作者：Anthony Pigeot

目前，针对Android与iOS平台的《Curiosity》已经发行。

出于某些原因，许多玩家对这款游戏及其体验表达了愤怒之情。我十分喜欢《Curiosity》，并觉得没有人替这款游戏说好话，这就是为何我打算解释《Curiosity》是一款真正的游戏，而且它值得获得更多赞美的原因。

首要元素

《Curiosity》是由22cans开发，它是一家由Peter Molyneux与其它行业元老新兴创办的游戏工作室。在此我并不讨论Peter，或是维护《Curiosity》的开发者，我主要探讨《Curiosity》这款游戏。我之所以提及这些精确信息，源于许多玩家是因为《Curiosity》的开发者而讨厌这款作品，我认为这是愚蠢的想法。

以下是《Curiosity》在视频中呈现的内容：

cube(from joystiq.com)

它是一个放置在白色房间中央的黑色立方体，你可以敲击这个立方体，最终你会发现其核心部分。

让我们将其同游戏定义进行对比。当然，没有确切的游戏定义，当然并非所有人同意这一观点。但大部分行业人士均赞同游戏本质。以下我引用Jesse Schell的定义。

游戏是指以娱乐心态解决问题的一项活动。

因此，游戏主要涉及解决问题。基本上，你所需要做的是：

*一个问题

*一些解决方案（技能）

*一种娱乐心态

《Curiosity》中，我们面临的问题是立方体。我们需要逐步破坏它，然后发掘其中奥秘。我们可以采用敲打方式。而娱乐心态则来自敲击这些组合方块，以及与其它玩家的竞争感。这些内容我们随后再提。

当然，我会更加深入解释《Curiosity》具有独特体验的原因，以及为何玩家与立方体、玩家之间的互动比你所想的更加复杂。

游戏主要与体验相关。而《Curiosity》具备强大的体验功能。

单纯体验

不少玩家纷纷表示：“那是愚蠢的玩法，你只是敲打方块，这根本不能归纳为一款游戏。”

对此，我想以“《Minecraft》”进行回应，但我忍住了。

没错，玩家只是敲打方块。许多游戏可以回归到这种简单玩法，“《俄罗斯方块》就是一款方块搭建游戏。”

但游戏中包含更多你看不到的价值。确实，《Curiosity》的游戏机制十分简单，但这是吸引大量玩家的原因所在。如果你拥有一款包含情节、深入玩法与物品的游戏，你可能会有体验这款游戏的强烈动机。而《Curiosity》是一场充满好奇的体验。那么你能一直保持充分的好奇心，然后耗上数小时敲打方块吗？《Curiosity》可以做到。其体验方式十分单纯，因为如果我们在游戏中设置复杂的机制，那么它就不再充满好奇。

然而事实上，极具简单的系统（游戏邦注：在此指代敲打立方体）可以生成复杂的互动方式。

而且，我认为一款出色的游戏是可以通过简单元素生成故事情节。我的意思是，你可以通过故事告诉好友：“看，我正在体验这款游戏，而且我们成功了。难道这不是一件了不起的事情吗？”

以下我将说明为何《Curiosity》可以创造这些效果的原因。

竞争与合作

我们应在环境中研究游戏机制。《Curiosity》的游戏环境好比是25万名玩家参与其中，希望自己成为成功“掏金”的唯一幸运者。

我们以此为例：即25万名玩家试图破坏一个立方体。你曾经目睹过这种场面吗？你能找出达到这种效果的任意一款MMORPG游戏或其它游戏吗？我是无法做到。

《Curiosity》完美地结合了竞争与合作模式。而且它们是许多游戏中包含的关键元素。

《Curiosity》中的竞争模式是指破坏立方体。只有一位玩家可以找出核心部分。也就是说，你几乎没有机会成为赢家。但游戏中仍有一位胜者。

同时，其合作模式也指破坏立方体。单靠玩家力量是无法破坏一个巨型立方体，或者他需要耗费数年的时间。也就是说，所有玩家必须共同参与立方体的破坏过程。

如果所有玩家都十分自私，他们只等待最后关卡的到来，没人愿意破坏第一层方块。但不会发生这种状况。每个玩家都共同参与立方体破坏。在此，你既与全世界合作，也对抗着全世界。

