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成功的游戏也可以既硬核又休闲

发布时间:2012-12-11 14:48:32 Tags:,,,,,

作者:John Hahn

有人认为如果一款游戏太过“硬核”,它就会将休闲玩家排斥在外;有人认为如果一款游戏太过“休闲”,它就吸引不了硬核玩家。我认为这是一个错误的二元论。

我常常观察电子游戏之外的热门活动,试图发现为什么它们能够受到欢迎。我想到了两种活动,吉它和桌球。我本人玩吉它15年了,每周参加一次当地的业余桌球社团活动。下面我们来分别解释一下这两种活动。

吉它:

boy-playing-guitar(from vivretteguitaracademy)

boy-playing-guitar(from vivretteguitaracademy)

吉它大概是地球上最流行的乐器了。几乎所有人和他们的狗(貌似)都知道怎么拔弦,和弹几段简单的旋律。然而,要真正地掌握这个乐器,成为所谓的“吉它神”,你必须十年如一日地刻苦练习,培养你的灵活度和手眼协调能力,才能把复杂的乐曲弹好。

另外,高级吉它手通常有非常好的独唱/即兴演奏能力,所以相比于特定的旋律,他们更清楚什么音域和音调适合独唱。还有,吉它高手往往非常精通几乎所有关于吉它的知识,以及如何组合不同的音调来达到另一种音调。

所以,也就是说:

基本的部分容易学会,也能玩得高兴。

要精通则非常困难。

有大量我谓之为“达人的吸引力”。换而言之,弹吉它的艺术非常深厚,足以让你花时间到在线社区和其他地方学习及谈论关于不同吉它、设备、弹奏技巧以及学习大量相关的知识,最终成为“吉它达人”。你也可以花上数年时间学习一般的音乐理论,成为“音乐达人”,从而增加你的吉它弹奏曲目。

台球:

dogs-playing-billiards(from andrewweitzman)

dogs-playing-billiards(from andrewweitzman)

任何人都可以走进当地的休闲吧、台球室或娱乐厅,捡起一根台球杆就开始尽情地玩。学习基本技术是很简单的。用杆击球,让这个球撞其他球,使其他球滚进洞里。概念就是这么简单。然而,这种简化的说法是骗人的。一名玩家可能耗费一生来磨炼和学习不同的击球技巧。

这种游戏的细微之处是非常非常难掌握的,特别是防御和母球放置。另外,高级玩家往往掌握了关于更高级的设备如不同类型的球杆有深厚的知识,他们知道位置适合有效地使用各种装备。

所以,也就是说:

基本的部分容易学会,也能玩得高兴。

要精通则非常困难。

有大量我谓之为“达人的吸引力”。换而言之,玩家可以学习桌球、掌握大量关于不同设备和游戏技巧的知识,最终成为“台球达人”。

看出倾向了吗?

现在我们来看看几款当下比较流行的游戏。我随便挑了几款作为伪二元论的佐证。有些热门的游戏可能并不完全匹配,不过我仍然认为我列出的要点总体上是正确的。

最新的《马里奥》系列游戏:

基本的游戏机制是非常简单的,玩家可以很快上手。但是玩家要收集的东西很多(比如星星和金币)。通常当你收集东西时,你便开启了某个特定的区域。至少这让你有了炫耀的资本或让有强迫症的家伙在几个小时内都有事可做。

有些物品往往很难收集到,需要玩家大量练习、实验和犯错。所以这些游戏对休闲玩家来说是很简单的,也有些乐趣,同时游戏中硬核的部分又满足了高级玩家的需要。

总结:

基本的部分容易学会,也能玩得高兴。

要精通则非常困难。

有大量迎合硬核玩家的“达人的吸引力”。有些玩家只是喜欢收集所有物品,寻找所有隐藏起来的复活节彩蛋之类的。

《马里奥赛车》系列游戏:

