作者：admin-pagc

虽然市场上已经出现了无数免费游戏和社交电子游戏，但遗憾的是，大多数游戏的收益都不佳，许多开发商和发行商甚至遭遇了巨大的经济损失。出现这种情况的一大原因便是，许多游戏都不能与玩家建立情感联系，游戏设计也未强调情感的重要性。如此便大大遏制了游戏的用户粘性，并减少了玩家愿意为游戏所投入的金钱。

像《坦克世界》以及《CSR赛车》等优秀的免费游戏每个月能赚取1100–2000万美元以及900万美元其实都不是偶然，因为它们都能与玩家建立起紧密的情感联系。

我将在本篇文章里列出5个步骤，引导开发者们如何将情感带进自己的免费游戏中，如果他们能够遵循这些步骤，便能将游戏的玩家转换率从1%-3%提升到10%-30%。

步骤1.明确玩家的属性（当前或目标用户）

判断不同玩家类型的特征

Richard Bartle明确了4种不同玩家类型去研究多用户游戏（MUD）中的玩家行为。这些玩家类型被当成游戏设计过程中识别并应对玩家需求（包括情感动机）的最有效方法。这四种玩家类型包括：杀手，成就者，探索者，社交家。

首先我们需要了解这四种玩家类型以及每种类型的情感驱动元素。

了解你的玩家并创建玩家属性

如果你已经创造了一款游戏并且拥有了一些玩家基础，你便需要找出与这些玩家相关的信息。这能帮助你创建与游戏玩家类型相关的设计属性。举个例子来说吧，如果你发现大多数玩家都是杀手，那便说明你当前的游戏设计太过倾向于杀手玩家及其情感需求，同时也意味着你可能忽视了其它类型的玩家。尽管这并不一定是问题所在（也许杀手就是那些最乐意为游戏花钱的玩家），但是你也需要更加仔细地进行研究。

创建玩家属性的一种有效方式便是面向你的玩家基础，或者更广泛的玩家展开调查。你需要准备一些关于玩家情感动机和需求的问题，并基于Bartle的四种玩家类型去设定问题。调查的目标是明确你的玩家基础中会出现哪种类型的玩家以及当前的玩家组合是怎样的。

如果你的游戏仍处于设计阶段，你还未获得任何玩家，你便拥有两种选择。如果你心中已经构思了一个玩家社区，例如那些曾经玩过你的其它游戏的玩家，你便可以针对于这一群租进行调查。同样地，你也可以着眼于与你当前创造的相同类型的游戏，并尝试着找出这些游戏是如何迎合这四种不同类型的玩家。

明确哪些玩家是最有价值的

当你获得了玩家调查的结果后，你需要为每个玩家创建一个属性，即包含他们的玩家类型（根据这些玩家对于调查的回应所确定的）。

下一步便是决定玩家的终身价值（LTV）——面向每个玩家，然后再面向每种玩家类型。

为每个玩家创造LTV的方法包括：

1.定义一些重要且能够为你们公司带来价值的元素。也许这些元素多种多样，但是一般分为：

玩家消费。根据玩家的消费可以划分为从0到5的级别，0是从未为游戏花钱的玩家，5则是鲸鱼玩家。一个典型的例子便是，Social Gold的首席执行官Vikas Gupta在伦敦的Virtual Goods Forum（2010年7月24日）将用户消费行为描述为国王，骑士，公爵，平民以及农民。

病毒式渠道的使用。可以被划分为从0到4的级别，如非常不频繁，偶尔，频繁，非常频繁，最大化。

社区互动。可以被划分为从0到4的级别，如从未发表任何内容或发表负面内容，很少发表内容但发表的都是正面内容，偶尔发表内且发表的都是正面内容，频繁发表各种正面内容，极度频繁地发表所有正面内容。

忠诚。可以被划分为1到5的级别，包括每个月至少玩一次（但没有其它忠诚的标志了），每个月至少玩一次游戏同时还订阅了时事通讯内容或者你的其它游戏，每周至少玩一次游戏并订阅了时事通讯内容或者你的其它游戏，每天玩游戏，每天玩游戏并订阅了时事通讯内容或者你的其它游戏。