那么，为何所有人必须现在破坏立方体呢？我认为这主要是因为过程比结果更加重要。这可能听起来很傻，但聚集如此多的玩家执行同一任务需要强大的动机。即使这件事如同“敲打立方体”一样简单。玩家也能感受到自己在大事中出了一部分力。即使我无法取胜，我也会说：“伙计，我破坏了其中的6000个方块。其中也有我的部分功劳。”

创造力与破坏力

《Curiosity》赋予了玩家破坏能力，而此处的破坏是指真正破坏。

当你敲打一个方块时，就会露出底下那层的模样。也就是说，如果你破坏了一个红色方块，你将会看到居于下面的绿色方块。那么，你会做出什么自然反应呢？标上记号。

在我写下此文时，立方体上已布满上百个记号。有些玩家会画上物体，有些则画上复杂的几何图形，有些只是圈出一个巨大的长方形领域，或者其它千奇百怪的图案。但重点是，玩家可以进行创造。

不仅如此，游戏还赋予玩家破坏能力。而且有趣的是，大部分时候玩家并未执行这种举措。他们尊重其它玩家的创造成果，即使他们是无名人士。甚至，有时他们会帮助其它玩家破坏那些必要方块，从而取得达到愿景。这是一种强烈的互动方式。无需沟通，玩家便能在复杂的活动中相互合作。这让我想起了《Journey》中的多人模式。

意义

我本来可以继续解释该款游戏的各种元素（比如敲打方块战略），但本文的篇幅偏长，因此我只阐述最后一点。

我只想说，《Curiosity》确实创造了一种体验模式，而且我们可以从中吸取经验。

随着该试验接近尾声，我不知道22cans是否会对外进行相关总结，但我希望他们这样做。不管怎样，我还是从中获得了一些感悟：

*即使你毫不确定是否可以收获结果时，好奇心足以令你在其中花费5万5000美元吗？

*好奇心足以令你你耗费数小时触碰手机屏幕（仅有这个动作）吗？

*好奇心足以推动大量人群合作，并为游戏支付5万5000美元，然后共同分享结果吗？

*游戏的服务器经得起这种“折腾”吗？（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）

Why 22cans’ Curiosity can be called a game – And a good one

by Anthony Pigeot

Hey guys.

As you may or may not know, Curiosity has been released. It is a game for Android and iOS.

For some reasons, there is a lot of rage going on this game/experience. I am very interested in Curiosity, and feel like no one is defending this game. That’s why I will try to  explain why Curiosity is actually a game and why it deserves more credit than what you can currently read all over the internet.

Please, do not hesitate to give me your feedback by commenting or mailing me. I would love to hear from you.

First things first

Curiosity is a game created by 22cans.

22cans is a startup created by Peter Molyneux and other game industry’s veterans. I will not in this article write about this guy. My point is about Curiosity, and not about defending the guy creating it. I precise this because it seems that many people don’t like Curiosity just because of its creator, and that is a stupid way of thinking.

Here is how Curiosity has been presented in this video :

It’s a black cube in the corner of this white room, you can tap on the cube and eventually you can find out what’s in the center of the cube.

Let’s compare this with a definition of game. Of course, there is no right definition for a game, and not everyone agrees on that point. But most of the industry is okay for the essential points. I will take Jesse Schell’s definition which I think is pretty cool. If you want more precisions on this one, read his book.

A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.

So, games are about solving a problem. Basically, what you need to do this is :

A problem

Some ways (skills) to solve it

A playfull attitude

In Curiosity our problem is the cube. We need to destroy it to find what’s inside. Our available method to do it is to tap on it. The playerfull attitude comes with all the block typing with its combos, and the competition with other players. More on it later in this article.

This is basically it. I could stop writing here and that would be enough.

Of course, I will go more in depth and explain why Curiosity is a unique experience, and why there is more complex interactions between the player and the cube and between the players themselves than you can think first.

