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分析电子游戏中的强制循环的作用

发布时间:2016-08-12 14:14:56 Tags:,,,,

作者:Alexandre Mandryka

游戏总是承诺会提供给我们非常强大的奖励而推动我们再玩一轮游戏,再玩一个关卡或再挑战一个任务。但很快地我们的满足感便会退去并对此感到恼怒。随之游戏将进一步推动我们去寻找另一个奖励。这就是我们所谓的强制循环。

游戏是通过创造一个让玩家去执行奖励性行动的基本条件而表现出强制性,然后不仅会降低玩家的工具效能同时也会提供给他们回到基点的明确方式。

性能的下降会降低奖励获取的频率以及玩家最终获得的愉悦感。就和停药的症状一样,这会对玩家的情感造成负面影响,所以游戏必须在之后恢复奖励安排。如果游戏能够提供一种明确的方法去解决这一问题,游戏中便会出现一种强大的动机,而如果游戏中不存在明确的解决方法,玩家有可能最终选择退出游戏。

通过修改相对于玩家工具的数值优势能够实现频繁执行,最典型的例子便是怪兽的属性获得提高,所以玩家只有通过升级才能将其打败。这也是为什么策略游戏和角色扮演游戏经常突出一些强制性循环的原因。

强制性循环=降低玩家工具效能+提供给玩家明确的解决方法+重复

一个典型的例子便是《暗黑破坏神》,即一开始玩家所面对的是一些一击就倒的弱小怪兽。很快地敌人会变得越来越难对付,现在玩家需要进行多次攻击才有可能击败对手。如此游戏将激励玩家去增强角色架构并恢复到最初的效能水平,并且对于他们来说没有什么能比找到一个能够将怪兽一次击毙的强大魔法道具更棒的事了。

基于嫉妒的强制性同样也是基于撤回机制

FarmVille(from sina)

FarmVille(from sina)

还有一种能够创造强大玩家动机的方法便是通过呈现给玩家较远的奖励,即通常是其他玩家的囊中之物,以此去激发他们的嫉妒感。一些典型的例子包括在《FarmVille》中让玩家去照料比他们更厉害的朋友的农作物,在《皇室战争》中看一些更高级别的比赛重播,或者在像《魔兽世界》或《守望先锋》等多人硬核游戏中遇到一些拥有稀有装置的玩家。

呈现给玩家一些他们在短时期内不可能获得的东西能够提高他们的用户粘性,但前提是他们对游戏足够了解并清楚游戏的价值。

除此之外基于嫉妒的强制性也依赖于撤回机制,即通常是出现在社交环境中。即在玩家遇到一些不能访问的内容之前他们能够从中获得满足感。而这会让他们觉得自己漏掉了某些东西并在之后激发他们的用户粘性。

他们只能基于环境去察觉自己价值的下降。而这也让基于嫉妒的强制性变成了撤回机制的一种变量。

《部落战争》中的强制循环—-案例研究

与大多数成功的免费游戏一样,《部落战争》拥有非常有效的方法去吸引玩家的注意并提高用户留存。让我们基于炸弹人的升级循环对其进行分析。

炸弹人是摧毁敌人墙壁的一种特殊单位,所以我们需要在不同的升级级别中比较他们相对于墙壁命中点的优势。

在这里的基本效能是需要两个炸弹人去摧毁基于级别3的市政厅的墙壁。这一比例被维持在级别4中,即能够让玩家在前几天使用这一单位去养成一种强大的习惯。

而在级别5和6的市政厅中,炸弹人便无法再击破这里的墙壁了,所以玩家需要去摧毁这里的防御体系。但是只能在到达级别7的市政厅的时候才能进行升级。

添加游戏玩法深度

尽管对激励玩家很有效,但上面描述的强制循环开始让人觉得没意义了。如果随着对手变得更加强大升级却只能让玩家维持现状,那么玩家寻求升级的意义又是什么呢?

许多玩家会收到正强化的吸引,对于这些玩家来说这便足以,但对于那些喜欢挑战性的玩家,你的游戏并不能只依赖于强制循环,同时也要提供足够的深度。让我们着眼于《部落战争》进程是如何满足那些中核玩家们。

当首个攻击单位被释放时,野蛮人便是早前游戏的基本进攻元素。一些强大的军队将依赖于这些野蛮人作为一种廉价的防御力量。他们对抗墙壁的效能并不会像炸弹人那样进化,虽然说墙的命中率强于他们的攻击率。

这么做能够逐渐引进其它机制和单位并不断提供给它们一些关联性。就像当野蛮人需要被整合到攻击者的策略中去保持效能时,咒语,飞翔单位和营销便会开始发挥功效。

随着游戏的发展,玩家必须学习游戏所引进的不同策略,同时也需要去了解如何将其与其他玩家所使用的不同防御类型匹配起来。通过提高可行选择的数量,玩家辨别最优路径的挑战也会变得更吸引人,尤其是对于那些喜欢挑战的玩家来说。

为了添加更多深度,游戏最好通过分层让玩家能够了解相互联系的机制,并让整体系统的行为变得更难预测。关于分层结构的一个典型例子便是《模拟城市》,即游戏帮助或阻碍每个建筑发展的基本规则是非常明显的,但是其中的多种互动也能够创造出让玩家所期待的复杂动态。

结论

通过调整奖励活动的结果,玩家将获得激励而努力维持补偿率。尽管这种强制循环能够有效吸引玩家去寻求满足感,但它却不能教育玩家去精通游戏技能。在这种情况下游戏就必须想办法去整合游戏深度以维持玩家长久的用户粘性了。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Compulsion loop is withdrawal-driven

by Alexandre Mandryka

The forces that push us to play just one more turn, level, or mission, so we can obtain a reward can be very strong. But soon enough, satisfaction wears off and vexation settles in. With it, we are urged to push further to find another prize. This is what we call the compulsion loop.

