中向他人炫耀自己。需要说明的是，这么做只是让玩家能够在此分享他们的兴趣（如喜欢这款游戏之类），而并未强求他们在现实世界中也是朋友。

对于玩家来说，看到别人认可自己的选择，并且获得了炫耀自己能力的机会是件非常棒的事。

但是开发者也必须谨慎地处理社交性，因为任何人都不希望丢脸。玩家真正希望的是能够从中与其他人进行有意义的交流。

玩家希望能够拜访其他人的车库并去修补对方的车轮，或者拜访别人的兵工厂并整理对方所喜欢的武器，而不只是欣赏他那成套的工具装备。当我与其他玩家进行互动时我便能够获得积分，而下次当其他玩家主动与我互动时他们也能够获得同样的积分。

通过这个方法我们便能够共享一整套有关玩家在现实世界关系的情感数据，并且也没有人会因此而丢脸。

除此之外，这还可以让用户在不玩游戏的时候也充满期待，从而创造了他们（由于个人原因）回到游戏中的另一种可能。（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）

PapayaMobie’s Oscar Clark on building compulsion loops into game design

by Guest Author

Whatever you think about social or freemium games, it’s clear that they have had a profound effect on the way we will design games forever.

Their introduction has broadened the appeal of games and in particular they have revolutionised the way we all play games on our smartphones.

I’m especially interested in one element, the use of ‘compulsion loops’ to encourage players to come back after finishing a game session; to select the game icon again and begin playing again.

This, I believe, is a significantly underestimated quality and is something I think needs to be understood whatever game or app you are creating.

Nuts and bolts

To understand this let’s look first at what is going on under the bonnet of any game.

We have repetitive patterns of behaviour; kill>loot>level or plant>harvest>XP. Even puzzle games move us from incomplete>complete>reward.

We repeat these patterns while seeing either their difficulty increase or the visual responses increase to demonstrate how we are progressing. Ideally we get into a state of flow where the actions of play automate just below the level of conscious thought.

The trouble is that pattern matching can become boring if we become over-familiar with the patterns, if it’s too easy, too hard, or simply too obviously repetitive.

What’s my motivation?

We need reasons to continue playing beyond the simple puzzle.

Sometimes a narrative will provide this drive, and sometimes it will be a visible progression system. Or perhaps a series of ‘random’ rewards which carry unique properties will keep us playing, or the simple thrill of unlocking new areas of play to explore.

To carry a player over not just several playing sessions but potentially over many months of play we need to ensure our games stimulate the core reward desires of each player. This could be in the form of competition, socialisation, exploration, collections, etc.

We need all these levers to trigger emotional responses and engagement that can only be got through playing.

Whatever that looks like for your game you need to understand why your players should continue to care and not move on to another game.

Well so far so what – all this is pretty much standard design considerations. However, the magic trick is to create these emotional rewards even after your player has finished their playing session.

The lingering aftertaste

Why is this important? Firstly, simple mathematics.

On average we download 85 apps to our smartphones, but only use 5-10 apps per week; and on average something like 64 percent of apps only get used once.

We have to give players a reason to choose our app above all the others they have downloaded and to do that rather than going to the app store to download something new.

They have to remember our icon and have a good reason to press it several times a day.

Creating this kind of compulsion is usually explained by talking about the Skinner Box – an experiment on rats or pigeons where the animal must press a button to receive food.

When each button press releases food, there is no compulsion. But if the animal has to press increasingly often to release the food, or the reward is randomised, this creates addictive responses.

It’s a really useful model to understand addiction and the underlying causes for superstition, and plenty of articles are written about the application of Skinner Box techniques in games.

However, I think it has been misused to try to convince us that freemium games are evil; which of course is nonsense. We don’t use food or drugs as the stimulation to continue playing, we use entertainment which is something players can always choose to walk away from.

So instead let’s look at some of the underlying motivations for play and how we can apply them.

Idle escapism

We’ll start with ‘escapism’. The chance to set aside our external responsibilities for a brief time is a key motivator for choosing to play a game.

As developers, we need to create a happy temporary release for our players and build that into a repeatable compelling experience that delivers it own simple, intrinsic reward through play; the completion of a puzzle, the killing of a monster, the beating of a time-challenge, etc.

This basic level of entertainment is the foundation upon which we can build an audience.

Next, let’s look at ‘commitment’ and how we can build up a series of actions that reward players for repeating their actions over time.

We need to create a series of action steps for a player to take with rewards and reasons to repeat those actions over time. This escalation of small steps will build their confidence in our game and each small step will lead to the next action down the line.

For example when we plant our seed we then have to wait for it to grow before we can harvest it and then use the gathered resource to supply our shop.

Each step sets up the need for a subsequent action (plant another, build a shop, build a community building) which perpetuates the activity of the player.

Most importantly these activities span beyond the individual playing session setting the expectation that world of the game will have changed by the time we return to it.

This isn’t restricted to farming games; we need to apply the method to build anticipation beyond the playing session for every game type.

A social creature

Finally let’s look at ‘socialisation’ and allowing the player to show off to others. To be clear, this need only be players they share an interest with (e.g. this game). It’s not necessarily their real-world friends.

It’s important to players that they can see that other people will appreciate their choice in selecting this game and, moreover, that there is an opportunity for them to show off their abilities.

However, this has to be carefully done, as we don’t want to be humiliated. Instead, players benefit from being able to communicate and meaningfully interact with each other.

If I get points and experience for visiting your garage and fixing your tyres, or visiting your armoury and cleaning your favourite weapon, not only do I get to see what cool kit you have. I also get bonus points for interacting with you and you get a bonus next time you play.

This way we have both shared a packet of emotional data which reflects something about our real-world relationship and no-one has to feel humiliated.

Critically, it also reinforces the expectation that something might happen in the game while I am not playing, creating another (very personal) reason to return.(source:pocketgamer)