Games are about experiences. And the experience behind Curiosity can be a strong one.

A Pure Experience

Many people are saying that “this is stupid, you’re just tapping blocks that is not a game”.

I am tempted to answer “Minecraft”, but I will resist.

This is right. The player is just tapping blocks. Many games can be resumed as simply as that. “Tetris is about placing blocks”.

But wait, there is more to it than meets the eyes. The game mechanics are extremely simple that is true. But this is what makes a lot of people able to play. If you had a scenario, a deep gameplay and stuff, you would have many motivations to play the game. Here, this experience is about Curiosity. Will you be curious enough to tap blocks for hours ? That’s it. The experience is pure because if we had filled it with complex mechanics, then it wouldn’t be about curiosity anymore.

But the thing is that a very simple system (here, a cube you tap) can generate complex interactions.

And I think a good game is able to generate stories from something very simple. By stories, I mean that you will be able to tell your friends “Hey, I was playing this, and that happened . Isn’t that awesome ?”.

Here are a few reasons why Curiosity can create such things.

Competition and Cooperation

The game mechanics are to be studied with a context. And the context is a big “gold rush” of 250,000 people trying to be the very best, like no one ever was.

Let’s take this : 250,000 people trying to break one cube. Did you ever see this once ? Can you find any single MMORPG or whatever that achieved this ? I don’t.

There is a nice mix of competition and cooperation in Curiosity. And these two things are some key elements of many games.

The competition is about breaking the cube. Only one person will find out what is at the center. That means that, alone, you have almost not a chance to be the winner. But you still have one.

The cooperation is also about breaking the cube. One person alone will never be able to break a cube this big, or it’d take years. This means that all players need to break the cube together.

If people were just totally selfish, they would just wait for the last level and no one would break the first layers. But this is not what happens. Everyone is hitting the cube together. You’re playing with and against the whole world (at least, the part that installed the application).

So why is everyone hitting the cube right now ? I think this is about the journey more than the destination. It may sound stupid, but having so much people together doing one thing is a really strong motivator. Even if this thing is as simple as “tapping a cube”. The player can feel like a part of a big thing. A really big thing. Even if I don’t win, I will be able to say “Dude, I broke 6,000 pieces of this giant cube. I was part of it.”

The power to Create – And Destroy

Curiosity gives the player the power to destroy. But by destroying, you can actually destroy.

When you tap a block, the layer behind it reveals itself. That means that if you destroy a red block, you will see the green block behind it. So, what is our natural reaction with this ? Drawing stuff.

As I am writing this article, there is hundred of drawing that have been made on the cube. Some people wrote stuff, some other made complex geometric forms. Some just made big rectangle fields, or whatever. But the point is that people are given the power to create.

But this is not just it. The players are given the power to destroy. And what is interesting is that most of the time they don’t. Players respect the creations of other players even if they are totally anonymous. Even better, sometimes they help you achieve your creation by helping you to break the blocks you need to break. This is a strong interaction. With no communication, players are able to cooperate in a complex activity. It somehow reminds me of the multiplayer mode of Journey.

Why Curiosity can give us lessons

I could continue to explain things about this game (for exemple about the strategy of tapping blocks, with the combos and stuff) but this article is getting long so I will say my last word.

I would just like to say that Curiosity has been created as an experience. And as every experience is supposed to, Curiosity can teach us some things.

When this experiment will come to an end, I don’t know if 22cans will make public conclusion about this but I hope so. Anyway, here are things we could learn :

Is curiosity enough to make you pay $55,000 while not even being sure of getting results ?

Is curiosity enough to make you tap your phone for hours and doing nothing else ?

Is curiosity enough to make a big group of people associate and pay $55,000, and then share the result ? (Let’s create a Curiosity Diamond Kickstarter, I’m pretty sure it’d work. I can’t do it because kickstarter isn’t in France. But please do it.)

Will the servers keep up ? (Oh wait. That’s not a lesson).

So here it is. I think I have said what I had to say. I hope that by reading this you will start thinking about curiosity more seriously and maybe come with awesome reflexions about this game. I think there so much more to it than tapping stuff.(source:gamasutra)