2.基于每种元素为每个玩家分配一个分数，然后评估他们的整体LTV分数。

3.评估每个玩家在首次玩游戏时共花了多少钱。

4.现在你便拥有了每个玩家的LTV，然后面对不同玩家类型去评估这些数值。如此你便能看出哪些玩家类型代表最高价值，从而让你能够做出相应的改变，去吸引那些你想要吸引的玩家类型。

5.与理解玩家LTV一样，基于调查结果以及其它研究结果，你能够挖掘到玩家的情感需求。你需要将其记录下来，并在之后加以利用。

步骤2：评估游戏的文化适应性

创建游戏与玩家间的情感联系的关键元素便是理解他们的文化期待，经历以及需求。文化间的差异总是非常巨大。举个例子来说吧，在巴西，比起《World War 2》和《现代战争》，人们更加喜欢内战和黑帮题材的游戏（游戏邦注：如“贫民窟”），所以以中东或欧洲战争为背景的战争游戏很难在这个国家获得盈利。在亚洲，人们更钟情于偷取其他玩家的道具，认为这是一种可接受的社交互动，但是西方文化却不认可这一点。

以下是我们在考虑文化元素时需要注意的5大重要内容：

1.历史和态度（过去的事件是否会对人们当前的态度造成影响？这是最近的历史还是更早前的事？）

2.当前的热门话题，新闻和事件（这些内容是否能够公开讨论，还是敏感话题）。在不同地区有些主题较为敏感，如巴西玩家都很喜欢基于“贫民窟”和黑帮题材的游戏，但是在墨西哥却不会出现以之为主题的游戏。

3.流行文化和本土品牌。例如城市建造游戏可以突出当地的商店，烹饪游戏可以突出当地的厨师以及食物的名称，赛车游戏可以突出玩家所处城市的汽车品牌。

4.生活品质（思潮，富裕程度，财富的传播，人们对于钱的态度）。

5.生活方式的选择，爱好与兴趣。例如在英国很少人会对火车题材感兴趣，但是在日本这却是个很火的主题。在许多拉美国家，DIY和家居装饰题材并不吃香，但是欧洲玩家却很喜欢这些内容。宗教信仰的不同也是很重要的一大元素，例如避免呈现某种类型的动物。

基于上述内容，我们应该判断如何根据这些元素去调整游戏设计，明确哪些设计原则和特征更有效。如果你需要让游戏能够更好地适应不同文化元素，那就通过头脑风暴去决定各种新游戏元素或作出相应改变。

步骤3：理解玩家的情感需求

在研究玩家的情感需求时我们需要考虑到3种类型的情感：

1.积极情感。包括狂喜，欢乐，惊讶，好奇等情感。

2.消极情感。包括内疚，羞耻，生气，害怕等情感。

3.组合情感。例如幸灾乐祸，即组合了内疚与喜悦的情感。

我不知道有什么方法能够平衡积极，消极和组合情感，因为面对不同的游戏，情感也会发生变化，但是我们可以想办法避开纯粹的消极情感！

如何将情感应用于游戏设计中？

为了明确情感吸引力，情感设计应该专注于一些不同的游戏设计元素。我们将在下文进行详细解释。考虑到这些元素，我们应该创造/更新设计原则，指南以及更高级别的设计元素去反应游戏设计中所需要的情感。

1.内容

内容包括所有能够构成核心游戏机制的虚拟对象，并且这些对象通常都是可收集的，能够吸引玩家与之进行深入互动。例如：

在Natual Motion的《CSR赛车》中，玩家能够驾驶汽车前进（游戏邦注：这便是最强大的游戏情感元素）。游戏中的所有道具都给出了非常详细的描述，从而有效地吸引了玩家的注意。

在《坦克世界》中，玩家可以在战斗中使用坦克。坦克的设计完全贴近主题，因此吸引了利基玩家的注意。游戏中还提供了大量的坦克供玩家收集，并且每种坦克都具有不同的行为，优势与劣势。

《动物之森》包含了家具等可收集道具，能够让玩家去装饰自己的家，同时还提供了各种动物能够让玩家与之进行互动。可收集道具是利用任天堂的IP备份目录以及玩家对于内容的现有情感依附。例如，立体声音乐播放器能够播放音乐磁带，而声音质量也会基于不同的立体声类型发生改变。拥有自己个性的动物也能帮助玩家与他们维系起更紧密的关系，这些动物不仅非常逼真，同时每个角色也都是与众不同的。