我肯定你们已经抓住要点了,所以我就直接列出总结了。

任何人都能快速上手,也能玩得高兴。

要精通和赢得150cc奖杯则非常困难。

掌握游戏的奖励丰厚。

通常有大量“达人的吸引力”。

《塞尔达传说》系列游戏:

任何人都能快速上手,也能玩得高兴。

要精通则非常困难(达到游戏中的所有目标)。换而言之,有大量物品和其他内容让硬核玩家玩上数个小时。

剧情和其他内容中有大量“达人的吸引力”。有关于该游戏的知识和世界观的在线社区和网站。

《魔兽世界》:

对大部分人来说都足够容易上手。

要精通则非常困难(学习高级的技巧、装备组合、战胜所有BOSS等)。

大量“达人的吸引力”。我的很多朋友会围坐在一起,数个小时内不停地讨论各种装备的属性和物品及游戏世界的知识。

这个列表还可以往下写。

总而言之,整个关于硬核与休闲的争论就是一个伪二元论。如果游戏容易上手,便很难精通,又具有大量“达人的吸引力”,那么它就既能吸引“硬核”玩家,也能受“休闲”玩家的喜爱。

另一个思考的方向是,游戏可以这么设计,让玩家自己决定游戏是难是易。也就是说,你可以做一款机制简单但是很有趣的游戏,让一些玩家玩得高兴,虽然他们只享受到游戏的浅层价值。

同时,你可以让另一些玩家想出高级的策略,以更高效地玩这款游戏。这类玩家会接触到游戏的精华部分。就基本的机制而言,游戏本身的难度并没有加大,相反地,是因为玩家为了打倒更强大的敌人、克服更大的障碍或达成某些目标,自己把游戏想得更困难了。

例如,一旦你理解了桌球的基本原理,你就能掌握进球和与之相关的物理现象,而游戏本身永远没有变得更容易或更困难。根据不同情形,你对手的技术水平和你自己心想的策略的复杂程度使游戏的特定部分变得更容易或更困难。

使游戏更硬核并不意味着复杂化游戏的机制,而是使玩家能够选择是否学习更高级的游戏策略。同理,使游戏更休闲也不意味着让游戏变得傻瓜化,而是简化游戏机制,让基本上所有人都可以快速上手,但这类休闲玩家不可能轻易完成游戏中的所有目标。(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

Successful Games Can Be Simultaneously Hardcore And Casual

by John Hahn

There are people who believe that if a game is too “hardcore” it alienates the casual players, and there are people who believe that if a game is too “casual” it alienates the hardcore players. I believe this is a false dichotomy.

I often look at activities that are hugely popular outside of digital gaming and try to figure out why they are popular.  Two such activities that hit close to home for me are guitar playing and billiards.  I’ve been playing guitar for 15 years and I play in a local amateur billiards league once a week.  So lets look closely at each.

Guitar:

The guitar is probably the most popular instrument on the planet.  Everybody and their dog (it seems) knows how to play a few chords and play a few simple melodies on the guitar (commonly called “cowboy chords”).  However, to truly master the instrument and become a so-called “guitar god” you must practice religiously for years and years to build up your dexterity and eye-hand coordination in order to play more complicated passages effectively.

Also, master players usually have very good soloing/improvisation skills, so they know what scales and notes fit well as a solo over a particular chord progression, etc.  Also, master players typically have very thorough and almost encyclopedic knowledge of the different types of amps, effects, and guitars and what kinds of tones you can achieve using different combinations thereof.

So, to paraphrase:

Easy to learn the basics and “just have fun”

Very difficult to master

Lots of what I call “geek appeal”.  In other words, the art of playing guitar goes deep enough that you can spend time in online communities and elsewhere learning and talking about different guitars, equipment, and playing techniques and develop an encyclopedic knowledge about all of it and become a “guitar geek” so-to-speak.   You can also spend years studying general music theory and become a “music geek” to enhance your guitar playing repertoire.