In games, compulsion is achieved by creating a baseline situation where players perform a rewarding action, then by degrading player tool efficiency while offering clear ways to get back to baseline.

The dip in performance lowers the frequency of rewards and resulting pleasure. Similar to drug withdrawal symptoms, this impacts player mood negatively, creating the need to restore reward schedule. If the game offers a clear way to solve this problem, then a strong motivation emerges, while in the absence of a solution, frustration develops that can lead players to quit.

A frequent implementation is done by modifying numerical strength of opposition compared to player tools, typical example being monsters that increase in stats and now require an upgrade to defeat efficiently. This is why strategy and roleplaying games very commonly feature compulsion loops.

Compulsion loop = Decrease player tool efficiency + Offer clear solution + Repeat

A great example is the Diablo which always starts players against monsters so weak they get killed in one blow. Very quickly though, enemies get tougher and now can sustain multiple hits. Players are motivated to min-max their character builds to go back to the initial level of efficiency, and nothing feels better than finding a powerful magic item that will put monsters in the one-shot kill zone, even very momentarily.

Envy-based compulsion also relies on withdrawal mechanism

Another way of creating strong players motivation is to trigger envy by showing a distant reward, generally in another player’s possession. Typical examples range from allowing players to take care of their more advanced friends’ crops in Farmville, seeing replays of high ranked matches in Clash Royale, or coming across someone with rare gear in a multiplayer core game like World of Warcraft or Overwatch.

Exposing players to something they can’t obtain in the short term is going to increase their engagement, but only works if they have enough knowledge of the game actually realize its value, and as such, can only come later in a player experience.

In addition, envy-based compulsion actually relies on the withdrawal mechanism, generally in a social context. Players felt perfectly content with what they had until they came across something they can’t access. This knowledge makes them feel like they are missing something, which in turn triggers engagement.

The decrease of their worth is only perceived based on context, instead of an actual dip of their own level of performance. This makes envy-based compulsion a variant of withdrawal.

Compulsion loop in Clash of Clans – Case study

Like most successful free-to-play games, Clash of Clans has very effective ways to engage players and ensure retention. So let’s analyze one of them, based on the wall breaker upgrade cycle.

Wall breakers are specialized units for destroying enemy walls and breach a perimeter, so we need to compare their strength against wall hit points along the different upgrades levels. The figure below shows the number of wall breakers needed to destroy a wall, at the available upgrade for each town hall level.

The base level efficiency is set as two wall breakers are needed to destroy walls at town hall level 3, when they are first made available. This ratio is maintained at level 4, establishing a strong habit for players along the first few days they use this unit.

At town hall 5 and 6, wall breakers can’t be upgraded enough to keep up with walls and players now need 3 to breach defenses. The sufficient upgrade is only made available when reaching town hall level 7. You can bet that it is very high on the player’s upgrade priority list at this point.

Also read: Tips on game balancing – Focus on dynamics before setting element statistics.

Avoiding the treadmill with gameplay depth

While effective for player motivation, the compulsion loop described above can start feeling meaningless. What’s the point of unlocking and researching an upgrade if it leads to a status quo as opposition gets equally stronger?

Many players will simply be attracted by positive reinforcement, and it might be enough for them, but for challenge-driven players, your game can’t only rely on compulsion loops and has to offer depth. Let’s look at how Clash of Clans progression satisfies its “mid-core” target.

As the first attack unit available, barbarians are the bread and butter of offense in the early game. Very strong army compositions rely heavily on them as they can overwhelm defenses at a cheap cost. Their efficiency against walls doesn’t evolve in a similar fashion as wall breakers though as their attack rating gets outpaced by wall hit points.

This is done to introduce other mechanics and units and gradually give them relevance. Spells, flying units and heroes start taking more of a front seat while barbarians need to be mixed into attacker’s strategies to remain useful.

As the game progresses, players have to learn the different strategies introduced, and also understand how to match them to the different types of defenses other players concoct. By increasing the quantity of available options, the challenge of discerning the optimal path becomes more engaging, especially for a challenge-driven audience.

To add depth, it is best to layer easy to understand mechanics that subtly interact with each other, making the behaviour of the whole system difficult to predict. A classic example of this layered structure is Sim City, where basic rules that help or hinder each building growth are clear, but the multiple interactions soon create complex dynamics that are rewarding to anticipate.

Also read: Pleasure without learning leads to addiction – The importance of challenging player skill.

In conclusion

By modulating the payoff of rewarding activities, players can be strongly motivated to work to maintain the rate of recompense. While this type of compulsion loop can be very effective to engage players looking for gratification, it will appear meaningless to more educated players interested in developing skill mastery. In that case, it is important to incorporate gameplay depth to sustain long-term engagement.(source:Gamasutra

 


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