《CityVille》拥有大量的建筑和基础设置能够帮助玩家创造属于自己的城市。在《小小大星球》中，玩家可以收集大量资源和目标去创建具有现实特性的全新关卡（并在这些关卡中游玩）。游戏中的目标都非常吸引人，并且玩家可以基于现实方式与之进行互动。

《最终幻想7》提供了各种可游戏的角色，包括他们的咒语，装备，属性，技能与个性。因为玩家需要投入大量时间去发展自己的角色，并打开更多新技能与能力，所以他们将投入更多情感于角色中，并且随着玩家在游戏中的前进，将能遇到各种不同的惊喜，游戏中也总是会出现各种新功能去支持玩家角色的发展。

在《歌星》中，玩家可以下载并演唱各种歌曲和影像。游戏内容将影响玩家与音乐间的情感联系。

从这些例子中我们可以看出，拥有较高用户粘性以及付费者和非付费者比例的游戏总是拥有非常详细且互动的内容，并且这些内容的设计目的都是为了让玩家能依附于其中。这些内容生成了大量积极情感以及少量的消极情感，例如当道具不可行或者难以触及时，玩家便会产生失落感。

2.环境

环境是一种特殊的游戏设置和背景，例如某一特定时间或地点。举些例子来说：

《CSR赛车》是以黑帮聚集的纽约街道为背景

《坦克世界》是设置在第二次世界大战时的德国，俄罗斯以及欧洲的其它国家

《最终幻想7》是发生在一个蒸汽朋克风格，萧条且贫困的城市Migdar

《口袋世界》是以现代幻想世界中的各种区域，如Kanto和Johto等为背景

开发者需要谨慎选择游戏环境，并考虑文化，目标用户群体，玩家性别和年龄等因素。

3.主题和故事

这是指与游戏任务，目标整合在一起的特定类型与故事。例如《CSR赛车》的主题便是玩家使用高性能的赛车与其它帮派的人为争夺最佳赛手的称号在大街上展开比赛。

开发者必须仔细设计主题和故事：

适应你的目标玩家的需求。例如，杀手和成就者对故事便不是很感兴趣，反而更专注于击败其他玩家或在游戏中争第一。而探索者和社交家则喜欢受游戏故事的驱动，乐于让故事去提高他们的社交体验。

考虑文化元素

4.界面

界面本身便能够带给玩家强大的情感影响。如果玩家能够越轻松地表达自己，他们便能够投入更多情感于其中。举个例子来说吧，一直都很畅销的一款电子游戏，《Wii Sports》便简化了互动让玩家能够轻松地模仿各种行动，就好似他们在现实世界中玩网球一样。这便大大提高了玩家的满足感，鼓励他们继续游戏，手势舞动也为游戏增添了乐趣感。

相反地，如果限制了玩家与游戏世界的互动便不利于玩家做出情感反应。例如在《暴雨》中，玩家需要大力左右移动控制器以帮主角刷牙。这是克服普通控制器局限性的一种积极做法，能够鼓励玩家模仿现实中的行动，但是我认为这种移动会破坏我在游戏中的沉浸感，并最终削弱我对游戏的情感反应（产生强大的懊悔情绪）。

《CSR赛车》利用了许多技术为玩家创造一种强大的控制感，即使他们不能直接操纵赛车。即玩家需要仔细安排屏幕碰触的时间（例如在适当时候加速引擎以在比赛开始时获得优势）。

Kobojo的《Smooty Tales》让玩家能够通过来回移动鼠标而为自己的动物角色“洗澡”，从而有效地维系起玩家与动物之间的关系。如果玩家只是点击图标去完成这些任务的话便不可能创造出如此强的情感联系。

《CityVille 2》在玩家收集房租时使用计时器也能够带给他们更深互动感，而不只是点击房屋去收房租。

5.玩家奖励

不同游戏所呈现的玩家奖励也不同，但是提供给玩家足够奖励的重要性也不能被夸大。如果游戏能够提供给玩家适当且足量的奖励，玩家便会觉得自己的付出（游戏邦注：如他们为游戏投入的时间和金钱）有了回报。如果游戏不能有效处理奖励分配，玩家便很容易感到厌倦，并对游戏感到失望，而游戏中的各种情感设计元素也会受到破坏。