Billiards:

Anybody can go into a local bar, pool hall, or pub and pick up a pool cue and start playing and have fun.  It’s very easy to learn the basics.  Hit a ball with a stick and make it hit other balls, trying to knock them into holes.  Simple enough concept.  However, this simplicity is VERY deceptive.  A player can spend a lifetime honing their skills of playing and learning the different techniques for making shots.

The finer points of the game are VERY difficult to master, especially defense and “English”/cue ball placement.  Also, advanced players typically have thorough knowledge of more advanced types of equipment such as the different types of cues (break cues, playing cues, masse cues, etc.), and they know the proper situations to effectively use each apparatus.

Again, let’s paraphrase:

Easy to learn the basics and “just have fun”

Very difficult to master

Lot’s of what I call “geek appeal”.  In other words, a player can study the game of billiards and become encyclopedic about different equipment and playing techniques, thus becoming a “billiards geek”.

Starting to see a trend here?

Now let’s look at some of the more popular games out here.  I’m cherry picking to make the point about the false dichotomy.  There are popular games out there that might not match up quite as nicely, but I still the think the overall point I’m making has validity.

Most recent Mario games out there:

The basic game mechanics are very simple and the game is very easy for people to just pick up and play.  However, there’s lot of stuff to collect (typically stars/coins).  Usually when you collect everything you unlock some kind of special area or whatever.  In the very least you get bragging rights and it gives people with OCD something to do for hours.

Some of the collectibles are usually very difficult to get and require lots of practice and trial and error.  So these games are easy enough for casual players to pick up and have some fun, but they also have enough hardcore content to keep the more advanced players satisfied for a while.

Summary:

Easy to learn the basics and “just have fun”

Difficult to master

Lots of “geek appeal” for hardcore fans of the franchise.  Some people just love collecting all the stuff and finding all the hidden easter eggs and whatnot.

Mario Kart games:

I’m sure you guys are getting the trend so I’ll start cutting it down to just the summary.

Easy for anyone to pick up and start playing and having fun

Very difficult to master and win the 150cc cups.

Nice rewards/unlockables for mastering the game.

Lot’s of geek appeal in general.

Zelda games:

Easy for anyone to pick up and play.  Simple game mechanics.

Difficult to master (get everything in the game).  In other words, lots of collectibles and other content to keep more hardcore players engages for hours.

Lots of geek appeal with the story and whatnot.  There are online communities and websites devoted to the lore and universe of the zelda games.

World of Warcraft:

Easy enough for a very wide demographic to pick up and play it.

Difficult to master (learn the advanced techniques, gear combinations, conquer all raid bosses, etc)

Tons of geek appeal.  I have groups of friends that sit around for hours and talk about different gear specs and develop an encyclopedic knowledge of the items and game world.
The list could go on and on…

In short, the whole casual/hardcore debate is a false dichotomy.  If a game is easy to pick up and play, but very difficult to master and has lots of “geek appeal”, then it appeals to both “hardcore” and “casual” players.

Another way of thinking about this is that a game can be designed so that the players make the game as hard or as easy as they want it to be.  In other words, you can take a fun game with simple mechanics and there will be players that pick it up and play it and have fun and take it at face value.

You will also have players that develop advanced strategies to play the game more effectively, and they become concerned with learning the finer points of the game.   The game itself hasn’t become more difficult as far as the basic mechanics are concerned, and instead, the player has made it more difficult within their own mind in order to compete against tougher opponents/obstacles or to accomplish some other goal.

For instance, once you understand the fundamentals of billiards and you become proficient at making shots and the physics involved, then the game itself never gets easier or harder.  The skill level of your opponent and the complexity of the strategies within your mind makes the particular instance of the game easier or harder depending on the situation.

Making a game more hardcore doesn’t mean making the game mechanics more complicated.  It means creating the game so that players who choose to do so have the option of learning advanced strategies of play.  Making a game casual doesn’t mean dumbing it down.  It means making the mechanics simple enough for anybody to pick up and play, but not so easy that this type of player would be able to accomplish everything the game has to offer. (source:gamasutra


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