以下是5种奖励类型：

1.能够用于互动的新内容（核心游戏机制的重要组成部分，同样也能够支持游戏内容，如游戏角色的新衣服，迷你游戏等）

2.成就，奖杯或其它能够证明玩家在游戏中取得进步的方式

3.收集物，如一些很难找到或需要花时间才能获得的道具

4.募捐内容，如通过馈赠而获得内心的满足，包括对现实的慈善机构所做出的贡献（例如通过社交游戏进行募捐）

5.竞争，不管是与其他玩家还是游戏竞争。这与设置升级的信息或声音一样简单，当玩家打败其他人时总是能够获得强大的情感奖励。《坦克世界》最吸引人之处便在于竞争元素，同时它也谨慎平衡了胜利与失败，让玩家不仅不会因为失败感到耻辱，同时还会因为屡次获胜而感受到自己的进步以及付出的回报。

开发者应该基于不同类型玩家的需求去设计并平衡奖励。例如收集物更适合成就者，而竞争则更适合杀手。

步骤4：设计并创造带有情感吸引力的新内容

基于玩家属性和LTV分配设计工作

如果你能够收集玩家或目标用户的有用信息，包括玩家属性和LTV，这便能够帮助你分配设计工作，决定先创造哪些内容。如果社交家型玩家是你的最高价值玩家，你便可以优先考虑将情感设计整合到设计原则，指南和高层次的设计元素中。

概念设计

尽早明确/更新游戏设计原则，指南和设计元素去反应情感吸引力，然后修改/完善/创造概念设计，以反映之前创造/更新的设计原则，指南和高层次的设计元素。我们可以通过头脑风暴等方式去执行这一工作。

详细设计，构建与QA

当概念设计完成后，我们需要马上进行详细设计，创造/更新游戏设计文件以反应新的情感要求，然后遵循QA和测试结果创造游戏资产与代码。

如果你已经完成了游戏创造，那么你便可以在3或6个月的内容计划中完成新内容的设计与创造，如有规划地引进改变内容。

步骤5：评论和完善游戏内容

在游戏发行后我们仍能继续设计，创造并发行新游戏内容，但我们仍需要考虑是否重复1至4个步骤，或至少重新回顾之前所做的，以确保游戏能够始终与当前玩家的需求保持情感联系。

结论

我认为将情感整合到游戏中是一种费时又复杂的工作，所以很多开发者总是会忽视这些内容，特别当他们面对的是休闲的“非游戏”用户时。

有很多证据能够证明强大的情感联系将提高游戏转换率，并带来更多收益。就像之前提到的，出色的免费游戏，如《坦克世界》和《CSR赛车》每个月能够生成上百万美元的收益，并且有30%以上的用户（至少是对于《坦克世界》而言）愿意为一款免费游戏投入更多资金。

（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 Design: Five steps to making games which make more money using emotion

By admin-pagc

Of the tens of thousands of free to play and social video games out there, it is a sad fact that many of them make very little money and some developers & publishers have even seen significant financial losses. One of the main reasons for this is that many games fail to build an emotional connection with their players, with the game design process failing to include a strong focus on emotion. This can drastically reduce player engagement and significantly reduce the number of players willing to spend money on the game, as well as the amounts those willing to pay ultimately spend.

It is no accident that top performing free-to-play games, such as World of Tanks and CSR Racing, are reported to generate $11M – $20M per month and $9M per month respectively – they happen to do an amazing job of forming emotional connections with their players!

In this article I am going to set out five steps developers can take in order to build emotion into their free-to-play games, which, if followed correctly, could increase player conversion from 1-3% to the 10%-30% range.

Step 1. Identify the profile of your players (current and/or your target audience)

Determine characteristics of different player types

Richard Bartle identified four different player types as part of research into player behaviour in multiplayer dungeons (MUDs). These player types are widely recognised as an effective way of identifying and addressing player needs, including emotional motivation, when designing games. These player types include Achiever, Killer, Socialite and Explorer.

As a first step read up on these player types and what the emotional drivers are for each type.

Learn about your players and build player profiles

If your game has already been built and you already have some players, you should find out as much information about them as you can. This can help you to build a design profile for your game in relation to the player types. If you find that a majority of your players are Killers, for example, it may be that your current game design is heavily oriented towards that player type and their emotional needs, which could mean that the other player types are being neglected. While this is not necessarily an issue – Killers might just be those players who spend the most – it could well be and it is something worth looking more closely at.

An effective way to build player profiles is to create a survey which can be targeted at your entire player base or as large a subsection of your players as you can manage. To build the survey, prepare questions which focus on identifying players emotional motivators and needs, based on Bartle’s four player types. The aim of the survey will be to determine what player types are present in your player/userbase and what the current mix is. A good website with some example questions can be found here.

If your game is still at the design stage and/or you have not acquired players yet, you have two options. If you already have a community of players in mind (whom you plan to acquire), for example who already play one or more of your other games, should you have them, you could focus a survey on that group. Alternatively you could consider looking at games from the same genre/type that you are creating and try to find out how those games cater for the four different player types.

Determine who your most valuable players are

Once you have the results from your player survey you should build a profile for each player which should include their player type based on their responses to the survey.

An important next step is to determine player life time value (LTV). This should be done for each player and then overall for each player type.

One way to create an LTV value for each player is to:

1. Define some factors which are important to you and represent value for your company. This can vary but factors to consider are:

- Monetization. This could be scored from 0 to 5 based on player spending, where 0 is never spend and 5 would be whales. A good example to illustrate this is the concept (slide 17) of Kings, Knights, Lords, Commoners and Peasants, as described by Vikas Gupta, CEO of Social Gold, when he presented customer spending behavior insights at the Virtual Goods Forum in London, on July 24, 2010.

- Use of Viral Channels. Could be scored from 0 to 4, e.g. Very Infrequent, Occasional, Frequent, Very Frequent, Maximum.

- Community Interaction. Could be scored from 0 to 4, e.g. Never Posts or posts negatively, Post very rarely but positively, Posts occasionaly and positively, Posts frequently and positively, Posts very frequently and positively.

- Loyalty. Categories could be scored 1 to 5 and include: Plays at least once per month (but no other signs of loyalty), plays at least once per month plus also subscribes to newsletter or other games of yours, plays at least once per week plus subcribes to newsletter or other games of yours, plays daily, plays daily plus subscribes to newsletter and plays other games.

2. For each factor, assign a score to each player and calculate their overall LTV score.

3. As well as an overall score, calculate the amount spent by each player since they first started playing your game

4. Now that you have LTV for each player, calculate this for each player type. This will enable you to see which player types represent the highest value and will provide some insights into changes you may need to make to your game to make it more appealing to the player types you want more of

5. As well as understanding player LTV, based on the survey results and any other research you have done into the types of player you want your game to appeal to, you should have some good insights into the emotional needs of the players. These should be documented and used later.

Step 2. Evaluate the cultural fit of your game

A critical part of building emotional connections with players is to have a very clear understanding of their cultural expectations, experiences and needs. There can be a huge difference from one culture to the next. For example, in Brazil, there is far less interest in World War 2 and Modern Warfare and much more focus on civil war and gang warfare (Favellas, for example), so wargames launched in that country might not monetize well if there is over-reliance on a middle-eastern or european war setting. In asia, the concept of stealing items from other players can be seen as great fun and socially acceptable in certain games, but can be perceived very negatively in western cultures.

Here are 5 important dimensions to consider when determining cultural needs:

1. History and attitudes (what has happened in the past which influence people’s attitude today? This could be recent history or much further back)

2. Current hot topics, news and events (and degree to which these are discussed openly, sensitivity, etc). Some topics can be considered sensitive, such as Favellas and gang warfare in Brazil, but is a highly engaging subject for players who enjoy war games, whereas in Mexico this is not a topic that is discussed or seen as “fair game” for representation in games.

3. Pop culture and local brands. For example, city building games which feature local shops and stores, cooking games which feature local chefs and name of food ingredients, racing games which feature car brands that are specific to the player’s country and trends.

4. Lifestyle quality  (climate, degree of affluence, spread of wealth, attitudes towards money).

5. Lifestyle choices, hobbies and interests. For example, train spotting and interests in trains as a hobby is very niche in the UK and seen as very untrendy by many, but is very popular in Japan. DIY and home improvement is not as broadly available or affordable in many Latin American countries, which differs hugely from Europe, so this could impact the perception of games focused on this topic. Religious beliefs differ massively and there can be very important considerations, for example avoiding representation of certain types of Animals.

Based on the above, try to identify how well your game design fits according to each aspect, identifying design principles and characteristics which work well and less well culturally. If there are gaps to fill to make your game fit better culturally, brainstorm new game elements or changes.

Step 3. Understand your players emotional needs

There are 3 types of emotion that are important to consider when looking at the emotional needs of players:

1. Positive emotions. This can include feelings of bliss, joy, surprise, curiosity, etc.

2. Negative emotions. Feelings of guilt, shame, anger, fear.

3. Combined emotions. A good example of a combined emotion is Schadenfruede, which combines feelings of guilt with pleasure

I’m not aware of a magic formula for getting the right balance between positive, negative and combined emotions, this will vary depending on the game, but it probably makes sense to avoid purely negative emotions!

How can emotions be applied to your game design?

There are a number of different aspects of game design where emotional design effort should be focused, in order to identify emotional hooks. These are described below. By considering each of these in turn, design principles, guidelines and high-level design elements should be created and/or updated to reflect the desired emotions in the game design.

1. Content

Content includes all the virtual objects that forms part of the core game mechanic, often collectible, which the player will engage and interact heavily with. Some examples:

- in CSR Racing from Natual Motion, this would include the cars the player drives (which, one could argue, is the strongest emotional element of the game). In this game these items are richly detailed with very strong attention to detail.

- In World of Tanks this includes the Tanks the player uses in battle.  The tanks are designed very authentically with very strong attention to detail with subject matter which appeals to a very specific niche. There is also a very wide range of tanks to collect, and each tank has very distinctive behaviour, advantages and disadvantages.

- In Animal crossing this includes the furniture and all other collectible items used to decorate your house, as well as the animals that you interact with. The items that can be collected leverage Nintendo’s back catalogue of IP and the existing emotional attachments players have with this content. Items are very intricately detailed, and behave uniquely. For example, stereo music players can have music tapes inserted and the sound quality varies depending on the type of stereo. Animals have their own personalities which help players form bonds with them, as they seem uncannily lifelike and each character seems unique and individual.

- In Cityville it is the vast range of buildings and infrastructure which can be used by players to create unique cities. In Little Big Planet it is the large collection of materials and objects used to build new levels (as well as to play them) with real-world physics properties. The objects in the game look very appealing to the eye and interaction takes place in a realistic way.

- In Final Fantasy 7 it is the various playable characters, their spells, equipment, attributes, skills and personalities. Players become very invested emotionally in the characters due to the amount of time spent developing them and unlocking new skills and abilities, there is constant novelty and surprise as they progress, with new features gradually made available to support character development.

- In Singstar it is the wide range of songs/videos which the player downloads and sings to. The content leverages players existing emotional connections with the music.

Games which have very high player engagement and have high proportion of spenders to non-spenders, tend to have content which is richly detailed, interactive, has great attention to detail and is designed to make the player form personal attachments. This content generates a wide range of positive emotions and one or two negative ones, for example the sense of loss if the item becomes unavailable or is unattainable.

2. Context

Context is the specific game setting and circumstances, for example a particular time or place. Some examples:

- In CSR racing it is the streets of new york with a gang-based street racing backdrop

- In World of Tanks it is set during the second world war in Germay, Russia and other parts of Europe

- In Final Fantasy 7 it is the steam-punk, depressed, poverty-ridden city of Migdar

- In Pokemon it is the collection or regions including Kanto and Johto, in a modern fantasy world

The context needs to be carefully chosen or adapted to fit the culture, demographics, gender and age of the player.

3. Theme and Story

This refers to the specific genre and the story that ties the game tasks, objectives and goals together. For example in CSR racing the theme is based on racing high performance cars, competing against street-racing gangs from each neighbourhood in order to become the best and richest racer (with the sexiest and fastest cars!)

The theme and story needs to be carefully designed to:

- fit the needs of the player type you want to bring to your game. For example, killers and achievers may be less interested in story, focusing more on beating other players or being the best they can be at the game. Explorers and socializers are more likely to need to compelling story to drive them forward, give them a sense of purpose and provide plenty of hooks for social experiences.

- be culturally relevant

4. Interface

The way that the player interacts with the game can itself have a highly relevant emotional impact. The easier it is for players to express them selves, the more likely it will be that they become emotionally involved. For example, the best-selling videogame of all time, Wii Sports, simplifies interaction such that the player simply mimics the actions as if he/she were playing tennis in the real world. This arguably increased the sense of satisfaction for the player, encouraged them to “play the part”, with wild gesticulation helping create a sense of joy and excitement.

Conversely, by limiting ways in which they player can interact or express themselves in the game world, this can work against the emotional responses that have been designed in to the game. For example in the game Heavy Rain, on one occasion there is a need to move the controller violently left and right in order to brush the protagonists teeth. This is a positive way of overcoming limitations of ordinary controllers, which can struggle to mimic real-world actions, but I felt that the movement required felt excessive and undermined my immersion in the game and subsequently weakened my emotional response to the game (a strong aspect being sadness and remorse).

In CSR Racing, a number of techniques are employed to create a strong sense of control by the player, even though they cannot steer the cars. This is achieved through the player needing to time carefully their screen touches (for example, to rev the engine at the right time to achieve a fast start to the race).

In Smooty Tales, from Kobojo, being able to “wash” the player’s animal character through backwards and forwards motions with the mouse, helps create a strong connection between the player and their animal. The emotional response may not have been as strong if the player simple had to click an icon to do this.

In CtiyVille 2, the use of timers when collecting rent from houses creates a deeper sense of interaction for the player, rather than just clicking the house to receive the rent.

5. Player reward

Rewarding players can take many forms and varies heavily from game to game, but the importance of providing sufficient reward to the player cannot be overstated. Getting the type and amount of reward right, can provide a player with a sense of payback, e.g. that the time and money they have spent in your game was worth it. By getting this wrong, players can become bored easily and disillusioned about your game and a lot of the emotional design elements can be undermined.

The top 5 types of reward that should be considered (in no particular order) are:

1. New content they can interact with (ideally part of the core game mechanic, but can also be supporting content, such as new clothes for game characters, mini games, etc)

2. Achievements, trophies or other means to get recognition for  their progress in the game

3. Collections, such as a items that are hard to find and/or take time to acquire

4. Charity-based, e.g. psychological positive feeling from gifting, including contribution to real-world charities (for example, as provided by Playmob)

5. Competition, either against other players or against the game. This can be as simple as positive messages and sounds for levelling up, as well as the strong emotional reward a player gets when they beat someone else. One of the strongest elements of World of Tanks appears to be that there is a strong focus on competiton, but a careful balance is struck between winning and losing so that players rarely feel like they are being humiliated, while they are able to win often enough to feel like they are making progress and that there efforts are rewarded.

Rewards should be designed and balanced to match the needs of the player types. For example, collections are more suited to achievers, and competion more to killer player style.

Step 4. Design and Build New Content with Emotional Hooks

Prioritise effort based on player profile and LTV

If you were able to collect useful information about your players and/or target audience, including player profiles and LTV, this should be used to help guide the design efforts and priorities for designing and building new game content. For example, if Socializer-type players represent the highest value to you, design of emotional hooks into design principles, guidelines and high-level design elements should take priority.

Concept design

Having identified/updated the game design principles, guidelines and design elements to reflect the emotional hooks identified earlier, the next step is to revise/refine/create the concept design, reflecting the design principles, guidelines and high-level design elements created and/or updated previously. This could be done through brainstorming-led design workshops or other preferred methods.

Detailed design, Build and QA

Once the concept design work has been completed, detailed design work can begin, with game design documents created/updated to reflect the new emotion requirements, and game assets then created and coded according to the design, following standard QA and beta testing practices.

If your game is already built and live, designing and building of new content could be done as part of a 3 or 6 Month content plan, such that changes to your game are introduced gradually in a manageable way.

Step 5. Review and Refine Game Content

Post-release new game content can be designed, built and released into your game as per usual, but consideration should be given to repeating steps 1-4, or at least revalidating what was previously done to ensure your game remains emotionally aligned with the needs of the currrent and active userbase for the game.

Final Word

I can appreciate that building emotion into games can be a complex and time consuming undertaking, and it can be tempting to avoid focusing on this especially for those games designed to appeal to a casual “non-gaming” audience, where it may not feel appropriate to spend so much time and effort on the emotional aspects.

However, there is compelling evidence that making games which form strong emotional connections with players does lead to more engaging games which have higher player to spender conversion and revenues than games which do not achieve this. As mentioned previously, to of the highest performing free-to-play games, World of Tanks and CSR Racing, are generating millions of dollar per month, with up to 30% of their userbases (at least for World of Tanks) actively spending money on a free to play game!(source:perfectaffinitygames)